Deborah Koetzle

Deborah (Debi) Koetzle is Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice.  She received her Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati in 2006 and is a research fellow with the University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute. Her research focuses on effective correctional interventions, including the use of risk/need assessments, prison and community-based interventions, and problem-solving courts. Currently, she is the principal investigator on an INL-funded project designed to survey inmates in Central America on their experience with the rule of law and living in prison. Other funded research activities include a NIJ-funded project on the implementaiton and evaluation of the Organizational Coaching Model in three community supervision sites and a NSF-funded study on the relationship between comprehension, adolescent development, and legal decision-making for youth on probation. Past projects have included the evaluation and development of a specialized probation unit for young adults, the evaluation of reentry programs in Nevada, and an INL-funded project in El Salvador to reduce overcrowding in Salvadoran prisons. She has over 20 years of experience designing and delivering training curricula related to correctional interventions for community and prison-based settings and is a certified master trainer on multiple risk/need assessments. She has provided technical assistance to local, state, and federal agencies including the United States Administrative Office of the Courts, the Singapore Prison System, the Nevada Department of Corrections, and the Los Angeles County Department of Probation.  Her research has appeared in Justice Quarterly, the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, and other scholarly outlets.  She is editor of Drug Courts and the Criminal Justice System and author of What Works (and Doesn’t) in Reducing Recidivism, 2nd edition.