Enhancing Community Supervision Through Trauma-Informed Desistance (TIDES)Training

Proposal Abstract

People involved in the criminal legal system have significantly higher rates of trauma exposure compared to the general population. Evidence suggests these rates are even higher among those convicted of sex offenses or domestic violence, gang-involved individuals, and people with mental illnesses. Given the high rates of trauma among people in the criminal legal system and the link between trauma, crime, and desistance, North Carolina Department of Adult Correction is proposing the North Carolina Trauma-Informed Engagement and Supervision project (NC TIES) will be provided to a sample of 240 probation/parole officers (PPOs) that supervise specialty caseloads including security risk group (gang-involved individuals), domestic violence, sex offense, and mental health. The goals of the project are to enhance the capacity of PPOs to use trauma-informed engagement supervision with individuals on their caseloads; improve the quality of supervision relationship between PPOs and supervisees (e.g., trust, caring, and fairness); assess the impact of the program on community supervision outcomes; and assess factors impacting program implementation and long-term sustainability of the model. The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction will collaborate with a research team from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to conduct a pre-implementation assessment, engage in implementation planning and readiness activities, and undertake evaluation activities.