#Referee #Coach #ApproachTo #Criminal #Justice #System #Brian #Lovins #TEDxBGSU
Dr. Brian Lovins is a Principal at JSP. He earned his PhD in Criminology from the University of Cincinnati, and he is the Immediate past-President for the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA). Prior to JSP, Dr. Lovins worked for Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department (CSCD) as the Assistant Director. He was tasked with developing and implementing agency wide change plans to drive increased successful completion rates.
Dr. Lovins has been instrumental in introducing the referee/coach conversation to the field. In 2018, Dr. Lovins and colleagues published the initial article “Probation Officer as a Coach: Building a New Professional Identity” in Federal Probation. Since then, he has delivered hundreds of conference presentations and invited talks regarding the referee/coach concept. Dr. Lovins routinely consults with agencies regarding their implementation of a coaching framework within the context of evidenced-based interventions.
Dr. Lovins has received the 2020 Edward J. Latessa Practitioner Research Award from the American Society of Criminology-Division on Corrections and Sentencing for his continued body of work in helping community corrections move forward. He has also been honored with the Dr. Simon Dinitz Public Service Award for his work and dedication in helping correctional agencies adopt evidence-based programs and the David Dillingham Award, as well as a being recognized as a Distinguished Alumnus from the University of Cincinnati. His publications include articles on risk assessment, sexual offenders, effective interventions, and cognitive-behavioral interventions. Our criminal justice system is steeped in toughness. Since 1980, the criminal justice system has expanded 500% while crime has continued to decrease over the same time period. When people think about the system, they think we need to catch people breaking the law and hold them accountable and that will reduce crime. In fact, the entire corrections system is designed to watch for people breaking the rules and issuing penalties–trying to get people to become compliant with the law. Much like a referee does with players in a game. But instead of referees, many people in the criminal justice system needs a coach instead of a referee. A coach cares about their players, invests in them, and wants to see them win. They also have high expectations and hold their players accountable. Ultimately, if we want to change the system, we need to give people who commit crime a coach to help them win without breaking the law. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at
criminal law , Referee versus Coach: A Different Approach To Our Criminal Justice System | Brian Lovins | TEDxBGSU, Activism,Criminal justice,English,Global Issues,Hardship,Prison,Social Change,Social Justice,TEDxTalks,[TEDxEID:56369]