Catawba County News

Catawba County Selected to Participate in Research-Action Site Grant

Published: August 28, 2019

Catawba County today announced it has been selected to participate in the national Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research (APPR) grant initiative as a Research-Action Site. Catawba County is among five counties (including communities in Alabama, Georgia and Washington) selected to participate through a competitive application process.

As an APPR Research-Action Site, Catawba County will receive intensive assistance from national justice experts to study our pretrial system, understand our data, and design and implement research-based strategies to meet local needs.

“We are excited to be part of this initiative, which has the potential to inform our pretrial processes in Catawba County,” said Nathaniel J. Poovey, Senior Resident Superior Court Judge for Catawba County District 25B. “Our work will help us identify evidence-based policies and programs to responsibly and effectively manage our local inmate population.”

Catawba County will be a member of the APPR initiative for five years. The first year will involve a robust planning process of research and analysis, guided by local justice system officials and in consultation with community leaders, to identify opportunities for improvement.

Alongside other modifications, Catawba County will begin testing the Public Safety Assessment, a pretrial risk assessment data tool that provides local justice system officials with additional information to support pretrial release decision making.

Additional pretrial advancements will be determined through the planning phase. The information gained from Catawba County by the APPR team will be disseminated to advance research-based pretrial policies and practices nationally.