General's Task Force Research Articles

Action For Cultural Transformation (ACT)

<h3>Research Objectives</h3> To create a cultural of diversity and inclusion within our organization, through addressing racism, biases, inequalities, and social injustices. To identify and eliminate health disparities amongst the patients we serve throughout our organization. <h3>Design</h3> Focus Group Sessions held over three months. <h3>Setting</h3> Single, urban, adult-inpatient post-acute rehabilitation center located in Philadelphia, PA. <h3>Participants</h3> 205 employees participated in the focus groups (Registered Nurses, Certified Nursing Assistants, Occupational, Physical, Recreational, and Respiratory Therapy). There were two sessions with the leadership group as well. <h3>Interventions</h3> The interventions included work to create a culture of diversity, inclusion, and address inequalities. The themes from the ACT focus groups guided the development of 3 taskforce: General Taskforce that initiated the "Just-Do-Its" Health Equity Taskforce Safe Workplace Taskforce. <h3>Main Outcome Measures</h3> 29 ACT Focus Group Sessions were completed. 205 employees shared their experiences with racism Additionally, employees have given us feedback on what our organization does well and our opportunities for improvement. <h3>Results</h3> 29 ACT Focus Group Sessions were completed 205 employees sharing their experiences with racism Additionally, employees have given us feedback on what our organization does well and our opportunities for improvement. <h3>Conclusions</h3> The ACT focus groups served as a listening platform for employees to share their stories and express their feelings and concerns related to racism, biases, inequalities, and social injustices. Employees were also able to help our organization identify areas of opportunity and give ideas to ensure diversity, inclusion, and health equity for staff and the patients we serve. <h3>Author(s) Disclosures</h3> None.

Introduction: Addressing the vulnerability of young women and girls to stop the HIV epidemic in southern Africa

Introduction: Addressing the vulnerability of young women and girls to stop the HIV epidemic in southern Africa

Disarming Batterers Through Restraining Orders

Laws that prohibit persons under a domestic violence restraining order from purchasing or possessing a firearm are a primary way to keep guns out of the hands of batterers. In July 2005, the California Attorney General's Task Force on the Local Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence issued a report called Keeping the Promise: Victim Safety and Batterer Accountability. The report focused, in part, on the extent to which California's domestic violence restraining order system succeeds in disarming batterers. Restraining orders are the principal means by which the criminal justice system can accomplish this objective. The Task Force found that criminal justice agencies and the courts performed poorly in this area. The report strongly recommended that a more strategic, collaborative use of laws already on the books could significantly improve performance, without much additional expense. What follows is a summary of those finding and recommendations.

Oregon's Efforts to Reduce Elder Financial Exploitation

ABSTRACT Several programs have been undertaken in Oregon to reduce financial abuse. They include the production of a multi-media training kit by the Oregon's Attorney General's Task Force with funding from the US Department of Justice, creation of an “Elder Financial Exploitation Prevention Program” that educates seniors “at the scene of the crime,” and distribution of devices to assist elders in ending unwamted phone calls and direct mail solicitations.

The Crime Victim Movement at Its First Decade

During the last 10 years a crime victim movement has developed in the United States. Throughout the country, there are more than 2,000 victim assistance programs. In addition, self-help groups and reforms in state laws giving rights to crime victims are flourishing. The movement has received impetus from the Presidential Task Force on Victims of Crime established in 1982, a federal Victim and Witness Protection Act passed in 1982, the Attorney General's Task Force on Family Violence, and most recently from the Victims of Crime Act of 1984, which creates a fund for state victim service and compensation programs financed by penalties levied against federal offenders. Typically, service programs help victims cope with the psychological and practical aftermath of a crime; but compensation programs reimburse victims for lost earnings and medical expenses that result from a crime. As the first decade of the victims' movement draws to a close, the challenges of the second emerge. Where should victim programs be housed? Should the priority of victim advocates be to respond to social service needs or to establish victims' rights in the criminal justice system? How is emotional support provided best: through self-help groups, by victim assistance workers, by psychologists and psychiatrists? Are special services needed, or are they already available through existing programs and from the victim's family and friends? To answer these questions, victim advocates and policy makers should look backward to the two sources of the victim movement-the concern of law enforcement officials about the failure of victims to report crimes and cooperate with prosecutors and the interest of the women's movement in the plight of rape and spouse abuse victims. These two sources are reflected in the organizational structure of existing programs and in the kinds of services and rights available to crime victims. They will also undoubtedly shape the future of the victim movement.

Foreward. Remarks by Governor James R. Thompson on the Attorney General's Task Force on Violent Crime

No responsible public official is pro-crime. No one wants to see neighborhoods debilitated, citizens threatened, and spirits broken by the abject fear that violent crime engenders. In the past, however, there have been different points of view on how to approach the crime problem. With each succeeding change in our approach, the crime rate has risen. With each attempt at change, random violence on the streets of our communities has increased.