Responsivity research: Informing psychological services for justice systems that work.

Abstract

Public service psychologists engage their research competencies to explore the psychological health needs of underserved populations and the justice systems that deliver them psychological services. In late June 2023. the Criminal Justice Section of Division 18 of the American Psychological Association cosponsored the Fifth North American Correctional and Criminal Justice Psychology Conference: Towards a Justice System That Works, Toronto, Canada. This is the fourth time our journal, Psychological Services, has engaged to develop a section of peer-reviewed articles from the original empirical research presented at the North American Correctional and Criminal Justice Psychology Conference. Supplemented with additional justice-related articles featuring a theme of responsivity, this brief introduction outlines the importance of responsivity research-knowledge that informs unique aspects of a subpopulation so clinicians might better inform the services they deliver. Articles span a range of justice settings domestically and internationally and examine issues of gender, ethnicity, and the workforce to increase the empirically informed responsivity factors that deepen provider understandings of treatment needs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).