Session: Multi-Method Analyses of Approaches That Advance Racial and Social Justice in the Criminal Legal System (Society for Social Work and Research 28th Annual Conference - Recentering & Democratizing Knowledge: The Next 30 Years of Social Work Science)

There has been an increasing attention on criminal legal reforms that promote racial and social justice over the last decade. However, the extent to which these reforms have reduced the scope of our criminal legal system has been minimal, which calls for continued research in this area. This symposium responds to this imperative to examine four different areas of the criminal legal system, each of which have policy relevant implications for producing more racially and socially just outcomes. This symposium consists of four presentations that investigate approaches that potentially can advance racial and social justice in sentencing legislation, courts, policing, and corrections. All papers draw upon diverse types of data and methods ranging from state-, local-, and community-level to multi-site datasets to address opportunities and challenges in advancing racial and social justice in the criminal legal system.

The first paper, Do Racial Impact Statements Reduce Black-White Disparities in Incarceration: Evidence from Minnesota, looks at legislative reforms that may improve racially just outcomes in the criminal legal system. The paper examines the impact that Minnesota's racial impact statement reform has had on reducing racial disparities in incarceration. The second paper, The Role of Legal Representation in Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Child Support Outcomes, explores a potential intervention implemented at family court to close racial and ethnic gaps. The paper investigates the role of having legal counsel at the setting of child support orders and at contempt hearings in racially and ethnically equitable outcomes for all racialized groups. The third paper, We are Not Stool Pigeons: Conducting Police Research in Community Settings,�shifts gears to communities with legacies of police abuse and racially motivated disinvestment. The paper discusses best practices to improve homicide investigation processes and outcomes through centering the experience of surviving families and the communities they come from. The final paper, The Role of Child Contact during Imprisonment and its effect on Fathers' reports of Parental Efficacy, provides implications for correctional personnel and policymakers by assessing the effects of different types of family contact on incarcerated fathers' parenting efficacy.

All papers employ unique, rich, and diverse data from administrative records to community and hard-to-reach population surveys. This symposium focuses on changes in legislation, courts, policing, and corrections by centering racial equity and social justice, which addresses the overarching theme of the SSWR 2024 conference. The chair, presenters, and discussants reflect diversity across lines of race/ethnicity, gender, region, and affiliation. The symposium's chair and discussants are experts in practice and scholarship who have been particularly dedicated to the topic of criminal legal reform. The symposium contributes to addressing fundamental issues pervasive in criminal legal systems and opens up the opportunity to engage the audience in this timely and necessary discussion.