Leah A Jacobs
Biographic Data
| ID | 3936945 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Leah A Jacobs |
| GIVEN NAMES | Leah A |
| FAMILY NAME | Jacobs |
| SIGNATURE | JACOBS L A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Pittsburgh |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6883-5421 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 27 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 65 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1954 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Acting as the Face of a Broken System”
In 2020, United States federal legislation established the 988 Suicide & Crisis Hotline to divert mental health crisis calls away from standard emergency services, including law enforcement. The hotline’s creation has increased interest in and demand for comprehensive crisis intervention services. Among these services, mobile crisis (MC) teams are a core component. Expanding MC services, however, requires understanding the needs of and supporting…
Abolition compromised
Defunding the police is an abolitionist strategy to reduce policing and boost community resources that address the root social problems contributing to crime. Abolitionists advocate for solutions led and held accountable by the community, addressing community needs without reliance on criminal legal systems or carceral approaches. Since 2020, several US cities have partially diverted police budgets to social services, primarily through municipal …
Advancing Data Justice
Incremental Propensity Score Effects for Criminology
There goes the neighborhood? The public safety enhancing effects of a mobile harm reduction intervention
Recipients of Representative Payeeship with Mental Illness
Police-Social Work Collaboration and the Ethical Practice Paradox
Compassionate' Control
The contemporary Defund the Police movement has renewed interest in social work's role in public safety, leading some to call for increased police-social work collaborations. However, claims regarding the potential virtues and pitfalls of social work-police collaborations are largely ahistorical. To contextualize current debates, a systematic investigation into the evolution of social work and its relationship with law enforcement is necessary, p…
Teaching to Tech
Professional interests and social problems demand social work practitioners who can “harness technology for social good.” Although the field has acknowledged the need to train social workers to use technology in practice, existing scholarship has tested few models for doing so. This article describes and tests an information and communication technology-enhanced course for macropractice. Results from a quasi-experimental test of the technology-en…
Anti-Transgender Policies and Practices in Social Work Education, Accreditation, and Licensing
The social work profession is guided by the values of social justice and the dignity and worth of the person. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics requires that all social workers act in a professional manner consistent with these values. These values mandate that social workers “challenge social injustice on behalf of and in concert with vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups.” Yet, historically, and contempo…
Recidivism in Context
This study meta-analytically examined the effect of macro-level concentrated disadvantage on individual-level recidivism. Search results indicated research to date is designed to assess the incremental effect of concentrated disadvantage on recidivism above other risk factors. Using a multilevel random effects model, we found the estimated incremental effect of concentrated disadvantage was nonsignificant (log odds ratio = 0.03, p = .15, k = 48).…
Risk Factors for Criminal Recidivism Among Persons With Serious Psychiatric Diagnoses
Reducing criminal legal system involvement requires an understanding of the factors that promote repeat offending (i. e., recidivism), and the dissemination of relevant interventions to those most likely to benefit. A growing body of research has established common recidivism risk factors for persons with serious psychiatric disorder diagnoses. However, research to date has not examined the degree to which these risks apply to those with serious …
An Assessment of Prisoner Reentry, Legal Financial Obligations and Family Financial Support
Scholars have found that family support is an important facilitator of successful reentry from prison to the community. At the same time, they have argued that owing court-ordered fines or fees, also called legal financial obligations (LFOs), can act as an additional barrier to reentry, especially for parents. There remains a need to test how LFOs impact the financial support formerly incarcerated parents receive from their families. The current …
Making Aims Explicit
Social work researchers often conduct population-level analyses of equity, sometimes focusing on how social and economic well-being are differently experienced depending on gender. In response to the United States’ refusal to ratify the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, city-level campaigns began conducting gender equity analyses to highlight and address inequality. To date, these analyses…
Neighborhood Risk Factors for Recidivism
Justice‐involved people vary substantially in their risk of reoffending. To date, recidivism prediction and prevention efforts have largely focused on individual‐level factors like antisocial traits. Although a growing body of research has examined the role of residential contexts in predicting reoffending, results have been equivocal. One reason for mixed results may be that an individual’s susceptibility to contextual influence depends upon his…
The Effect of Housing Circumstances on Recidivism
The relationships between housing circumstances and recidivism are well established among people released from prison. Despite probation being far more common than prison or parole, we know little about living situations, homelessness, and residential instability among people on probation, and we know even less regarding how these housing circumstances may affect their risk of recidivism. Using a unique dataset of 2,453 people on probation and lo…
Ecologies of juvenile reoffending
A Phenomenological Study of International Students in US Graduate Programs Through the Lens of Personal Growth Initiative Construct
Humans, unlike other creatures, have an inherent desire to develop and grow. This desire to grow, Personal Growth Initiative, is an intentional way that humans cognitively and behaviorally navigate their environment and resources to effect change. While many researchers argue that this construct works only in individualistic cultures, others contend that the construct is applicable to collectivist cultures as well. We therefore undertook an explo…
Defund the Police
This article addresses social work’s place in the movement to “defund the police.” We argue that social work’s collaboration with police and use of policing constitutes carceral social work. In defining carceral social work, we specify the ways in which coercive and punitive practices are used to manage Black, Indigenous, other people of color, and poor communities across four social work arenas – gender-based violence, child welfare, schools, an…
From Criminalized Patients to Risk-Exposed Agents
Individuals with serious mental disorder diagnoses (SMD) are overrepresented in U.S. jails and prisons, returning to custody more often and more quickly than those without these diagnoses. This paper examines the strengths and limitations of existing theoretical interpretations of justice involvement among those with SMD and presents results from in-depth interviews (n = 23) in an effort to direct an alternative theoretical path. Findings indicat…
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare Vol. 46 No. 4
Beyond the Cultural Competence Paradigm and contradictory tensions stemming from the multiple identities that constitute each person and community.It also demonstrated the ways in which structural conditions such as chronic poverty, language barriers, and vulnerability to immigration control are tied to gender, race, and class, categories that would later expand across other identities as the concept of intersectionality rapidly diffused across m…
Introduction to the Special Issue on Structural Competency
Constructing the Structurally Competent Classroom
Social work seeks to address social problems through interventions that span micro and macro systems. As such, all social workers are obligated to understand the interplay between individual realities and structural forces. Yet prior models of structural social work play a marginal role in social work education, leaving social work educators without the means to meet these obligations. This structural gap in social work classrooms risks deemphasi…
Forensic Social Work
Forensic Social Work
Defund the Police
This article addresses social work’s place in the movement to “defund the police.” We argue that social work’s collaboration with police and use of policing constitutes carceral social work. In defining carceral social work, we specify the ways in which coercive and punitive practices are used to manage Black, Indigenous, other people of color, and poor communities across four social work arenas – gender-based violence, child welfare, schools, an…
Neighborhood Risk Factors for Recidivism
Justice‐involved people vary substantially in their risk of reoffending. To date, recidivism prediction and prevention efforts have largely focused on individual‐level factors like antisocial traits. Although a growing body of research has examined the role of residential contexts in predicting reoffending, results have been equivocal. One reason for mixed results may be that an individual’s susceptibility to contextual influence depends upon his…
Cultural relevance as program‐to‐community alignment
Calls for cultural sensitivity in the design and implementation of human services programs have become a standard response to the increasing diversity among the families and communities being served. In this article, we take a critical look at the construct, using data from a multi‐year evaluation of a statewide family support program. We examine how selected, locally implemented programs operationalize the state program's cultural sensitivity st…
Abolition compromised
Defunding the police is an abolitionist strategy to reduce policing and boost community resources that address the root social problems contributing to crime. Abolitionists advocate for solutions led and held accountable by the community, addressing community needs without reliance on criminal legal systems or carceral approaches. Since 2020, several US cities have partially diverted police budgets to social services, primarily through municipal …
Police-Social Work Collaboration and the Ethical Practice Paradox
Compassionate' Control
The contemporary Defund the Police movement has renewed interest in social work's role in public safety, leading some to call for increased police-social work collaborations. However, claims regarding the potential virtues and pitfalls of social work-police collaborations are largely ahistorical. To contextualize current debates, a systematic investigation into the evolution of social work and its relationship with law enforcement is necessary, p…
From Criminalized Patients to Risk-Exposed Agents
Individuals with serious mental disorder diagnoses (SMD) are overrepresented in U.S. jails and prisons, returning to custody more often and more quickly than those without these diagnoses. This paper examines the strengths and limitations of existing theoretical interpretations of justice involvement among those with SMD and presents results from in-depth interviews (n = 23) in an effort to direct an alternative theoretical path. Findings indicat…
The Old Babylonian Merchant
Cultural relevance as program‐to‐community alignment
Calls for cultural sensitivity in the design and implementation of human services programs have become a standard response to the increasing diversity among the families and communities being served. In this article, we take a critical look at the construct, using data from a multi‐year evaluation of a statewide family support program. We examine how selected, locally implemented programs operationalize the state program's cultural sensitivity st…
Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare Vol. 46 No. 4
Beyond the Cultural Competence Paradigm and contradictory tensions stemming from the multiple identities that constitute each person and community.It also demonstrated the ways in which structural conditions such as chronic poverty, language barriers, and vulnerability to immigration control are tied to gender, race, and class, categories that would later expand across other identities as the concept of intersectionality rapidly diffused across m…
Introduction to the Special Issue on Structural Competency
Constructing the Structurally Competent Classroom
Social work seeks to address social problems through interventions that span micro and macro systems. As such, all social workers are obligated to understand the interplay between individual realities and structural forces. Yet prior models of structural social work play a marginal role in social work education, leaving social work educators without the means to meet these obligations. This structural gap in social work classrooms risks deemphasi…
Forensic Social Work
Forensic Social Work
The Effect of Housing Circumstances on Recidivism
The relationships between housing circumstances and recidivism are well established among people released from prison. Despite probation being far more common than prison or parole, we know little about living situations, homelessness, and residential instability among people on probation, and we know even less regarding how these housing circumstances may affect their risk of recidivism. Using a unique dataset of 2,453 people on probation and lo…
Ecologies of juvenile reoffending
A Phenomenological Study of International Students in US Graduate Programs Through the Lens of Personal Growth Initiative Construct
Humans, unlike other creatures, have an inherent desire to develop and grow. This desire to grow, Personal Growth Initiative, is an intentional way that humans cognitively and behaviorally navigate their environment and resources to effect change. While many researchers argue that this construct works only in individualistic cultures, others contend that the construct is applicable to collectivist cultures as well. We therefore undertook an explo…
Defund the Police
This article addresses social work’s place in the movement to “defund the police.” We argue that social work’s collaboration with police and use of policing constitutes carceral social work. In defining carceral social work, we specify the ways in which coercive and punitive practices are used to manage Black, Indigenous, other people of color, and poor communities across four social work arenas – gender-based violence, child welfare, schools, an…
From Criminalized Patients to Risk-Exposed Agents
Individuals with serious mental disorder diagnoses (SMD) are overrepresented in U.S. jails and prisons, returning to custody more often and more quickly than those without these diagnoses. This paper examines the strengths and limitations of existing theoretical interpretations of justice involvement among those with SMD and presents results from in-depth interviews (n = 23) in an effort to direct an alternative theoretical path. Findings indicat…
Risk Factors for Criminal Recidivism Among Persons With Serious Psychiatric Diagnoses
Reducing criminal legal system involvement requires an understanding of the factors that promote repeat offending (i. e., recidivism), and the dissemination of relevant interventions to those most likely to benefit. A growing body of research has established common recidivism risk factors for persons with serious psychiatric disorder diagnoses. However, research to date has not examined the degree to which these risks apply to those with serious …
An Assessment of Prisoner Reentry, Legal Financial Obligations and Family Financial Support
Scholars have found that family support is an important facilitator of successful reentry from prison to the community. At the same time, they have argued that owing court-ordered fines or fees, also called legal financial obligations (LFOs), can act as an additional barrier to reentry, especially for parents. There remains a need to test how LFOs impact the financial support formerly incarcerated parents receive from their families. The current …
Making Aims Explicit
Social work researchers often conduct population-level analyses of equity, sometimes focusing on how social and economic well-being are differently experienced depending on gender. In response to the United States’ refusal to ratify the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, city-level campaigns began conducting gender equity analyses to highlight and address inequality. To date, these analyses…
Neighborhood Risk Factors for Recidivism
Justice‐involved people vary substantially in their risk of reoffending. To date, recidivism prediction and prevention efforts have largely focused on individual‐level factors like antisocial traits. Although a growing body of research has examined the role of residential contexts in predicting reoffending, results have been equivocal. One reason for mixed results may be that an individual’s susceptibility to contextual influence depends upon his…
Recidivism in Context
This study meta-analytically examined the effect of macro-level concentrated disadvantage on individual-level recidivism. Search results indicated research to date is designed to assess the incremental effect of concentrated disadvantage on recidivism above other risk factors. Using a multilevel random effects model, we found the estimated incremental effect of concentrated disadvantage was nonsignificant (log odds ratio = 0.03, p = .15, k = 48).…
Teaching to Tech
Professional interests and social problems demand social work practitioners who can “harness technology for social good.” Although the field has acknowledged the need to train social workers to use technology in practice, existing scholarship has tested few models for doing so. This article describes and tests an information and communication technology-enhanced course for macropractice. Results from a quasi-experimental test of the technology-en…
Anti-Transgender Policies and Practices in Social Work Education, Accreditation, and Licensing
The social work profession is guided by the values of social justice and the dignity and worth of the person. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics requires that all social workers act in a professional manner consistent with these values. These values mandate that social workers “challenge social injustice on behalf of and in concert with vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups.” Yet, historically, and contempo…
Incremental Propensity Score Effects for Criminology
There goes the neighborhood? The public safety enhancing effects of a mobile harm reduction intervention
Recipients of Representative Payeeship with Mental Illness
Police-Social Work Collaboration and the Ethical Practice Paradox
Compassionate' Control
The contemporary Defund the Police movement has renewed interest in social work's role in public safety, leading some to call for increased police-social work collaborations. However, claims regarding the potential virtues and pitfalls of social work-police collaborations are largely ahistorical. To contextualize current debates, a systematic investigation into the evolution of social work and its relationship with law enforcement is necessary, p…
Abolition compromised
Defunding the police is an abolitionist strategy to reduce policing and boost community resources that address the root social problems contributing to crime. Abolitionists advocate for solutions led and held accountable by the community, addressing community needs without reliance on criminal legal systems or carceral approaches. Since 2020, several US cities have partially diverted police budgets to social services, primarily through municipal …
Psychology (18 works) · Political science (15 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (10 works) · Criminology (10 works) · Law (9 works) · Medicine (9 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (8 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (8 works) · Law (8 works)