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FSU Innovations in Criminal Justice Nationally Recognized

Carrie Pettus-Davis, PhD, MSW, the executive director and founder of the Institute for Justice Research and Development at Florida State University (FSU), has received the 2019 Marguerite Q. Warren and Ted B. Palmer Differential Intervention Award, presented by the American Society of Criminology.

Pettus-Davis, who joined FSU as an associate professor in 2018, received the award during the society’s annual conference November 14 in San Francisco.

The award honors a scholar who has significantly advanced differential intervention science to promote improved social and personal adjustment and long-term change among incarcerated individuals.

“I have long admired criminologists and their commitment to developing interventions to improve our communities and the lives of individuals who come into contact with the criminal justice system,” Pettus-Davis says. “It is a tremendous honor to have my social work and well-being focused research recognized and awarded by their top academic society.”

Pettus-Davis is one of social work’s leading experts in criminal justice and the decarceration of American prisons and jails through policy reform and service innovations. She directs the Institute for Justice Research and Development—a premier multidisciplinary research center located in the College of Social Work.

The Institute for Justice Research and Development recently celebrated its first anniversary at FSU, where it is gaining national attention for a signature approach of rapidly translating rigorous, real-world research into policy and practice to maximize the impact of evidence-driven interventions for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated men and women. The new institute has brought in $11.5 million in funding since its founding in June 2018.

“Dr. Pettus-Davis’ work represents a new era of criminal justice intervention research,” says Jim Clark, dean of the FSU College of Social Work. “Her focus on including formerly incarcerated persons in the research design and her emphasis on intervention that promotes whole-person health and social intervention are especially significant. She is courageous to take important ideas and translate them into testable, scalable, and sustainable interventions and programs.”

Source: Florida State University