OBJECTIVE:Criminal legal-involved individuals on probation or parole face complex and multifaceted challenges associated with community reentry, including mental disorders, substance use disorders, and collateral consequences of criminal legal system involvement. Forensic peer support (FPS) has emerged as a promising strategy for reentry support. Key objectives of FPS target common reentry hardships, especially behavioral health, and previous studies have identified positive outcomes. However, few studies have compared outcomes among groups that share demographic and other salient characteristics but differ in FPS receipt. METHODS:Using propensity score matching on sociodemographic, criminal legal, and behavioral health characteristics, the authors examined differences in criminal legal- and substance use-related outcomes between propensity score-matched groups of FPS recipients and nonrecipients (N=150) in Georgia to assess FPS outcomes. RESULTS:Receipt of FPS was associated with significantly lower rates of reconvictions (60.0% for recipients vs. 81.3% for nonrecipients) but was also associated with significantly increased positive drug screens among FPS recipients (mean±SD=23.6 ± 72.4), compared with nonrecipients (mean=4.7 ± 24.1). FPS recipients tended to have higher reincarceration rates and lower probation or parole revocations, but these differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS:These results indicate mixed support for FPS services, contrasting findings of previous studies. Future research may address the specific needs of heterogeneous criminal legal-involved subgroups as well as assess direct linkages of FPS to criminal legal and recovery outcomes.

This study examined the lived experience of disability inclusion on the University of Georgia's main campus in Athens, Georgia using photovoice. Photovoice is a creative research approach that combines photography with qualitative methods to promote social justice and advocacy related to an issue or topic. Ten project partners from various backgrounds participated in this study for four weeks. Through qualitative analysis of focus groups, nineteen themes were uncovered, fifteen of which were featured in a culminating exhibition at the Georgia Museum of Art to promote disability inclusion on campus. The themes representing the lived experience of disability inclusion on campus spanned social, emotional, physical, political, and temporal dimensions. We took the project a step further by collaborating with disabled individuals as project partners and using poetry as a method. This article explores the lived experience of disability inclusion on a college campus.The research reported here was conducted in collaboration with disabled individuals.Project partners' lived experience of disability inclusion on campus touched on their relationships with time and social, emotional, physical, and political aspects of society.Project partners shared their lived experiences with the goal of fostering sustained conversation, thus promoting awareness, advocacy,and outreach for community-building around disability inclusion on campus.

Research suggests that African Americans may be more likely to experience depression, especially severe depression, than other racial or ethnic groups in the United States. Overall there is scant research comparing the relationship between ethnicity and depression among the U.S. Black population. The purpose of this study is to identify the most significant biopsychosocial factors social workers can address in the prevention and treatment of depression in African American and first generations Caribbean Black clients. Data was from the National Survey of American Life (NSAL). Bivariate associations showed that respondents who reported higher self-esteem, lower hopelessness, higher sense of mastery, and lower discrimination showed lower likelihood of having Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The logistic regression model suggested that respondents who have ever had a chronic disease were more likely to report depression than those who have not ever had a chronic disease. Caribbean Blacks were more likely to report depression compared to African Americans. Additionally, respondents who reported higher discrimination scores were more likely to report depression. This study suggests that social workers should embrace the interconnectedness and holistic approach of the biopsychosocial model in their case conceptualizations, prevention strategies, and treatment modalities.

This article critically analyzed impactful policies and practices governing the policing of Black men historically, and investigated the role these policies played in contributing to the untimely deaths of unarmed Black men by police. The researchers examined cases of police-involved shootings as reported by the Washington Post, with a particular focus on the killing of unarmed Black men over a six-year time frame. It was found that unarmed Black men were disproportionately killed by police and this finding is consistent with prior research that has considered long-term trends in the occurrence of police killings based on race. The researchers conclude with policy recommendations at the local, state, and federal levels to help stem the crisis.

Day reporting centers (DRCs) vary considerably in how participant eligibility is determined and to date, there is little to no knowledge whether criteria for DRC eligibly are appropriately applied in program entrance. This study examines a statewide sample of individuals in community supervision settings and compares DRC eligibility criteria between DRC and non-DRC participants to examine differences between DRC participants and non-participants. Using a propensity score matched sample of 1,554 participants, study findings suggest that DRC participants show higher risk, need, and responsivity factors, consistent with the DRC programing model. These results suggest many individuals appear to be appropriately matched to DRCs, which may in turn, may influence their likelihood of program success, among other factors.

"Doing TIME (This Is My Environment) in Athens" was a photovoice project involving a group of adolescents from the town of Athens, Georgia. The purpose of the "TIME" study was to use photovoice methodology to teach participating young people how to enact social change in their community. Participants were charged with taking photographs that best represented (a) what they liked about their community and (b) what they would like to see changed. Participants took a total of 67 photographs; these were methodically narrowed down to 26 photographs using a combination of open-ended discussion questions and semistructured interview questions. The final photographs represented five themes: (a) economic injustice, (b) segregation by race and class, (c) animal rights and neglect, (d) love of the arts, and (e) a sense of belonging and pride. These photographs were then captioned, framed, and displayed at a local historic art gallery, where local residents, university officials, and policy-makers were invited to discuss the youth photographers’ concerns.

2020 is plagued by two pandemics: COVID-19 & anti-racist uprisings as a result of the murders of Mr. George Floyd and many other African Americans and other people of color due to police violence. While these two pandemics appear to be different in nature, both pandemics attest to the fact that systemic racism continues to be a grand challenge in our society. It is appalling to see how COVID-19 differentially affects communities and people of color as well as socially disadvantaged groups. Systemic racism and police brutality are related to the unacceptable violation of human rights of diverse groups in the US and globally. The present moment provides distinct challenges and opportunities for the promise of the social work profession. Social work has long distinguished itself as a profession ethically bound to stand for social justice. Generations of emerging social workers matriculate in accredited social work programs to uphold this value in service to and with those populations regulated to the margins who have disproportionately suffered from the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and police violence. With years of experience as social work researchers and educators, the editorial board views the special issue as representing the profession’s values of confronting systemic racism. The articles are timely from social work scholars and educators in a time where the threat, at least in one state of the proposed legislation would fire tenured faculty for teaching tenets of critical race theory. Knowledge becomes politicized in the context of the dual pandemics. There has been intense tension across state legislation and schools on whether discrimination and bias should be addressed in education. Many states across the United States have proposed bills to control CRT in schools: https://www.edweek.org/ policy-politics/map-where-critical-race-theory-is-under-attack/2021/06. Refusing to be deterred, the authors of special issue articles offer intellectually sound examination, conceptualization, and rigor in providing viable, socially just, responsive paths forward. This Special Issue includes articles that focus on anti-racist pedagogy in social work education, conceptual discussion contributing to refining a shared understanding of constructs relevant to anti-racist social work, and micro, mezzo, and macro social work practice that aims to prevent or eliminate the negative impact of racism as well as promote racial justice, equity, and inclusion among individuals, families, groups, organizations, or communities. Mental, physical health, and safety should not be considered utopian values. nor dignity and grace of all individuals.

Current trends point toward the marginalization of community practice in the field of social work and social work education. Since community practice education is heavily informed by trends in the field, the opportunity for educational expansion is immediate and great. This moment necessitates a move toward methods of community practice education that emphasize practitioner skill development in theory, creativity, collaboration, understanding, and investment. In an attempt to address the need for community-practice education, the authors present a challenging and innovative assignment for graduate students that encouraged university/community partnerships through experiential community experiences.

The chapter begins with an overview of the growth of the prison population from the end of the civil war to the Obama administration. The authors describe all of the structural inequalities African Americans faced that stymied their growth economically and socially as a people, and subsequently led to the mass incarceration of Black men. The authors discuss the historical underpinnings of the factors that lead to mass incarceration and how these factors ultimately fueled the prison-industrial complex. The chapter also discusses the ways in which the Black Church contributes to the rehabilitation of former incarcerated persons, and, lastly, the authors discuss the implications for social work education.

This paper examines the relationship between hopelessness on chronic disease in a national sample of African Americans (3570) and Caribbean Blacks (1438) Using the National Survey of American Life. A multivariate negative binomial regression examined whether chronic disease is associated with hopelessness, controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. Overall, 13.14% of the sample reported they were highly hopeless, and 31.5% indicated they were moderately hopeless. About 19% of respondents experienced chronic disease. Bivariate associations showed that those who have ever had chronic disease significantly differed from those who did not in regard to age, gender and spirituality. Multivariate results showed that respondents who ever have had chronic disease reported significantly higher hopelessness scores than those with no chronic disease. The study findings contribute to the current body of literature by supporting findings from smaller studies on the relationship between depression and hopelessness in African Americans and Caribbean Blacks.

Despite the contemporary public's discourse regarding the embrace of human diversity within the United States, Black males still are perennially brutalized, killed, and negatively stereotyped. Recent events regarding police killings underscore the reality that even though Black males have the same constitutional and civil rights as all other citizens, in practice their rights are often violated or denied. The negative stereotypes of Black males is problematic because it creates an environment and negative perception of them that causes some police officers to claim that they feared for their life before shooting. In this article the authors discuss the history of police oppression and killing of Black males and offer critical race theory as a theoretical perspective that helps to explain this pervasive social inequity. More important, the authors provide practical classroom narratives, assignments, and strategies that may hold promise in addressing the problem of police brutality and the killing of Black males.

Black males are disproportionately the victims of police killings in the United States, yet few studies have examined their personal narratives of trauma and bereavement resulting from police violence. Informed by critical race theory and stress and coping theory, we used a modified grounded theory approach to conduct and analyze in-depth, semistructured life history interviews with 40 young Black men (aged 18-24 years) in Baltimore, Maryland. Study participants were recruited from a GED and job readiness center serving Baltimore youth. Study results offer a nuanced understanding of the patterning and mental health consequences of police violence for young Black men. Participant disclosures of witnessing and experiencing police violence began in childhood and spanned through emerging adulthood, met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–Fifth Edition criteria for trauma exposure, and embodied theoretical conceptualizations of racial trauma. Exposures to police violence fostered distrust of police and informed participants’ appraisals of their vulnerability to police violence across the life course. Six study participants disclosed losing loved ones to police killings. Injustice and hypervigilance accompanied grief. Implications for research, policy, and practice are discussed.

Despite the contemporary public's discourse regarding the embrace of human diversity within the United States, Black males still are perennially brutalized, killed, and negatively stereotyped. Recent events regarding police killings underscore the reality that even though Black males have the same constitutional and civil rights as all other citizens, in practice their rights are often violated or denied. The negative stereotypes of Black males is problematic because it creates an environment and negative perception of them that causes some police officers to claim that they feared for their life before shooting. In this article the authors discuss the history of police oppression and killing of Black males and offer critical race theory as a theoretical perspective that helps to explain this pervasive social inequity. More important, the authors provide practical classroom narratives, assignments, and strategies that may hold promise in addressing the problem of police brutality and the killing of Black males.

Among the African American community, there exist many health disparities which warrant greater examination through the practice of social work. The aim of the present research was to explore the impact of religiosity on substance abuse and obesity among African American populations by employing a systematic review of the current body of literature on this subject. While many of the studies reviewed found at least a weak relationship between religiosity and obesity, such results were not consistent across all materials examined. Among those studies that found a correlation between these factors, many demonstrated that religiosity had a positive impact on substance abuse and obesity. A discussion of the implications of these findings is submitted as a means of illuminating the significance of all research findings that were examined. Limitations such as more standardized criteria for inclusion of research material are identified and discussed. Implications for future research are presented to promote the advancement of future efforts in this area research.

A panoramic overview of contemporary and historical activism to address the perennial tension between police and young Black males in the United States of America is extensively articulated. Furthermore, an intersectional analysis framework is utilized to provide, and explain the unintentional synergy of activism among different groups in the Black community such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the inveterate political class, and the venerable Black church to mitigate police maltreatment of Black males during the era of the nation's first Black president. Moreover, we discuss the various aggressive policing tactics used in maltreating Black males, some criminal justice reforms achieved in the last eight years, and more importantly we offer suggestions to improve the relationship between police and the Black community.

Recent high-profile killings of unarmed Black males underscore a stark reality in America: though Black men have the same constitutional rights as all other citizens of the United States, in practice their rights are often violated. The negative stereotype that all Black males are criminals has created an environment that perpetuates the killing of unarmed Black males by police officers as justifiable self-defense. In this article, critical race theory (CRT) provides a theoretical lens to examine and understand the persistent racism underlying the social inequities that have been thrust upon Black males in the United States of America. The authors conclude with implications and recommendations for social work education.