Episode 288 | Just Evaluating a Co-Response Program in Indianapolis
Original Release Date: May 17, 2024
In this special release episode, Just Science sat down with Dr. Evan Marie Lowder, Associate Professor at George Mason University, Dr. Eric Grommon, Applied Criminologist and Associate Professor at Indiana University Indianapolis, and Dr. Brad Ray, Senior Researcher at RTI International, to discuss their evaluation of the Indianapolis police and mental health co-response team program described in the previous episode.
To evaluate the Indianapolis co-response program, a randomized controlled study of 911 calls for service was utilized to help ensure that any positive or negative outcomes were a direct result of the program rather than other factors. When conducted outside of a laboratory setting, this type of study requires extensive planning, coordination, and trust-building between researchers and practitioners. Listen along as Dr. Lowder, Dr. Grommon, and Dr. Ray describe the moving parts that facilitate real-world randomized controlled trials, the importance of directly comparing outcomes from co-response cases to outcomes from traditional policing cases, and the results from the Indianapolis co-response program evaluation.
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Episode Citation
Bailey, K., Lowder, E., Grommon, E., & Ray, B. (2024, May 11). Just Science. Just Evaluating a Co-Response Program in Indianapolis. [Audio podcast episode]. RTI International Justice Practice Area. https://forensicrti.org/just-science-episode-288
Guest Biography
Dr. Evan M. Lowder is an Assistant Professor of Criminology, Law and Society at George Mason University and directs the Early Justice Strategies lab. She received her Ph.D. in Psychology from North Carolina State University. Her research is focused on strategies to reduce offending and improve behavioral health outcomes among justice-involved adults. Specific emphases include adults with serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders, pre-booking and court-based diversion programs, opioid use, and risk and needs assessment. More recently, her work has focused on evaluating the success of pretrial reform efforts, including pretrial risk assessment and pretrial supervision. Dr. Lowder has received funding from local (Fairfax County), state (Indiana Office of Court Services; Indiana Family and Social Services Administration), and federal agencies (National Institute of Justice) to evaluate early intervention strategies that connect justice-involved individuals to community-based treatment, facilitate release from pretrial detention, and improve community outcomes. Her research has been published in outlets such as Justice Quarterly, the Journal of Criminal Justice, Law and Human Behavior, Criminal Justice and Behavior, and the American Journal of Public Health. Currently, Dr. Lowder is a co-investigator on a MacArthur Foundation grant to study pretrial defendants’ risks and needs during the pretrial period. Her work has been recognized by the American Public Health Association and the American Psychology-Law Society. She was the 2019 recipient of the Christopher Webster Early Career Award from the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services. In 2023, she received a Faculty Excellence in Research award from George Mason University President Gregory Washington.
Eric Grommon is an applied criminologist in the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Indianapolis. In 2023, Grommon was named a Paul H. O’Neill Professor for his dedication to advancing the criminal justice field. Grommon’s research interests focus on the evaluation of justice system programs, policies, and operations. Dr. Grommon is currently conducting research with practitioner and community partners to examine community-based violence reduction strategies, alternative responses to crisis calls for service, pretrial supervision models, prosecution-led diversion programs, prison-based creative writing programs, and reentry models emphasizing coordinated case management approaches. Grommon’s research has been funded by the National Institute of Justice and has been nominated for and included in CrimeSolutions.gov, an evidence-based registry of justice system programs and practices.
Brad Ray is a Senior Justice and Behavioral Health Researcher who has expertise in multiple methodologies including record-linkage among sizeable administrative data sets, randomized controlled trials development within criminal-legal systems, and qualitative and survey research with difficult-to-reach populations. His current work includes ethnographic interviews with persons who use drugs to understand the iatrogenic effect of law enforcement disruptions to the illicit drug market, a project funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He also leads a randomized controlled trial of a police-mental health co-response unit, a study funded by Arnold Ventures, and previously developed peer-recovery support models for returning citizens, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. His most recent project is part of the NIH HEAL data-to-action program and involves creating real-time dashboards that identify touchpoints, along with training, for overdose fatality review teams.