This chapter describes the life course pathways of cumulative health and justice disparities experienced by historical and emerging diverse groups, which is often found among forensic populations. It helps readers articulate a life course systems power analysis strategy for use with forensic populations and in forensic settings. The chapter demonstrates how a data-driven and evidence-based assessment and intervention plan can be used to address clinical and legal issues using case examples of an aging prison population. It uses older people in prison to illustrate the complex life course of health and social structural barriers and needs of incarcerated people who have histories of victimization and criminal convictions. Information about trauma and justice, especially related to the trauma of incarceration, which in itself is often a form of abuse, especially when frail elders are involved and they are at increased risk for victimization, medical neglect, and “resource” exploitation is presented.

This chapter illustrates how factors outside of families affect lives of people within families. It examines the potential impact that two major issues—work-family conflict and mass incarceration—can have on the lives of family members. The chapter describes ways in which laws governing systems external to families, particularly work and criminal justice, can disrupt families in ways that may lead them to use social workers. It aims at providing necessary understanding of how social workers can help support such families, keeping in mind that family needs often develop from the social and economic context in which each family is situated. The chapter discusses the relevant ethical, legal, and policy issues facing work-family conflict and mass incarceration. It encourages social workers to look beyond the individual—to the systems in which individuals are situated, to better understand the behaviors, decisions, and mental health of individual clients.

This chapter provides an orientation to the critical issues, history, trends, policies, programs, and intervention strategies of the juvenile justice system. It reviews the types, functions, and legal responsibilities of the various juvenile justice agencies and institutions. The chapter describes the case flow within the juvenile justice system. It also discusses systems of care in juvenile justice, and specialized assessment and treatment issues with adolescents, including sexually abusive youth. It explores the foundation and groundwork for the study of juvenile delinquency and juvenile justice system while delineating the legal definitions of juvenile status offenses and juvenile delinquency, examining the nine steps in the juvenile justice case-flow process. The chapter also gives attention to systems of care, the link between trauma and delinquency, as well as the assessment and treatment considerations for forensic social workers when addressing the specialized needs of juveniles in the justice system.

This chapter describes a forensic practice framework using a human rights and social justice systems approach. It articulates the definition and theme-based strategies that distinguish forensic social work from social work practice as usual. The chapter then proposes an integrated theoretical perspective that the authors refer to as a human rights and social justice systems (HR-SJS) approach. This approach helps to visualize forensic social work practice in any practice setting. The chapter also reviews the history of forensic social work using the United States as the case example to illustrate how a two-pronged approached to practice was integrated throughout this specialized arena of practice. A review of forensic social work history shows that well over 100 years ago, social workers understood that government, as author and institutor of policy, can and should be an arena for reform.

This chapter focuses on the role that Adult Protective Services (APS) and related service systems play in protecting vulnerable older adults and adults with disabilities from abuse, neglect, and exploitation. It articulates policy issues connected to elder justice. The chapter also explores human rights issues related to elder abuse, aging, and disabilities, particularly how to balance rights to self-determination and safety when working with abused, neglected, and exploited older adults. APS operate within a continuum of services that challenge social workers in their efforts to respond effectively to elder abuse. In addition to knowledge of aging, disabilities, the dynamics of family violence and care giving, and community resources and skills in capacity assessment, working in multidisciplinary teams, advocacy, and systems navigation, social workers need commitment to values of self-determination and empowerment to guide their work in this system.

This chapter describes the importance and need for interdisciplinary collaboration in forensic settings. It discusses how the evidence-based principles of risk, need, and responsivity (RNR) model can guide interdisciplinary collaboration with justice-involved individuals. The chapter highlights a treatment program for high-risk justice-involved males demonstrating interdisciplinary collaboration and specifically the role of the forensic social worker. Interdisciplinary collaboration is an essential core skill in evidence-based forensic social work practice. Interdisciplinary collaboration can be multidimensional, interactional, and developmental, and the following strategies have been identified as most important in achieving a best practice: preplanning, commitment, communication, strong leadership, understanding the cultures of collaborating agencies, and structural supports and adequate resources for collaboration.

This chapter describes how forensic social workers can use the knowledge and skills of intervention development to design or evaluate existing interventions with forensic populations or settings, and about funding for their cause. It articulates the language of program and proposal development to prepare forensic social workers to be the creators of programs needed for forensic populations. The chapter enables preparing forensic social workers to possess basic competencies for understanding the language and practice of program development and evaluation of forensic social work interventions. The chapter provides an overview of the different parts of the logic model and how it can be linked to program development and evaluation. It provides questions related to the common types of evaluation, which include a needs assessment and process, outcome, or efficiency evaluations. The chapter also reviews forensic intervention development using a human rights and social justice systems approach.

The Council on Social Work Education underscores that social workers should be educated to advance human rights, and social, economic, and environmental justice. This chapter explores empowerment theory and practice as a strategy that social workers can use to promote rights, justice, and well-being for individuals, families, and communities. Empowerment theory is geared toward elevating the rights and needs of individuals, groups, and communities that have been facing oppression throughout history. The history, central concepts, and themes of empowerment are multidimensional and are related to intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, and political domains. The close alliance of empowerment practice with human rights, oppression, and ecological systems theories has been a powerful force in assisting the population we commonly serve to embrace and liberate their personal and collective empowerment. Case examples of an individual and community are provided to illustrate how empowerment unfolds in the natural practice environment. Empowerment as a concept and practice serves an important role in understanding and achieving equality, rights, and justice for all. It also is an essential mechanism in achieving individual, family, group, and community well-being for people of all ages across the globe.

This chapter is designed to provide social workers with an introductory overview to correctional health and psychosocial care with a focus on prison healthcare. It provides an introductory overview of the role of health and justice disparities as a mass incarceration driver and an overview of core themes of social work practice in a correctional setting. In addition, it presents examples of human rights instruments and laws that address health and criminal justice issues so that social workers can judge the extent to which correctional settings in which they work or may work are consistent with these standards. Also included is a review of relevant research and evidence-based practices for the justice population that can help guide the social work response. The chapter concludes with case studies and discussion questions to assist social workers to better understand practice, policy, and research issues significant for the future correctional healthcare delivery system.

Nonprofit organizations with a social justice mission have historically used social interventions for individual and social change. This chapter talks about nonprofit program leaders and staff with basic competencies in understanding the language and practice of program development and evaluation of social interventions. Emphasizing a social justice approach, it frames program development and evaluation in the context of a “theory of change” and “impact theory” using a logic model, a visual depiction of the change process. Although the chapter focuses on programs, a theory of change framework can be applied to individual and community level interventions with individuals, families, groups, programs, organizations, or communities at a local or global level. It reviews a variety of evaluation methods, such as needs assessments, process and outcome evaluations, and empowerment and culturally competent practice. The chapter also provides some guidelines and recommendations on how to prepare grants and obtain funding.