Laura E. Bedard

Female Inmates’ Procedural Justice Perceptions of the Police and Courts Is There a Spill-Over of Police Effects?

Serious offenders, especially incarcerated individuals, are rarely asked to judge the procedural justice of the police and courts. While serious offenders are rarely studied, even more uncommon are assessments of serious female offenders. In addition, despite a fair amount of research on perceptions of the procedural justice of the police and courts, little research has examined the spill-over of police effects onto the perceptions of the courts. This paper aims to bridge these gaps, by examining a sample of female inmates’ perceptions of the police and courts, and the spill-over of perceptions of the police onto perceptions of the courts. Results indicate that female offenders’ procedural justice perceptions are significantly influenced by their perceived honesty of police officers and the judge, and their perceived opportunity to have their voice heard in police and court encounters. There also appears to be a significant spill-over of police effects onto perceptions about the courts.

The Influence of Gender on the Placement of Children with Gay or Lesbian Adoptive Parents

Abstract This study examines the opinions of men and women from a random phone sample of super voters (those persons voting in the last three out of four possible elections) in Florida (N = 413) toward gay men and/or lesbians as adoptive parents. The survey gathered information on whether the respondents would place boys or girls available for adoption with gay men or lesbians. Controlling for various demographic variables, bivariate logistic regressions were performed for each possible parent/child combination. Several variables were consistently significant across the models tested, explaining from 22 to 29% of the variance. These included race/ethnicity, religious identification, respondents gender, and political ideology. Implications of this study for policy-makers and child welfare practitioners are posited.

Examining External Support Received in Prison and Concerns About Reentry Among Incarcerated Women

Few studies have examined whether social ties influence concerns about reentry among women in prison. Given that a systematic understanding of reentry has the potential to inform research and policy efforts to assist women with transition, this gap is limiting. Our study addresses this void by testing whether social support affects reentry concerns (family, employment, financial, and stigma) among incarcerated women. Results indicate that visits reduced all concerns; receiving letters had a less consistent effect, but they too, were associated with reduced worry. In addition, experiencing multiple types of support influenced reentry concerns among women. Research and policy implications are discussed.

Esuba: A Psychoeducation Group for Incarcerated Survivors of Abuse

This study examined the effects associated with a trauma and abuse-focused psychoeducation group for incarcerated women on decreasing trauma symptoms. A total of 320 women participated in 34 groups in five prisons that followed a manualized intervention. A one-group pretest–posttest design was used to examine changes on 10 Trauma Symptom Inventory subscales (Anxious Arousal, Depression, Anger/Irritability, Intrusive Experiences, Defensive Avoidance, Dissociation, Sexual Concerns, Dysfunctional Sexual Behavior, Impaired Self-Reference, and Tension Reduction Behavior). Analyses indicated significant improvement on all 10 trauma subscales. Small effect sizes were found on all of the subscales. The findings of this study are encouraging and are the first step toward more rigorous evaluation of this pilot program. These findings provide initial support for the use of group psychoeducation intervention to address traumatic stress symptoms with incarcerated women.This study examined the effects associated with a trauma and abuse-focused psychoeducation group for incarcerated women on decreasing trauma symptoms. A total of 320 women participated in 34 groups in five prisons that followed a manualized intervention. A one-group pretest-posttest design was used to examine changes on 10 Trauma Symptom Inventory subscales (Anxious Arousal, Depression, Anger/Irritability, Intrusive Experiences, Defensive Avoidance, Dissociation, Sexual Concerns, Dysfunctional Sexual Behavior, Impaired Self-Reference, and Tension Reduction Behavior). Analyses indicated significant improvement on all 10 trauma subscales. Small effect sizes were found on all of the subscales. The findings of this study are encouraging and are the first step toward more rigorous evaluation of this pilot program. These findings provide initial support for the use of group psychoeducation intervention to address traumatic stress symptoms with incarcerated women.

A Trauma-Based Group Intervention for Incarcerated Girls

Girls are becoming involved in the juvenile justice system at a remarkable rate. As a result, the juvenile justice system must become more responsive to their physical, mental, and educational needs. Many of these girls have been victims of childhood emotional, sexual, or physical abuse resulting in serious mental health problems. This article describes a psycho-educational group intervention designed for adolescent girls involved in the juvenile justice system that have been affected by childhood abuse. The intervention takes place in a residential program for delinquent girls and is a voluntary group. The psycho-education format allows for the participants to gain information about what abuse is and what the impact of abuse can be on their thoughts and actions. The group format provides a supportive environment that promotes group curative factors and mutual aid.

Expanding social workers' perceptions of multicultural practice: an illustration from the Hispanic community

are people of color (Chunn et al., 1983). In order for practice to be effective, social workers must understand the communities in which they work and the ethnicity of the clients with whom they practice. Blauner and Wollman (1973) believe that the problem with research on people of color is that it rarely begins by looking at the needs and problems of the community. Social science research has not sufficiently examined the relationship between ethnicity and services (Longress and Torrecilha, 1992) nor has it focused on ethnicity and perceptions of social issues. Often, ethnic groups are clumped together without taking into consideration the country of origin or cultural differences. For example, Hispanics include a range of cultures and national origins including South American, Central American, Mexican, Cuban, and Puerto Rican. Research often fails to take these differences into consideration as well as the issue that these individual groups

Institutional Case Management Applied to Acute Psychiatric Care in Correctional Mental Health

Abstract The case management model developed at the Corrections Mental Health Unit within the Florida Department of Corrections is a treatment model developed to better care for acute psychiatric inmate patients. The rate of readmission to the acute care facility had nearly quadrulped over a six-year period. In response to that, a new case management approach was introduced. It has been shown that this treatment approach has significantly reduced the length of stay for these clients by nearly 27%. This significant finding not only benefits the clients by stabilizing them faster but the treatment has also saved Floridians tax dollars by returning the offenders to their home institution sooner.