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PROTECTING THOSE
WHO SERVE
The Issue
Professionals in the criminal justice system are often on the frontlines of many public safety and public health crises. Addiction and substance use figure prominently in the work of prosecutors’ offices, courts, corrections, and other CJ professionals around the country.
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Substance use disorder can be a key driver of criminality, impacting prosecutors’ caseloads. Unfortunately, prosecutors and staff rarely receive adequate tools, training, or in-house resources for these cases. This often leads to poor public safety outcomes as well as burnout, unhealthy coping skills, and physical and mental health issues among prosecutors and staff.
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​Staff in these offices are tasked with charging, judging, and supervising cases involving substance use, often without adequate tools, training, or in-house resources. Based on our pilot research to remedy the surprising lack of existing studies, we have found that many CJ professionals find that this work can be tiresome, frustrating, and undervalued which often leads to burnout, unhealthy coping skills, and poor mental health.
What We Do
To help improve their occupational health and wellbeing as it relates to substance use, burnout, and stress, and to improve public safety and reduce addiction in the community, we are developing evidence-based training courses tailored to each CJ field. Bringing the science and best practices to all CJ personnel will increase their collective capacity to improve public safety and reduce addiction in the communities they serve.
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This evidence-based course by the SHIELD Training Initiative at Northeastern University School of Law in collaboration with UC San Diego, School of Medicine brings the science and best practices about substance use disorder, recovery strategies, and how to reduce drug-related crime and disorder in the communities they serve. These practices will also help reduce prosecutor and staff burnout arising from handling substance use-related cases.
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What SHIELD Offers
The SHIELD training model’s core curriculum has been extensively evaluated. It has been found to be effective in boosting officer attitudes and intentions about using best practices that deliver multiple benefits:
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Improving public safety by reducing addiction and drug-related crime in the community
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Increasing officer wellbeing and retention by reducing stress, improving police morale, occupational safety, and job satisfaction, while also facilitating community level collaboration
Research & Evidence
Based on our pilot research to remedy the surprising lack of existing studies, we have found that many criminal justice system professionals find that this work can be tiresome, frustrating, and undervalued which often leads to burnout, unhealthy coping skills, and poor mental health.
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The new curricula are evidence-based, and developed by legal, health, and educational experts at Northeastern University School of Law and the University of California-San Diego. They are based upon consultations with personnel, qualitative interviews, and pilot trainings, as well as familiarity with the existing research base.