VILT Training and Facilitation for Implementing a Classification Revalidation Instrument

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For the past several years, there has been an increasing number of requests from correctional agencies for the National Institute of Corrections to provide technical assistance in the area of revalidation of their classification instruments. Many correctional systems have found themselves struggling to manage their population properly (i.e., mandatory minimums, overcrowding, changing demographics, diverse and special need populations). These challenges have shed light on the need to revalidate the assessment to accurately reflect the current population. To add to their distress, the COVID 19 pandemic has created a new classification challenge, as states wrestled to balance the reduction of the confined population against assessing the threat to public safety. Additionally, training and programming have been eliminated or reduced, and are no longer effective aids for agencies in the reduction of sentences. In light of dwindling budgets, many agencies have not be able to prioritize the classification revalidation process.

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