Past Projects
- Children Who Witness Violence Cuyahoga County (1999-2006)
- Mental Health Services to Juvenile Offenders Program – Follow Up Study (2004)
- Parent Project (2004-2005)
- Mental Health Services to Juvenile Offenders Program (2000-2003)
- Violent Death Surveillance (2005-2006)
- Project Safe Neighborhoods Research Partner (2002-2005)
- Research Challenge Project (2003-2004) - Using Crime Mapping for Violence Prevention
- County Profile (2004)
- ODMH Violent Risk Screen (2004-2005)
________________________________________________________
Children Who Witness Violence Cuyahoga County (1999-2006)
Funding Agency: Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners
Project Description: The project was created to intervene with families and provide services to children who have been exposed to violent incidents. The program is currently being implemented in Cleveland (Districts 1 and 4), Euclid, Maple Heights and Lakewood, Ohio. The CWWV program is based on the premise that law enforcement officers often are the first to encounter violence-exposed children, especially in domestic violence situations, and that police officers could be a critical “first line” referral source for children and their families. A model was developed for police officers to provide information and referral services when encountering situations in which children were exposed to violence. More specifically, when police officers respond to a violent incident witnessed by a child, they refer the family to the CWWV program by calling the Mental Health Services (MHS) crisis line. An intervention specialist is assigned to the family, makes contact with them typically within 24 hours and schedules an initial visit at the family’s earliest convenience. The specific goals of this project were to determine the effectiveness of project implementation, to evaluate delivery of services to the target population, to determine intervention outcomes and to assess community awareness and education efforts. The Program was housed under Cuyahoga County Mental Health Services in Cleveland, Ohio.
Mental Health Services to Juvenile Offenders Program – Follow Up Study (2004)
Funding Agency: Ohio Department of Mental Health
Project Description: The Mental Health Services to Juvenile Offenders Program - Follow up Study was conducted to determine current status of those youth and their families who were referred/released from the original project from two of the three participating sites’ projects. The original evaluation consisted of three counties in Ohio who were funded to provide services to meet the needs of youth who are mentally ill, violent offenders. Communities utilized a local continuum of care collaborative model, from secure treatment to intensive community- based services and supports, which address their multiple needs. The goals of the follow up evaluation conducted by ISPV were to: 1) determine the current status of referred/released youth and their families, and 2) assess the degree to which the projects made any longer term systemic changes in local systems of care.
Parent Project (2004-2005)
Funding Agency: Office of the Ohio Attorney General
Project Description; With support from the Office of the Ohio Attorney General, ISPV staff conducted an evaluation of Parent Project, a training curriculum for the parents of adolescents who engage in various forms of destructive behavior. Data were collected from both parents and their children, as well as from juvenile courts in Cuyahoga, Mahoning and Stark Counties.
Mental Health Services to Juvenile Offenders Program (2000-2003)
Funding Agency: Ohio Department of Mental Health, Ohio Department of Youth Services, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Office of Criminal Justice Services
Project Description: Statewide evaluation of three counties in Ohio who, with support from the above agencies, were funded to provide services to meet the needs of youth who are mentally ill, violent offenders. Communities utilized a local continuum of care collaborative model, from secure treatment to intensive community- based services and supports which address their multiple needs. The goals of the evaluation conducted by ISPV were to: 1) Describe the target population; 2) Assess whether treatment results in a measurable change in targeted behaviors; 3) Examine post-treatment outcomes for the targeted population; 4) Examine the process used by each participating community system to identify and treat juvenile offenders with significant mental health needs; and 5) Provide qualitative case study information to enrich data derived from other sources.
Violent Death Surveillance (2005-2006)
Funding Agency: Joyce Foundation
Project Description: This project will enhance the Ohio statewide capability for surveillance of death by violent injuries by establishing a system for collection of violent death data and a mechanism for acquisition of police reports. The project will work towards completion of a plan to develop and implement a system for the collection of violent injury death data in Ohio. This system will be modeled after the National Violent Death Reporting System developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This system will include data from multiple sources including but not limited to death certificates, coroners’ reports, police reports and other data as appropriate.
Project Safe Neighborhoods Research Partner (2002-2005)
Funding Agency: U.S. Department of Justice
Project Description: The ISPV has been selected as the Research Partner for the Northern District of Ohio's Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) initiative. PSN is the Federal government's gun violence reduction strategy that involves collaborative problem-solving approaches to reducing gun violence among juveniles and adults in local communities. As a PSN Research Partner, the ISPV will perform analyses to identify local concentrations of gun violence, work with the PSN team to devise effective interventions, provide analytical support for the Violent Fugitive Task Force and examine the effect of the interventions over time. Areas targeted by the Northern District of Ohio's PSN initiative include Akron, Cleveland, Toledo, and Youngstown.
Research Challenge Project (2003-2004)
Using Crime Mapping for Violence Prevention
Funding Agency: Ohio Board of Regents
Project Description: The goal of this project is to develop an internet-based mapping application that will assist police problem solving – tentatively called the Internet Mapping Application for Police Problem Solving (iMAPPS). Specifically, the iMAPPS system will inform the Scanning, Analysis, and Assessment phases of the SARA model and will be transferable to other law enforcement agencies, as it will be based primarily on a geographically enhanced NIBRS data structure.
County Profile (2004)
Funding Agency: Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services
Project Description; ISPV is working to identify how state and local justice agencies can identify and make better use of data for strategic planning, grant writing and evaluation. This pilot project, which is funded by a grant from the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services, is using Belmont County to develop the various data models.
ODMH Violent Risk Screen (2004-2005)
Funding Agency: Ohio Department of Mental Health
Project Description; The overall goal of the Violence Risk Assessment project is to meet the needs of adults who are receiving mental health services in Ohio. A significant problem that exists in the behavioral health organizations (BHO) and community mental health agencies, are the large influx of patients involved in these settings and the limited number of resources available. Because of this, there needs to be a process that would briefly and efficiently identify people at elevated risk of violence. As a result, the Ohio Department of Mental Health has developed a brief risk assessment tool. This assessment tool will be tested for demonstrated reliability and validity to identify risk factors that could be integrated into a patient’s treatment plan, thus allowing treatment providers to better manage and reduce the risk of potential violence.
Return to TopISPV
230 Carol A. Cartwright Hall
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242
Phone: 330-672-7917
Email: kretherf@kent.edu