Speakers
Parallel Workshops
Women are not men. Men are not women. Despite 40 years of research supporting gender-responsive correctional strategies, most agencies still rely on the same policies, assessments, and supervision strategies for women and men. This one-size-fits-all approach overlooks a basic fact: girls and women are, on average, far less likely to be violent, and their pathways into the justice system are often different. Many have experienced significant trauma, unstable relationships, caregiving pressures, and health challenges that shape both their risks and their strengths.
When we supervise women and girls using tools and interventions designed for men and boys, we miss key drivers of behavior. This can weaken engagement, misclassify risk, and apply the wrong level or type of intervention, undermining both success for clients and public safety. The evidence is clear: applying the risk principle means matching supervision and services to how risk actually presents for women and girls, not assuming it looks the same as it does for men and boys.
Over nearly four decades, research on female-responsive and trauma-informed approaches has shown consistent results. When systems start with the realities of girls’ and women’s lives, they see stronger client engagement, higher reductions in recidivism, and better health and family outcomes. Gender-responsive supervision is not about treating women “easier”—it is about supervising them more effectively. By aligning policies, assessments, and interventions with the evidence, agencies can improve outcomes for women and girls while strengthening community safety.
Dr. Emily Salisbury creates cross-sector solutions to improve the lives of system impacted clients and staff. She is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Utah. As one of the founding and leading scholars of the gender-responsive corrections paradigm, she focuses on improving outcomes for justice-involved people and leverages that knowledge to promote trauma-responsive policy solutions. Her expertise is at the intersection of criminology and behavioral health.
Dr. Salisbury is the research director and co-founder of the UN-endorsed Women's Risk Needs Assessments (WRNAs), the only validated, peer-reviewed risk/strengths assessment and classification system designed by and for justice-involved women. The WRNAs highlight the distinct needs and strengths of justice-involved women for government and non-profit entities to identify the empirical-based factors related to women's economic mobility, personal growth, and independent success for their families. The tool has improved the lives of over 50,000 impacted women globally. Dr. Salisbury is also the founder of the first ever mobile health app designed for justice involved women to educate and navigate them toward evidence informed whole health solutions to improve their well-being, the Self-Assessment for Fempowerment app (SAFE app).
The success of the WRNAs opened the door for Dr. Salisbury to recently create the Men's Risk Needs Assessments (MRNAs) to measure and address justice involved men's complex trauma. Her 50+ publications appear in top academic journals, as well as practitioner-oriented newsletters and book chapters. She actively consults with many local, state, federal, and international correctional agencies on implementing gender-responsive, evidence-based strategies.