Faculty / Harland

Research interests:

• Sentencing policy and practice
• Community corrections sanctions
• Client-specific planning/defense-based advocacy
• Criminal justice policy-making and strategic management
• Processing and treatment of substance abusing defendants
• System responses to crime victims [especially compensation and restitution]
• Reasoned decision-making in criminal justice
• Legal reasoning and Supreme Court decision-making

Research Projects:

Much of my current activity in recent years has involved a series of action-research grant projects funded by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency and the U.S. Justice Department, all focused on development, implementation, and evaluation of a variety of policy, program, and technological reforms in the court system of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Topics covered include:

• Jail overcrowding and population reduction strategies
• Re-engineering pretrial release and supervision practices
• Application of video-conferencing technologies to criminal processes – impact on the quality, quantity, timeliness and cost of justice
• Day Reporting Centers as alternatives to incarceration
• Substance abuse assessment and treatment in Drug Court and jail settings
• Probation and parole violation reforms
• Managing planned-change in a county-level criminal justice context