Online Training & Best Practices Resources

Microskills for Community Supervision Professionals

A series of videos to assist community corrections professionals in developing their personal coaching connection to facilitate behavior change in the people they supervise. The videos cover using engagement strategies, learning about the person, building a success plan, holding people accountable, establishing community connections, and achieving closure.

CSRC Trainings

Current, ongoing, no-cost training opportunities for the field, available live and on-demand.  Previous topics have included:

American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) National Standards for Community Supervision

These standards were developed in collaboration with national experts and funded by a generous grant from the National Institute of Corrections (NIC). Developing a set of Standards has been one of APPA’s goals for a considerable amount of time. APPA has always played an important role in driving improvements in the community supervision field, and the publication of these Standards as APPA approaches their 50-year anniversary in 2025 makes this accomplishment extra special.

The Standards are meant to promote more positive community supervision outcomes for both individuals under supervision and agency staff/operations. The Standards will help agencies implement evidence-based practices into everyday case management and serve as a resource when agencies are evaluating policies and outcomes.

Learn More About National Standards for Community Supervision

Collaborative Comprehensive Case Plans

The CSG Justice Center is a national, non-profit, nonpartisan organization that combines the power of a membership association, serving state officials in all three branches of government, with policy and research expertise to develop strategies that increase public safety and strengthen communities. Utilizing research-driven strategies, the CSG Justice Center intends to break the cycle of incarceration; advance health, opportunity, and equity; and use data to improve safety and justice.

• Collaborative Comprehensive Case Plans

The Criminogenic Risk and Behavioral Health Needs framework, released in 2012, introduced state leaders and policymakers to the concept of prioritizing supervision and treatment resources for people based on their criminogenic risk and needs, as well as their behavioral health needs. Since then, the framework has been used as a foundational tool by federal grantees of the Second Chance Act (SCA) and the Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP), among others, to reduce people’s risk of recidivism and advance their recovery goals.

Now, even though criminal justice and behavioral health professionals have the tools to identify high-risk and high-needs people in the criminal justice system, many programs still struggle to develop and implement comprehensive case plans that integrate critical behavioral health and criminogenic risk and needs information. This web-based tool can help professionals better understand which people and organizations need to be part of this case plan development and how programs can actively engage the participant in meaningful plans that improve their health outcomes and chances for reentry success.

• 10 Priorities & Components to Implementing CC Case Plans
• Community Supervision Agency as Lead Case Planner
• Collaboration for Relapse Prevention
• Webinar on Community Supervision Agencies & Collaborative Comprehensive Case Plans

Learn More About Collaborative Comprehensive Case Plans

50-State Report on Public Safety

The 50-State Report on Public Safety is a web-based resource that combines data analyses with practical examples to help policymakers craft impactful strategies to address their state’s specific public safety challenges.

The CSG Justice Center analyzed millions of data points and, with support from the Corrections Leaders Association, interviewed corrections staff in all 50 states to collect new data on each state’s research capacity and supervision practices for use in this first-of-its-kind resource.

Some of these strategies include:

• Ensure the effective use of risk and needs assessments through policy design & quality assurance practices
• Improve the effectiveness of supervision to reduce recidivism
• Provide people on supervision with the resources they need to succeed
• Track results through agency capacity, establish responsibility for reporting and monitoring, and educate stakeholders, policymakers, and the public to maintain momentum

Decision Making Framework

• A Framework for Evidence-Based Decision Making in State and Local Criminal Justice Systems
• Policy Framework to Strengthen Community Corrections
• 2008 The PEW Center: Putting Public Safety First: 13 Strategies for Successful Supervision and Reentry

Implementation

• Implementing Evidence-Based Practice in Community Corrections: The Principles of Effective Intervention
• Implementing Evidence-Based Policy and Practice in Community Corrections, 2^nd Edition
• A Ten-Step Guide to Transforming Probation Departments to Reduce Recidivism
• Cognitive Behavioral Treatment and Curricula

Skill Building

• Exercises for Developing MI Skills in Corrections
• Motivational Interviewing in Corrections: A Comprehensive Guide to Implementing MI in Corrections
• The Carey Group

Performance Metrics

• Risk Reduction Measures for Community Corrections
• You Get What You Measure: Comp stat for Community Corrections
• Performance Incentive Funding: Aligning Fiscal and Operational Responsibility to Produce More Safety at Less Cost