Of Interest to Crime Prevention Practitioners

Check out these conferences, training opportunities, publications, reports, and other resources aimed at professionals in the field.

By NCPC Staff

NCPC’s Crime Prevention Month Kit Now Available

NCPC’s new 2009-2010 Crime Prevention Month Kit is now available only in bulk quantities of 50 or more call calling Judy Kirby at NCPC at 202-261-4134. The kit, whose theme is Staying Safe in a High-Tech World, was produced with support from CTIA: The Wireless Foundation, and contains a calendar, helpful safety tips, and reproducible brochures. Get your single copy by downloading it here.

National Sheriffs’ Association Winter Conference

The NSA Winter Conference will take place January 19 to January 23, 2010, in Washington, DC. Events will include a Capitol Hill briefing and reports from numerous committees, ranging from the Homeland Security Committee to the Crime Prevention/Private Security Committee to the New Emerging Technology Committee. A number of awards will be presented, including Sheriff of the Year. Register online. (There is no fee to register.)

National Sheriffs’ Conference Set for June 2010

The National Sheriffs’ Association has announced that its 2010 National Conference will be held in Anaheim, CA, from June 26 to June 30, 2010. Information on speakers, the schedule, and registration will soon be available at the conference website. Information on sponsorship possibilities is available here.

Child Welfare League Conference

The Child Welfare League of America will hold its annual conference in Washington, DC, January 24-January 27, 2010. This year’s theme is Children 2010: Leading a New Era. The conference will feature sessions on a wide variety of topics of interest to child welfare professionals and will provide an excellent opportunity to network with others in the field.

New Publication Addresses Child Maltreatment Issues

The Future of Children, Princeton-Brookings, has published an issue devoted to the maltreatment of children. This issue of the journal, Volume 19, No. 2, Fall 2009, is devoted to providing research and analysis to promote effective policies and programs for children. In addition to an executive summary, topics range from community responsibility to parent training to home visiting programs to child sexual abuse. Past volumes, where topics include children and electronic media and the next generation of antipoverty policies, are available at the site above.

Conference on Information Management for Law Enforcement

The International Association of Chiefs of Police will hold its 34^th Annual Law Enforcement Information Management (LEIM) Training Conference and Exposition in Atlanta, GA, May 24-27, 2010. This conference is aimed at law enforcement practitioners who will share leading practices and lessons learned in the application of technology to fight crime.

Leadership Training For Girls

The Girl Scouts of the USA has released Transforming Leadership Continued (PDF). This publication expands the discussion of leadership begun in Transforming Leadership with its focus on the three Girl Scout Processes—Girl Led, Learning by Doing, and Cooperative Learning. These processes when integrated with the 15 leadership outcomes detailed in Transforming Leadership will provide girls with the kinds of experiences that will help them become good leaders today and as adults.

Instant Transmission of Driver’s License Photos

The National Institute of Justice has teamed up with law enforcement agencies in North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, and Virginia in a pilot project to transmit driver’s license photographs across state lines and deliver the photos to an officer’s computer within seconds of a request. Read the NIJ In Short document about the project now.

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Mental Health Courts

The Council of State Governments Justice Center and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation have funded a study aimed at helping policymakers and practitioners understand available research to better design, implement, and evaluate mental health courts. The 54-page publication, Mental Health Courts: A Guide to Research-Informed Policy and Practice, reviews research findings that address the extent to which mental health courts have been found to achieve their goals.

National Victim Assistance Training Conference

The Training and Technical Assistance Center at the Office for Victims of Crime will hold a National Victim Assistance Academy February 28-March 5, 2010, in Portland, OR. The academy is composed of education and classroom trainings for those who assist victims and survivors of crime. The three tracks are Track 1, Foundation-Level Training; Track 2, Professional Skill-Building Institute; and Track 3, Leadership Institute. Continuing Education Units are available. The application deadline is February 5, 2010. Apply here.

National Crime Victims Rights Week Grants Available

The National Association of VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) Assistance Administrators, through a grant from the Office for Victims of crime, is offering funding to aid 60 communities in conducting public awareness initiatives during National Crime Victims’ Rights Week (NCVRW), which will be held April 18-24, 2010. This year’s theme is Crime Victims’ Rights: Fairness. Dignity. Respect. This project is known as NCVRW Community Awareness Project (CAP). Visit this site for more information.

Child Safety Poster Contest

Every year, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention sponsors a National Missing Children’s Day poster contest for fifth-grade students designed to raise awareness of the problem of missing children. The national winner will be honored at the Department of Justice’s Missing Children’s Day Ceremony in May 2010.

Online Help for Physically Challenged Victims

A bulletin, Promising Practices for Serving Crime Victims with Disabilities, and companion Toolkit, are intended to help organizations that wish to improve their response to physically challenged crime victims. These products were developed by SafePlace under a grant from the Office of Victims of Crime.

Girls Study Group Bulletin: Assessment Instruments

This 28-page OJJDP Girls Study Group Series bulletin, Suitability of Assessment Instruments for Delinquent Girls (PDF), provides a comprehensive guide to help juvenile justice practitioners determine which standardized assessment instruments should be used when working with delinquent girls. This bulletin presents recommendations for how practitioners can choose an instrument that is validated, appropriate, and cost effective.

Research: Children’s Exposure to Violence

This document from OJJDP presents the findings from the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (PDF), which was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It discusses the survey’s findings in regard to children’s direct and indirect exposure to specific categories of violence, how exposure to violence changes as children grow up, and the prevalence and incidence of multiple and cumulative exposures to violence.

Forum on Strengthening Indian Country Through Youth Programs

OJJDP and the American Youth Policy Forum recently hosted a meeting featuring the report Strengthening Indian Country Through Tribal Youth Programs. In describing the activities of five diverse sites, the report examines how the Tribal Youth Program is improving the lives of tribal youth and strengthening their families.

Improving Outcomes for Children and Families in Dependency Court Proceedings

A recent publication by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges shows how best practice programs have successfully enhanced outcomes for children and families in dependency court proceedings. The publication, The Model Court Effect: Proven Strategies in Systems’ Change, presents data that demonstrate that model courts can reduce the number of children in foster care, increase adoptions, reduce costs, and eliminate barriers between systems and agencies working for children and families.

New Federal Website Supports Comprehensive Community Initiatives Aimed at Youth

The Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has established a new website that offers tools and resources to help federal staff plan, support, and help sustain comprehensive community initiatives (CCIs)—local community interventions that seek to improve outcomes for youth and families through systems change. CCIs foster broad-based and multisector collaborations to improve the governance, policies, practices, and values of organizations involved in promoting the health and well-being of youth.