Just Science

In this special release episode, Just Science sat down with Stacy Sechrist, community violence researcher at RTI International, Jesse Brey, criminal justice researcher and PhD student at Temple University, and Harrod Emmanuel Clay Jr., pastor and community-based advocate, to discuss findings from RTI’s Victim and Witness Participation research project, which is supported by the philanthropy Arnold...

In episode one of our Sexual Assault Awareness Month season, Just Science sat down with Jody West, the Forensic Science Manager for the Forensic Biology Section at the North Carolina State Crime Laboratory, and Dr. Patricia Melton, a Senior Research Forensic Social Scientist at RTI International, to discuss resources aimed to help forensic science service providers (FSSPs) increase the efficiency...

In this special release episode, Just Science sat down with Chuck Heurich, Senior Physical Scientist with the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), and Dr. Jennifer Snippen, experienced medicolegal death investigator and consultant, to discuss recent updates to NIJ’s Guide for the Death Scene Investigator. Twenty-five years ago, NIJ released a guide to help medicolegal death investigators navigate...

In the final episode of our Case Studies season, Just Science sat down with Ashleigh Berg, Senior Forensic Investigator for the Denton County Sheriff’s Office, to discuss a capital murder case, where a combination of a variety of forensic evidence types aided the resolution of the case. When a homicide occurs in a dynamic environment, like inside a moving vehicle that was involved in two car crash...

In episode three of our Case Studies season, Just Science sat down with Dr. Michael Nirenberg, a clinical and forensic podiatrist and current President of the American Society of Forensic Podiatry, to discuss how analyzing a perpetrator’s gait and footprint evidence located at a crime scene can help advance investigations and resolve cases. While locomotive characteristics, like the way our hips s...

In episode two of our Case Studies season, Just Science sat down with Tim Fayle, Training Capability Lead for IDEMIA Australasia and Chair of the International Association for Identification’s Latent Print Certification Board, to discuss the utility of friction ridge detail inadvertently captured via photographs as a valuable and potentially underutilized type of evidence within a variety of case...

In episode one of our Case Studies season, Just Science sat down with Anthony (Tony) Earles, Forensics/Identification Unit Supervisor at the Maui Police Department, to discuss the Maui wildfires that occurred on August 8, 2023, including the collaborative nature of the mass disaster emergency response effort; the forensic methodologies and technologies used to identify recovered human remains; and...

In episode 3 of our economic empowerment season, Just Science down with Megan Lundstrom, the inaugural Director of the Polaris Project’s Resilience Fund, to discuss how flexible cash assistance can support people who have experienced human trafficking. Direct financial assistance, such as stipends or grants, play an important role in supporting economic empowerment for people who have experienced...

In episode 2 of our economic empowerment season, Just Science sat down with Lenore Shaffer of Restore NYC, Tiffany McGee of Survivor Ventures and Laura Hackney of Annie Cannons experts in the anti-trafficking field to discuss their economic empowerment work. Economic empowerment programs include skill building, job training, and career development for people who have experienced human trafficking....

In episode 1 of our economic empowerment season, Just Science down with Carolyne Ouya, Program Manager at Futures Without Violence, to discuss core concepts in economic empowerment for human trafficking. For those who have experienced human trafficking, economic or financial consequences are often inextricably linked to their trafficking experience and may leave those people without the skills, re...

In this special release episode, Just Science sat down with Dr. Pattie Melton, Co-Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA) Forensics Training and Technical Assistance, or TTA, Program, and Paige Presler-Jur, Associate Project Director for State-based Awards TTA team on BJA’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use (COSSUP) Program and the COSSUP Post-arrest, Pretrial, Defens...

In the final episode of our Community-based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Kristen Lee, Substance Use Program Coordinator at the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, Lizann Roberts, Executive Director of the Coastal Georgia Indicators Coalition, and Tara Jennings, Strategic Planning Administrator for Chatham County Government, to discuss their...

In episode seven of our Community-based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Cristi Cain, Local Public Health Section Director at the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and Sally Wright, the All Hands on DECK, or Drug Endangered Children Kansas, Program Manager for the Kansas Department of Health & Environment, to discuss their COSSUP-funded All Hand...

In episode six of our Community-based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Dr. Terry Kerns, Substance Abuse Law Enforcement Coordinator of the Nevada Office of the Attorney General, Dr. Katie Snider, owner of Justice Research LLC, and DJ Mills, Director of Mental Health and Deflection Programs at the Nye Communities Coalition, to discuss their COSSUP-funded MO...

In episode five of our Community-based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Dr. Nicole Swiderski, New Jersey Path to Recovery Grant Manager, and Jass Pelland, New Jersey Path to Recovery Program Manager, to discuss how the New Jersey State Parole Board’s 2021 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program award is supporting peer recovery and other...

In episode four of our Community-based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, Pharmacoepidemiologist and Senior Scientist in the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, and Erin Tracy, Research Chemist in the UNC injury Prevention Research Center, to discuss their unique approach to providing drug-checking services on a broad scale. To addre...

In episode three of our Community-based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Dr. Chris Delcher, Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice and Science and Director of the Institute for Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of Kentucky, to discuss how his team tracks community drug use through wastewater analysis. Much like analyz...

In episode two of our Community-based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Bill Barbour, Fatal Overdose Surveillance Program Manager at King County Medical Examiner’s Office, to discuss his team’s methods for rapid toxicology results after a suspected overdose death. For many medical examiner and coroner offices across the country, it can take several weeks to...

In episode one of our Community-based Solutions for Substance Use Challenges season, Just Science sits down with Dr. Samantha Tolliver, Chief Toxicologist for the District of Columbia Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, or DC OCME, to discuss how their agency uses their Bureau of Justice Assistance’s (BJA’s) Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program, or COSSUP, funding to improv...

In this special release episode, Just Science sat down with Dr. Evan Marie Lowder, Associate Professor at George Mason University, Dr. Eric Grommon, Applied Criminologist and Associate Professor at Indiana University Indianapolis, and Dr. Brad Ray, Senior Researcher at RTI International, to discuss their evaluation of the Indianapolis police and mental health co-response team program described in...

In this special release episode, Just Science sat down with Deputy Chief, recently promoted to Assistant Chief, Catherine Cummings of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and Jennifer Cianelli, licensed mental health counselor at the Sandra Eskenazi Mental Health Center, to discuss the implementation of the Indianapolis co-response team program, which provides an alternative to traditi...

In this 2024 Sexual Assault Awareness Month special release episode, Just Science sat down with Erin House, Special Assistant Attorney General in Michigan; Richard Johnson, Kalamazoo SAKI Investigator; and Lindsey King, Kalamazoo Community-based Victim Advocate, to discuss their team-based approach for investigating sexual assault cold cases. While DNA can be a helpful tool for convicting sexual a...

In episode four of our Innovations in Corrections season, Just Science sat down with Dr. Sam Scaggs, research criminologist and corrections expert at RTI International, to discuss how automatic appointment reminders help justice-involved individuals better navigate probation-mandated behavioral health care management appointments. For those involved in the criminal justice system, missing a mandat...

In episode three of our Innovations in Corrections season, Just Science sat down with Todd Craig, retired Acting Assistant Director for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and Neal Parsons, Senior Research Scientist and Project Manager at RTI International, to discuss how technological advancements can help correctional officers prevent the introduction of contraband into jails and prisons. For correct...

In episode two of our Innovations in Corrections season, Just Science sat down with Joe Russo, institutional and community corrections researcher with the University of Denver, to discuss how advancements in technology can improve the probation and parole experience for both officers and clients. Community supervision agencies, such as probation and parole offices, are responsible for providing ma...