Newly formed Research Center is off to a fast start

Written by Emily Creasy, WOU SPO communications intern

The Criminal Justice Sciences Division at Western Oregon University (WOU) is the home of the newly established Western Restorative Justice and Reentry Center (WRJRC).

The goal of the WRJRC is “to promote research in restorative justice, correctional rehabilitation, post-incarceration reentry, and decreasing recidivism, and to facilitate and disseminate such research.”

Directed by Dr. Vivian Djokotoe, the WRJRC provides a space for scholars to collaborate together and to connect them with local, state, and national organizations whose work benefits from the research conducted at the WRJRC. Research at the center focuses the areas of restorative justice, correctional rehabilitation, post-incarceration reentry, and decreasing recidivism. Currently, there is no research center in the United States that focuses on this combination of issues, making the WRJRC unique for its prioritization on conducting research. To help disseminate research and facilitate collaboration, the WRJRC has established a new academic journal. the Journal of Restoration, Rehabilitation, and Reentry.

Formally established in February 2021, the WRJRC has already submitted six grants and contracts proposals, one of which has already been funded. And more proposals are in development. With the increased, national attention for judicial and police reform, the WRJRC is poised to fill a much-needed dearth of research on justice and correctional practices.

The projects underway include a partnership with Benton County Sheriff’s Office to analyze the accuracy of their survey measurements of recidivism rates in early-release inmates. The WOU lead is Dr. Mari Sakiyama, with WOU faculty Dr. Miyuki Arimoto and Dr. Omar Melchor-Ayala. The contract for the risk assessment analysis was approved and provides $5,970 in funding for the project.

The WRJRC has also joined a multi-university collaboration led by Black Hills State University, with Cornell University, West Virginia University, and Utah State University. The proposal, “The LOTUS Project: Leading Opportunities in Transition Under Supervision for the Employment of Youth with Disabilities” was submitted to the Administration for Community Living (ACL) Disability and Rehabilitation Research Projects Program. The total proposed contract is for $2.5 million, with WOU’s portion being $408,000. The WOU project lead is Dr. Taryn VanderPyl. The collaboration with Black Hills State University also included a separate contract with WOU’s Center on Evaluation, Technology, and Research (CETR), headed by Dr. Sybille Guy. This contract would provide WOU an additional $144,000 in funding if the ACL project is funded.

The research proposals are continuing to flow from the newly established center. Dr. VanderPyl also submitted a proposal to the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice. Dr. Djokotoe submitted an evaluation proposal to Polk County Community Corrections, and Dr. Arimoto submitted to the Social Justice Fund for a project evaluating reentry strategies. A flurry of proposal activity is quickly establishing the need for restorative justice research.