Criminal Justice Section Awards

The awards are presented at the Criminal Justice Section business meeting at the APA Convention.  They recognize psychologists and students who take an active role in furthering the field through research and clinical work.

• Outstanding Psychology Student Award
  This award is open to students at any stage of their graduate career (i.e., practicum students, psychology interns and postdoctoral fellows). Nominees must have clinical and/or research experience with the criminal justice population. In addition to these experiences, nominees must have made accomplishments during his/her training that exceed expectations of his/her developmental level.

• Outstanding Dissertation Award
  The Outstanding Dissertation Award will be given to a person who has completed (defended) their dissertation within the last 18 months prior to the award deadline. The focus of the dissertation research should be related to the criminal justice population. Trainees who implemented any type of research (qualitative, quantitative, or theoretical) are encouraged to apply. In addition to the application requirements listed below, individuals nominated for this award also need to submit: a copy of the dissertation in either Word or PDF format and a letter of support from the dissertation advisor. The dissertation advisor does not have to be the person to nominate the trainee. The letter of support from the dissertation advisor should include: acknowledgement that the student was nominated for the award; confirmation of the date of the dissertation defense; and a brief statement of his/her support or endorsement for the student being nominated for the award.

• Early Career Achievement Award
  This award is open to individuals who earned their doctoral degree in psychology within the last ten years. Nominees will have provided services to a criminal justice population in their career through clinical work and/or research. Overall, nominees will demonstrate, through their professional work that they are dedicated to providing and improving services for those involved in the criminal justice system.  

• Outstanding Clinician Award
  This award will be given to a psychologist who primarily provides direct clinical services to a criminal justice population and has done an outstanding job. The Awards Committee will look favorably upon those who have implemented and applied evidence based treatments to a criminal justice population; the committee is particularly interested in hearing about new and inventive clinical applications to a criminal justice population. The committee will also look favorably upon those psychologists who have worked collaboratively with others in their workplace to promote the application of appropriate clinical interventions. This award may be given to a psychologist with any number of years of experience. 

The nominations for the awards are open to all APA members and affiliates. However, those nominated must be members of Criminal Justice Section by the time the award is presented. Nominees do not have to be present to win the award. 

Nominations should include the following:

• A current CV of the nominee (within the past year)

• A letter of nomination (one-two pages in length) describing why this nominee should be considered for the award (be sure to specify which award for whom you are nominating the individual) 

• For self-nominations, a letter of recommendation is required, as well as a one-two page narrative describing why you believe you should be considered for the award. 

• For the Dissertation Award, as mentioned earlier, you must also submit a copy of the dissertation, as well as a letter of support from the dissertation advisor which includes: acknowledgement that the student was nominated for the award; confirmation of the date of the dissertation defense; and a brief statement of his/her support or endorsement for the student being nominated for the award.

Please submit your nominations through email, no later than June 15 to Lauren Lussier, PsyD (Criminal Justice Section Awards Committee Chair).