Muskie School of Public Service

The Muskie School’s Justice Policy Program (JPP) within the Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy has received a Legal Assistance for Victims grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women. The $400,000 award will fund the Tri-County Advocacy Partnership (TCAP) in its efforts to enhance and expand the availability of holistic legal representation and advocacy for victims of sexual assault, domestic violence, and stalking in Androscoggin, Franklin, and Oxford Counties. TCAP also provides an opportunity for the Muskie School and its partners to prioritize the expansion of civil representation and advocacy for sexual assault, rural victims, and immigrants/refugees, three traditionally underserved populations.

The TCAP collaboration includes the University of Maine School of Law Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project, Pine Tree Legal Assistance, Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project, the Sexual Assault Crisis Center, Rape Education and Crisis Helpline, Sexual Assault Victim Emergency Services, Safe Voices, and United Somali Women of Maine. Alison Beyea, Muskie School research associate and adjunct professor of law, and Deidre Smith, associate professor of law and director of the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic, will lead this initiative.

2011 Maine Crime Victimization Survey

On October 3, the Maine Statistical Analysis Center released the 2011 Maine Crime Victimization Survey Report, conducted to raise awareness among Maine policymakers, practitioners, advocacy organizations, and the public of crime victimization trends in Maine. The report includes data on identify theft, stalking and property crime, public perception of safety and law enforcement, and crime victimization trends. Unlike standard reported data at a state or local level, the MCVS report includes comprehensive victimization totals that reflect unreported crimes and characteristics of victims and offenders.

On October 6, the Muskie School of Public Service will host a community forum, during which time Muskie’s Mark Rubin will present findings and engage respondents in discussion. Forum respondents include

• Maine House Rep. Anne M. Haskell
• Jane Carpenter, Assistant Complaint Examiner, Maine Attorney General’s Office
• Elizabeth Ward Saxl, executive director of the Maine Coalition Against Sexual Assault
• and Lois Reckitt, executive director of  Family Crisis Services

The forum is free and open to the public. A second forum will be held in Bangor on October 24 at 1 p.m. at the Miller Square on Harlow.

For further information regarding report findings, please contact Mark Rubin, USM Muskie School of Public Service, 207-780-5843 or mrubin@usm.maine.edu .

2011 Baron recipients Diane Gout, Kyle Radke, and Sun Young Yoon

On August 5, the USM Muskie School of Public Service staff and faculty gathered in the Wishcamper Center to celebrate this year’s Catherine A. Baron Endowment award recipients: Sun Young Yoon, Kyle Radke, and Diane Gout.

Created in 2006 in honor of former Muskie senior staff member Catherine Baron, the Baron Endowment supports the professional development of Muskie classified and professional staff. Each year, the Baron Endowment Committee selects a recipient or recipients based on the personal narratives of applicants and recommendation of their supervisors.

This year’s recipients will use their awards to support personal and professional growth, engaging in new learning opportunities within their fields.

Dean Joseph McDonnell and new Cutler Institute director Richard Birkel with Freda Bernotavicz of Muskie's Children, Youth, and Families program

Kyle Radke, administrative assistant within the executive director’s office, will apply his award toward textbooks and materials for two food systems courses during the 2011-2012 academic year. Diane Gout, manager on the ViolenceAgainst Women Measuring Effectiveness Initiative, will be presenting as part of a panel of experts on intimate partner violence against American Indian and Alaska Native women at the 16^th International Violence, Abuse, and Trauma Conference in San Diego, and using her award to partially cover conference expenses. Sun Young Yoon, also a research associate within the Justice Policy program at Muskie, will use her award to attend the 73^rd Annual National Council on Family Relations, where she will present “The Role of Child Maltreatment and Trauma in Adolescent Relationships.”

Executive Director Mark Lapping emceed the event, and said of the ceremony and recipients: “They are outstanding members of the Muskie School community. Their dedication and drive is entirely consistent with the goals of the Baron Endowment, and I think that Cathy Baron would be very pleased with the projects that each recipient intends to pursue.”

Dr. James Lynch, director of the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) in the U.S. Department of Justice, will be the keynote speaker at the BJS and Justice Research and Statistics Association’s 2010 annual conference hosted by the USM Muskie School. The conference will take place October 28 and 29 at the Holiday By the Bay at 88 Spring Street.

At 8:30 a.m. on October 28, Lynch will address more than 300 justice researchers from across the U.S. about the successes and challenges of sharing data among federal, state and local organizations so that decisions by local, state, and national policy makers are well informed. The conference includes over 20 sessions on many current justice topics, including community corrections, domestic violence, juvenile justice, and tribal crime data. A detailed agenda is available at www.jrsa.org.

Prior to joining the U.S. Department of Justice, Dr. Lynch was a distinguished professor in the department of criminal justice at John Jay College, City University of New York. He was a professor in the department of justice, law and society at American University from 1986 to 2005 and chair of the department from 2003 to 2005. From 2007 to 2009 he was a member of the National Academy of Science panel evaluating BJS programs. Dr. Lynch has published three books and numerous articles on crime statistics, victimization surveys, victimization risk, and the role of sanctions in social control.

BJS partners with JRSA and Statistical Analysis Centers (SACs) in each state to facilitate effective data collection and aggregation. The USM Muskie School is home to Maine’s SAC, which provides an online resource of statewide justice data at www.muskie.usm.maine.edu/justiceresearch.

Annually, the BJS/JRSA conference brings together justice system professionals from all levels of government and academia to discuss ways of improving the quality of justice data and research in the states, promote the use of statistics and research to develop policy, and share information on recent research and evaluation efforts.

Maine officials recently announced the creation of a council charged with implementing reforms to the state’s juvenile justice system.

Chief Justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court Leigh Saufley, Maine First Lady and Maine Children’s Cabinet Chair Karen Baldacci, and Dean of the University of Maine School of Law Peter Pitegoff released the charter for the newly constituted Juvenile Justice Implementation Council (JJIC) yesterday morning. The Council will carry out and monitor improvements proposed earlier this year by the Juvenile Justice Task Force led by Saufley, Baldacci, and Pitegoff.

“The Juvenile Justice Task Force has spent the last year examining the state’s juvenile justice system and offering recommendations. Now it is time for the Juvenile Justice Implementation Council to continue the work of the Task Force and initiate changes that will ensure better outcomes for Maine’s youth and families,” said Chief Justice Saufley in executing the charter. First Lady Baldacci and Dean Pitegoff also support the Council as a means to carry on the work of the Task Force.

The Council is charged with implementing recommendations that will increase the school graduation rate, reduce reliance on detention and incarceration, and develop a more robust system of community-based prevention and intervention services.

The 17-person council will be co-chaired by State Representative Anne Haskell and University of Maine School of Law Professor Christopher Northrup. Haskell is also the House Chair of the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Criminal Justice. Other members include representatives from education, the legal community, government officials and non-profit agencies.

The Council’s first meeting – held yesterday morning – featured a guest presentation by Bart Lubow of the Anne E. Casey Foundation. Lubow highlighted one of the foundation’s initiatives to create effective alternatives to juvenile detention. He said that the initiative has improved youth development and public safety in other states while also saving money. Council members discussed the possibilities of bringing the program to Maine.

Staff from the USM Muskie School offer research and management support to the task force and council.