Erin Calandra Outreach News Reporter
<<The Penn State Justice Center for Research formed in 2009.
The center is a partnership between the College of the Liberal Arts and Penn State Outreach’s
Justice and Safety Institute, also known as JASI.>>
Dorris MacKenzie Director, Penn State Justice Center for Research
<<It is a great partnership because liberal arts has the research and JASI has the connections
with the community>>
Erin Calandra Outreach News Reporter
<<JASI has provided training and consulting to law enforcement and domestic relations
officers across Pennsylvania for 40 years>>
Don Zettlemoyer Director, Penn State Justice and Safety Institute
<<We are the sole provider of basic training to PA’s deputy sheriff’s which serves
all 67 counties>>
Erin Calandra Outreach News Reporter
<<Also around the country and even the world, training more than three-thousand law enforcement
personnel in Trinidad and Tobago>>
Don Zettlemoyer Director, Penn State Justice and Safety Institute
<<We certainly changed how people would be selected for their senior level, because we
replaced what used to be a patronage system to a merit based system>>
Erin Calandra Outreach News Reporter
<<JASI also works on various research projects including a pilot program to monitor sex offender’s
use of the internet>>
Gary Zajac Managing Director, Justice Center for Research
<<You have a sex offender who is on parole supervision, they are allowed to have a computer
at home so the issue is they are using the computer to look at websites that they are
not allowed to look at… this software monitors that and it basically keeps an eye on what
they are looking at on the computer>>
Erin Calandra Outreach News Reporter
<<Other research areas they’re currently working on include crime rates in marcellus
shale boom towns, a study on death row to see if race, gender or ethnicity plays a role
in receiving the death penalty, and a probation study that explores which punishments are
most effective for people on probation>>
Don Zettlemoyer Director of Justice and Safety Institute
33:10 “We see it as part of our mission in terms of service to the Commonwealth and
also as a method for Penn State to extend it’s research and evidence-based knowledge
to practitioners in the field.”
Erin Calandra Outreach News Reporter
“Penn State’s College of the Liberal Arts assists with all of these research programs
and also works on a few of their own including a drug rehabilitation study based out of China>>
Doris MacKanzie Director, Justice Center for Research
<<They have a drug treatment program where people are committed for three years… they
release them and find out after a very short period of time they are back doing drugs.
They know they are not successful>>
Erin Calandra Outreach News Reporter
<<The College of the Liberal Arts will take this evidence-based research and help implement
new drug treatments not only in China, but in other countries as well.
The Justice Center for Research is also organizing Penn State’s child sexual abuse conference
focusing on “Traumatic Impact, Prevention and Intervention”
Nationally renowned experts will share their knowledge during the conference>>
Kate Staley Psychology research scientist for Justice
Center for Research <<Child sex abuse is really prevalent, it
is a national epidemic>>
Erin Calandra Outreach News Reporter
<<The center feels this is one of the most important projects they’ve worked on.
Staley says one in four girls and one in six boys will be child abuse victims.
She hopes this conference will get people talking, help share information, and open
the doors to prevention>>
Kate Staley Psychology research scientist for Justice
Center for Research <<I think we are building on what Penn State
already has which is an enormous research base, a talented faculty in child and youth
development and things that go wrong with development and clearly child sexual abuse
is something that is going to skew development in a negative way and so we are trying to
build from what we already know are Penn State’s strengths by bringing in the experts and building
that evidence-base showcasing it here so our faculty can move on from that as well>>
Erin Calandra Outreach News Reporter
<<For more information on Penn State’s Justice Center for Research visit www.justicecenter.psu.edu
For Penn State Outreach, I’m Erin Calandra>>