Handbook on Collaborating Across Differences in Sentencing and Corrections: Process and Outcomes

This volume offers a collection of chapters exploring a range of research collaborations within the field of sentencing and corrections, focusing on both process and results. Chapters cover partnerships between people and organizations with different trainings, backgrounds, and/or purposes, such as academics in different fields, practitioners, policymakers, and those with and without lived experience in the justice system, with mental health issues, and/or with substance use disorders. The range of sentencing and corrections agencies includes courts, diversion programs or alternatives to incarceration, community supervision departments, and correctional institutions.

Contributions provide valuable insights into the development of such partnerships, highlighting effective strategies, identifying key factors that contribute to successful collaborations, and addressing challenges alongside practical solutions. The sections are organized to focus on critical aspects of collaboration, including the processes of working together in the field, advancing partnerships, achieving desired outcomes, and bridging the gap between academic research and its application by policymakers, practitioners, and the broader public.

The volume shines a light on the importance and impact of collaborating across differences in sentencing and corrections and advances best practices for achieving successful partnerships. This is Volume 11 of The ASC Division on Corrections and Sentencing Handbook Series. The handbooks provide in-depth coverage of seminal and topical issues around sentencing and corrections for scholars, students, practitioners, and policymakers.

Ebony Ruhland is an associate professor at Rutgers University Newark School of Criminal Justice. Her research focuses on how criminal justice policies and practices impact individuals, families, and communities. Dr. Ruhland’s research utilizes community participatory action research as well as partners with corrections agencies throughout the country. Through her research, Dr. Ruhland hopes to find ways to improve criminal justice and corrections policies to reduce mass incarceration, racial disparities, and collateral consequences.

Julie Marie Baldwin is the interim vice provost for research and innovation, the founding director of the Center for Research and Collaborative Partnerships, and a research professor in the Department of Justice, Law & Criminology (JLC). Dr. Baldwin’s expertise spans external funding, program and research development, grant administration, and the creation of strong researcher–practitioner partnerships. She has secured nearly $70 million in total revenue from grants and contracts, including over $68 million from externally funded grants. She has helped partners across the country build the infrastructure needed for effective grant management and data collection while directly managing federal awards for partners with limited internal resources.

Jodi Lane is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law at the University of Florida. She earned her PhD in social ecology in 1998 from the University of California, Irvine. She worked briefly for RAND Corporation before joining the faculty at UF in August 1999. Her work focuses on reactions to crime, including (1) perceptions and attitudes among the public and people involved in crime and (2) policymaker and practitioner policies and practices. Specifically, she studies perceived risk and fear of crime and conducts evaluation research focused on justice programs, primarily court and corrections programs.

Ashley Nellis is a nationally recognized scholar in the study of punishment in America’s criminal legal system. Her research focus on life sentences and long-term imprisonment is cited widely because of its unique contribution to the field of criminology and its broad accessibility to policymakers, advocates, litigators, and the public. Dr. Nellis is the author of two books and eight book chapters. Her work has appeared in scholarly journals and law reviews, she regularly appears in the media, and she presents regularly before numerous professional and academic audiences. Dr. Nellis has also served as a sentencing expert in nearly a dozen cases, evaluating the fairness and proportionality of life sentences imposed on young people.