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Elaine Nugent
Director
Office of Research and Evaluation
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The Office of Research and Evaluation (OR&E) is working with a handful of local prosecutors’ offices to establish measurable goals, identify strategies for achieving these goals, and implement a measurement system to ensure the offices are on track for meeting their goals.
Our strategic planning process involves holding focus groups with office personnel, other allied professionals, and community members to discuss long-term goals for the prosecutor’s office. The focus groups are asked to identify internal goals (dealing with internal management, staffing, recruitment, retention, etc.); prosecutorial goals (dealing with case processing, targeted offenses, punishment, treatment, etc.); and community goals (dealing with outreach, education, prevention, quality-of-life crimes, etc.). Once goals have been identified, OR&E works with the prosecutor’s office to identify best practices and strategies as well as appropriate outcome and performance measures.
Another method used by OR&E is a comprehensive review of office policies and practices. We use the information from the review to articulate measurable goals and related performance measures for the prosecutor’s office. The OR&E staff establishes a baseline of performance at the time of the review and works with the prosecutor’s office to design and implement a system to monitor progress.
Currently, OR&E is conducting strategic planning with the Shelby County, Tennessee District Attorney General’s Office; the Marshall County, Alabama District Attorney’s Office; and the United States Attorney’s Office in the District of Columbia. Although these efforts differ slightly in terms of focus, all will help the prosecutors generate objective and quantitative information that can be used to support grant applications, budget requests, and media campaigns.
For more information on any of these efforts, or to discuss how we can help research work for you, please contact OR&E at 703-549-4253 or research@ndaa-apri.org.
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