Jennifer M. Jolley , M.S.W., Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Academic Interests:

Jennifer M. Jolley, M.S.W, Ph.D., is interested in applying principles from the Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) framework, a risk assessment and treatment matching model from criminal justice (Andrews & Bonta, 2006), to improve the delivery of effective preventive services to child welfare- and criminal justice-involved individuals. At the heart of the RNR framework is the use of quantitative relationships to identify the specific combination of services as well as the relative intensity of services (e.g., dosage, duration, number of services, and degree of oversight) that are most likely to reduce the risk of negative outcomes such as recurrent child maltreatment and criminal recidivism. Dr. Jolley’s research agenda includes a dual focus on two key issues. First, she uses a variety of statistical models, to include neural networks, to identify the combination of risk and protective factors that drive the likelihood of recurrent child maltreatment and criminal recidivism. Second, her research aims to identify service delivery mechanisms that improve individuals’ access to preventive services that lower the risk of recurrent maltreatment and criminal recidivism by focusing on the modifiable risk and protective factors that drive the likelihood of these negative outcomes. Of particular interest is the role that access to health and mental health care plays in reducing the risk of recurrent maltreatment and criminal recidivism and the ways in which access to risk reduction through health and mental health care varies across racial/ethnic, gender, and age-based groups of child welfare- and criminal justice-involved individuals.

Publications:

Book/Book Chapters

Kerbs, J. J., & Jolley, J. M. (Eds.) (expected 2013, under contract). Older prisoners in the US: An evidence-based analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

Blowers, A., Jolley, J. M., & Kerbs, J. J. (expected 2013, under contract). The age segregation debate for older prisoners. In J. J. Kerbs & J. M. Jolley (Eds.), Older prisoners in the US: An evidence-based analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

Kerbs, J. J., & Jolley, J. M. (expected 2013, under contract). Promoting desistance among older inmates through an application of Sampson and Laub’s age-graded theory of informal social control. In J. J. Kerbs & J. M. Jolley (Eds.), Older prisoners in the US: An evidence-based analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

Kerbs, J. J., & Jolley, J. M. (expected 2013, under contract). A brief history of scholarship on older inmates: The path to evidence-based policies and practices. In J. J. Kerbs & J. M. Jolley (Eds.), Older prisoners in the US: An evidence-based analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

Jolley, J. M., & Kerbs, J. J. (expected 2013, under contract). Assessing the state of medical and mental health services delivery to older inmates: An exploration of older female inmates’ access to quality care. In J. J. Kerbs & J. M. Jolley (Eds.), Older prisoners in the US: An evidence-based analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

Kerbs, J. J., & Jolley, J. M. (expected 2013, under contract). Evaluating the base of evidence supporting the sentencing, incarceration, and re-entry of older offenders: Identifying past limitations and future directions. In J. J. Kerbs & J. M. Jolley (Eds.), Older prisoners in the US: An evidence-based analysis. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.

Kerbs, J. J., & Jolley, J. M. (2009). Challenges posed by older prisoners: What we know about America’s aging prison population. In R. Tewksbury & D. Dabney (Eds.), Prisons and jails: A reader (pp. 389-411). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Dissertation

Applying Neural Network Models to Predict Recurrent Maltreatment in Child Welfare Cases with Static and Dynamic Risk Factors

Refereed Articles

Drake, B., Jolley, J., Lanier, P., Fluke, J., Barth, R., & Jonson-Reid, M. (2011). Racial bias in child protection? A comparison of competing explanations using national data. Pediatrics, 127(3), 471-478. doi: 10.1542/peds.2010-1710

Emery, C. R., Jolley, J. M., & Wu, S. (in press, published online October 2010). Desistance from intimate partner violence: The role of legal cynicism, collective efficacy, and social disorganization in Chicago neighborhoods. American Journal of Community Psychology. doi: 10.1007/s10464-010-9362-5

Emery, C. R., & Jolley, J., & Wu, S. (2010). Intimate partner violence relationship dissolution among couples with children: The counterintuitive role of “law and order” neighborhoods. Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 456-468. doi: 10.1002/jc op.20374

Jolley, J. M., & Kerbs, J. J. (2010). Risk, need, and responsivity: Unrealized potential for guiding the international delivery of substance abuse treatment in prison. International Criminal Justice Review, 20(3), 280-301. doi: 10.1177/1057567710373115

Jonson-Reid, M., Chung, S., Way, I., & Jolley, J. (2010). Understanding service use and victim patterns associated with re-reports of alleged maltreatment perpetrators. Children and Youth Services Review, 32, 790-797. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2010.01.013

Kerbs, J. J., & Jolley, J. M. (2009). A commentary on age segregation for older prisoners: Philosophical and pragmatic considerations for correctional systems. Criminal Justice Review, 34(1), 119-139. doi: 10.1177/0734016808324245

Kerbs, J. J., Jones, M., & Jolley, J. M. (2009). Discretionary decision-making by probation and parole officers: The role of extra-legal variables as predictors of response to technical violations. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice, 25(4), 424-441. doi: 10.1177/1043986209344556

Kerbs, J. J., & Jolley, J. M. (2007). The joy of violence: How students experience violence as fun in middle school. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 32(1-2), 12-29. doi: 10.1007/s12103-007-9011-1

Kerbs, J. J., & Jolley, J. M. (2007). Inmate-on-inmate victimization among older male prisoners. Crime & Delinquency, 53(2), 187-218. doi: 10.1177/0011128706294119

Doctoral Dissertation Awards:

Selected to receive a doctoral dissertation award funded through the Administration of Children and Families, Department of Health and Human Services, federal CFDA # 93-670, award # 90-CA-1762 (October 1, 2010-September 30, 2012) and administered through the National Quality Improvement Center on Differential Response in Child Protective Services (QIC-DR). Dissertation Title: “Applying Neural Network Models to Predict Recurrent Maltreatment in Child Welfare Cases with Static and Dynamic Risk Factors.” Total award amount: $50,000.

Selected as the Brown Center for Violence and Injury Prevention (BCVIP) Ph.D. Scholar (R49CE001510-03) (August 1, 2010-July 31, 2011). This is a competitively awarded, CDC-funded, transdisciplinary program that simultaneously (a) provided training in designing, implementing, and evaluating a maltreatment prevention program for family court-involved parents and their children; and (b) provided financial support and mentoring as I worked toward completing my dissertation. My involvement in BCVIP projects included assisting with the delivery and evaluation of a personalized package of parenting interventions and mental health services to prevent recurrent maltreatment while promoting family reunification. Additional projects included assisting with the development of an R01 to test the added effects of a parenting intervention enhanced by the delivery of parental and child mental health care. Total award amount: $21,180.

Pre-Doctoral Training Awards and Fellowships:

Selected for the 2009 ICPSR Summer Program course on Using National Juvenile Corrections Data Files (this database includes information on the delivery of rehabilitation and mental health services to juveniles in U.S. detention facilities) sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) on June 1-3 (2009) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. As one of 25 scholars selected for this award, I also received the competitive $1,000 stipend provided to a limited number of the 25 selected scholars.

Selected for the NIMH Young Scholars Travel Grant Award to attend the Translational Research on Child Neglect Consortium Conference on October 16-17, 2008 in New York City and receive mentoring in the design and execution of longitudinal and cross-service sector studies of neglected children. Total award included the full coverage of all travel and lodging expenses related to conference attendance.

Selected as a National Institute of Mental Health Pre-Doctoral Fellow (T32MH019960) (August 1, 2007-July 31, 2010). This is a competitively awarded, multidisciplinary training program that prepares students for rigorous research in relationship to dimensions of service delivery to include (a) client access to and utilization of services, (b) the evaluation of service effectiveness and quality of care, (c) disparities in access to and use of quality care, and (d) the organizational adoption and system uptake of evidence-based practices. Total award amount: full tuition remission and an annual stipend of $20,772 (total stipend amount = $62,316).

North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission and Local Township Grants:

Jolley, J., & Kerbs, J. (Awarded June 2007). The officer-citizen collaboration project. A grant submitted to the Town of Winterville, NC ($13,000).

Jolley, J., & Kerbs, J. (Awarded June 2007). Project safety: Increased options. A grant submitted to the Governor’s Crime Commission of North Carolina ($6,747.98) #1147.

Jolley, J., & Kerbs, J. (Awarded June 2007). Project safety: Increased options. A grant submitted to the Town of Winterville, NC ($2,249.33).

Contact Information:

Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

725 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., CB# 7590

Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590

Phone: (919) 966-5829

Email: jmjolley@email.unc.edu