Session: Utilizing Community-Engaged Research Strategies in Criminal-Legal Research: Examining Opportunities and Challenges (Society for Social Work and Research 27th Annual Conference - Social Work Science and Complex Problems: Battling Inequities + Building Solutions)

Community-engaged research models are rooted in social justice and offer opportunity within criminal-legal research to co-create knowledge with people most impacted the system. There are many forms of community-engaged research (e.g., community-based participatory research, participatory action research) yet the various forms are connected through the aim to reduce the power imbalance between researchers and communities, increase equity in the research process, and improve the accuracy of research findings and implications. Research involving practices and policies within the criminal-legal system, historically, do not include participation from members of the community beyond being subjects in the research project. This exclusion leads to both translational and implementation challenges and increases the risk of harm to communities with extensive histories of being marginalized and oppressed.

This symposium presents five community-engaged research projects in the criminal-legal field. Collectively, these projects are united in the approach they take to collectively build knowledge with community research partners. Individually, these projects highlight the use of community-engaged research methods in the criminal-legal field, processes utilized to build capacity for community engagement, and specific findings from the research. These projects emphasize the unique and valuable perspective that can flourish from collaborative, participatory work within communities impacted by the criminal-legal system. Individual presentations in this symposium will compare the utility of different community-engaged approaches with Black people exposed to the criminal-legal system, discuss the ethical issues surrounding community-engaged research in prisons, examine community members exposed to hyper-incarceration and surveillance and their experiences engaging in the research process, and explore processes for co-creating tools for measurement and evaluation with community partners. Across presentations, the unique opportunities and challenges to community-engaged research in criminal-legal research are discussed and situated within larger political and public heath crises.