IRV Certification

425 0 N. F ai r f a x Dr . Sui t e 500
www.csrincorporated.com

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Ar l i ngt on, VA 22 203

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7 03 –3 12 –5 22 0

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December 28, 2015

Brecht Donoghue
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, Department of Justice
Principal Investigator, Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement
Re: Approval of Expedited Institutional Review Board (IRB) Submission of Census of Juveniles in
Residential Placement (CJRP)

Dear Ms. Donoghue:

On November 19, 2015, Principal Investigators, Monica Robbers and Brecht Donoghue,
submitted a request to CSR’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) to conduct an expedited review of
the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement. A three member panel from CSR’s IRB
conducted the expedited review. The panel members included;
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John Foster-Bey, DLS, MBA, MPA (President and Chief Executive Officer of CSR, Incorporated)
Amanda Farrell, M.A., M.SC., Ph.D., (Assistant Professor Criminal Justice, Marymount
University)
Patricia M. San Antonio, M.A., Ph.D. (Project Manager, CSR, Incorporated)

Based on the panel’s review, CSR’s IRB has approved the Census of Juveniles in Residential
Placement (CJRP).
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In reviewing this application, it was found that the proposal is consistent with ethical and legal
considerations related to human subjects’ research.

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This is a census of juvenile residential placement facilities so there is no question of unfair
sampling or selection of participants.

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The letter of informed consent provided with the application contains the purpose of the study,
as well as how the data will be utilized, and informs subjects that their participation is voluntary.

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Researchers reduced burden on participants by streamlining and simplifying the census form,
providing an online tool and toll free number for help. Respondents can use either the paper or
online form.

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No financial or other incentives are offered to facilities for their cooperation so there are no
concerns related to undue influence.
Turning Inquiry into Knowledge and Knowledge into Action ®

425 0 N. F ai r f a x Dr . Sui t e 500
www.csrincorporated.com

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Ar l i ngt on, VA 22 203

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7 03 –3 12 –5 22 0

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703 –3 12 –5 23 0 ( f a x)

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Facilities are the unit of analysis so additional concerns related to juveniles and prisoners as
special populations are mitigated.

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The same level of protection will be applied to all participants.

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There are no identifiable harms to the individuals in these facilities that have been presented.

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No potential harms to facilities been presented, save for concerns related to deaths in custody.

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The data on deaths in custody are reported only at the national level. Data are not
disaggregated at the state or local level.

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Researchers clarified that disaggregated data of deaths of juveniles in custody would not be
uploaded to or available through Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
(ICPSR). This mitigates the concern related to identification of individual youths and facilities
through data that is released for research purposes.

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The letter of informed consent provided with the application contains the purpose of the study,
as well as how the data will be utilized, and informs subjects that their participation is voluntary.

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The researchers provided a detailed description of data security,

The IRB Committee suggests that in the letter of consent, add the word secure to the sentence
identifying the online reporting option, so that it now reads “…we also have a secure online
reporting option. This speaks to data security and storage, which are also considerations in the
responsible conduct of research of human subjects.

John A. Foster-Bey, DLS, MBA, MPA
President & Chief Executive Officer
703-741-7131
[email protected]

4250 Fairfax Dr. Suite 500 • Arlington, VA 22203

Turning Inquiry into Knowledge and Knowledge into Action ®