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Sarah Picard

Sarah Picard

Research Director

Programs
Policy and Research

Sarah Picard is a Research Director with the Center for Court Innovation. Her recent work focuses on policy level reform in the adult criminal justice context and how research evidence can best be translated into practice. Dr. Picard has extensive experience studying the use of actuarial risk assessment tools in court settings, including leading a randomized controlled trial of their application to drug court case planning and collaborating on the development and validation of assessment tools for early decision-making in high-volume courts. She is currently finalizing a study that models the potential impact of risk assessment on racial disparities in pretrial outcomes. Dr. Picard also co-leads the Center’s research and technical assistance work to reduce the use of jail nationally. Her past research includes mixed-methods evaluations of problem-solving initiatives ranging from community-based gun violence prevention models to drug and domestic violence courts. She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the Graduate Center at the City University of New York.

Publications

  • Court-Ordered Community Service: A National Perspective
  • Beyond the Algorithm: Pretrial Reform, Risk Assessment, and Racial Fairness
  • Up & Out: Toward an Evidence-Based Response to Misdemeanors
  • Risk Assessment and Pretrial Diversion: Frequently Asked Questions
  • Risk Assessment and Misdemeanor Validation in Cook County
  • Understanding Risk and Needs in Misdemeanor Populations
  • The Criminal Court Assessment Tool: Development and Validation
  • Empirical Means to Decarcerative Ends?
  • A Person-Centered Approach to Risk and Need Classification in Drug Court
  • Race and Risk Assessment: Would We Know a Fair Tool If We Saw It?
  • Demystifying Risk Assessment: Key Principles and Controversies
  • Evidence-Based Risk Assessment in a Mental Health Court: A Validation Study of the COMPAS Risk Assessment
  • The Brownsville Anti-Violence Project: Evaluation Findings
  • Implementing Evidence Based Assessment and Treatment Matching: A Feasibility and Impact Study in Three New York City Drug Courts
  • Assessment and Treatment Matching: A Case Study of Traditional Practices in Three New York City Drug Courts
  • Predictors of Mental Health Court Program Compliance and Rearrest in Brooklyn, New York
  • Testing a Public Health Approach to Gun Violence
  • The Nassau Juvenile Treatment Court: Program Outcomes and Impact Evaluation
  • Deterrence and Legitimacy in Brownsville, Brooklyn: A Process Evaluation of the Brownsville Anti-Violence Project
  • Litigant Perspectives in an Integrated Domestic Violence Court: The Case of Yonkers, New York
  • The Erie County Integrated Domestic Violence Court: Policies, Practices, and Impacts
  • The Suffolk County Integrated Domestic Violence Court: Policies, Practices, and Impacts
  • Predictors of Program Compliance and Re-arrest in the Brooklyn Mental Health Court
  • The Bronx Family Treatment Court, 2005-2010: Impact on Family Court Outcomes and Participant Experiences and Perceptions
  • Evidence-Based Screening among Drug-Involved Defendants: Piloting the GAIN Short Screener in the Brooklyn Treatment Court
  • A National Portrait of Domestic Violence Courts
  • Expanding Access to Drug Court: An Evaluation of Brooklyn's Centralized Drug Screening and Referral Initiative
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