Unlocking knowledge: Florida's researcher practitioner partnerships work

In an effort to increase the use of research in criminal justice and correctional practices, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) supports research to study and develop the best strategies to achieve this goal. Translational criminology studies, such as those by Laub1 and Innes and Everett,2 often found that researcher-practitioner partnerships (RPPs) serve as an effective strategy to increase the use of research in practice. Providing more support for the effective use of RPPs in correctional agencies is a recent NIJ-funded translational criminology study that focused on RPPs in Florida’s adult and juvenile correctional agencies. Findings from this study indicate that RPPs can provide mutual benefits for practitioners and researchers, and that successful partnerships require trust, reciprocity, and frequent communication and involvement.3