National Resource Center on Justice-Involved Women (NRCJIW)

Overview

CEPP established and has led the National Resource Center on Justice-Involved Women (NRCJIW) for more than a decade, with original funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance and later supported by the National Institute of Corrections and a group of expert partners. NRCJIW is committed to increasing success for women who have been involved in the justice system—providing training and technical assistance and creating resources for justice agencies on evidence-based strategies for women.

Our Approach

NRCJIW understands that women involved in the justice system have challenging and complex needs that are different than men’s. However, correctional approaches for women have largely been informed by policies and practices developed for men without consideration of gender differences. NRCJIW aims to increase the knowledge and awareness of justice system professionals about the growing body of research and best practices proven to improve women’s justice outcomes.

NRCJIW:

• Maintains a project website, which includes a comprehensive library of resources
• Delivers targeted training and technical assistance to state and local justice system professionals, policymakers, and practitioners
• Develops policy briefs, tools, and other materials to fill significant resource gaps in the field
• Serves as a clearinghouse for model policies and practical tools
• Refers practitioners to sources of information and research about justice-involved women and gender-informed practice and subject matter experts

The Impact

For more than a decade, NRCJIW has played an instrumental role in changing the narrative about women in the justice system—serving as a clearinghouse and centralized resource for evidence-based, gender-responsive, and trauma-informed research and knowledge. We understand that changing policies to be more gender- and trauma-informed will have a substantial impact and improve outcomes for women, their families, and communities.

Since CEPP launched NRCJIW, we have:

• Maintained a comprehensive website dedicated to addressing issues related to justice-involved women
• Created a library of 45 NRCJIW resources—on topics ranging from the use of restraints with pregnant women to the needs of justice-involved women veterans to working with women who perpetrate violence—that have been downloaded more than 75,000 times
• Provided training and technical assistance to 65 jurisdictions and 5,000 practitioners around the nation on topics such as specialized assessment, treatment needs, trauma-informed care, gender-informed discipline policies, and pregnant women
• Conducted 16 webinars for more than 3,000 participants on reentry considerations, justice-involved women on parole, specialized assessment, and women who perpetrate violence, among other topics
• Responded to hundreds of inquiries from the field about a variety of topics, including assessment, treatment, and training, and resource opportunities

NRCJIW will continue to promote the implementation of approaches that build on women’s strengths, address their risks and needs, and support policymakers and practitioners dedicated to doing the same.