FSU Lecture to Discuss Technology and Data-Driven Innovations in Criminal Justice Reform

By: Ellen Piekalkiewicz, FSU News

Florida State University’s Center for the Study and Promotion of Communities, Families, and Children welcomes FSU College of Social Work Associate Professor Carrie Pettus-Davis for the center’s latest presentation of its “Engage, Invest, Respond,” lecture series. She will present on her work harnessing technology to expand the scope of data-driven solutions to criminal justice reform.

Pettus-Davis is currently leading research studies in 10 states across the nation, using technology to enhance the implementation of criminal justice reforms with law enforcement officers, prosecutors, prisons and jails and individuals as they leave incarceration and return home. She will provide real-time examples of how technology is being used to support justice-involved individuals, catalyze criminal justice workforce skill development and enhance our nation’s capacity for criminal justice reform.

One of social work’s leading experts in criminal justice and decarceration, Pettus-Davis joined Florida State University in 2018 and subsequently founded the Institute for Justice Research and Development — a premier research center housed in the College of Social Work. The institute is focused on criminal justice system-wide innovations and preparing the social work profession for leadership in smart decarceration approaches.

The lecture is free to all FSU faculty, staff and students, as well as members of the greater Tallahassee community. Continuing education credits are available. Advanced registration  for the lecture is requested.

The event will take place from 3-4 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, at the University Center Building C, Room 5301, 296 Champions Way.

A brief discussion and reception will follow Pettus-Davis’s presentation.

The Center for the Study and Promotion of Communities, Families and Children housed at the FSU College of Social Work “Engage, Invest, Respond” lecture series focuses on crucial social problems. The series is interactive and features speakers from an array of disciplines, encouraging interdisciplinary collaboration and research discussions with key community stakeholders. The 2019-2020 lecture series will feature four lectures by distinguished faculty from across the university and other institutions.