Event Reviews to Support the Sentinel Events Initiative

The nationwide SEI demonstration project will result in the development, implementation, and routinization of non-blaming, forward-looking, multi-stakeholder reviews at the jurisdictional level (given the systemic approach of this work, it is expected that the technical assistance will be with key partners across the jurisdiction versus working with one agency). The purpose of these reviews is to identify systemic weaknesses that contributed to an unanticipated event that signals an underlying system weakness outcome, and to generate solutions that will prevent this outcome from reoccurring, with the ultimate goal of maximizing the criminal justice system’s ability to fulfill its mission. By identifying and strengthening latent weaknesses, it is anticipated that these reviews will support system improvements in such crucial areas as law enforcement, officer safety, effective prosecution, and the fair administration of justice across the U.S.

The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania will use the BJA funds to assist in the establishment and facilitation of these multi-stakeholder review panels, and provide ad hoc support for such processes as interviews of relevant parties and negotiation of information-sharing agreements. In addition, the provider will complete a process evaluation to identify promising practices and common challenges to implementation. The TA Provider will be instrumental in establishing and facilitating the reviews at the local level, building on this work to identify promising practices and shared challenges across sites. This effort will build on several years of program development and inquiry at NIJ, including the completion of three pilot efforts in 2014. CA/NCF