Ashlee Barnes-Lee
Assistant Professor of Social Work | Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI, UNITED STATES
Ashlee Barnes-Lee's research aims to eliminate racial/ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system and school-based discipline.
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Biography
Ashlee R. Barnes is a Detroit native and interdisciplinary scholar. She earned a B.A. in both criminal justice and psychology, and a Ph.D. in ecological-community psychology from Michigan State University (MSU). She has nearly a decade of practical experience with youth as she has worked in adolescent diversion, juvenile probation and detention, and in facilities serving youth diagnosed with mental health challenges. She is currently a Research Associate in the School of Social Work at MSU.
Dr. Barnes-Lee's approach to research encompasses her commitment to increasing access, equity, and opportunities for marginalized communities that often experience institutional disempowerment. Broadly, her research program aims to eliminate racial/ethnic disparities in the juvenile justice system and school-based discipline.
Overall, her research has led to 16 peer-reviewed publications in high impact scholarly journals including Criminal Justice & Behavior, Developmental Psychology, and Children and Youth Services Review. The completion and dissemination of her research have been supported by nearly $100,000 in grants, competitive fellowships, and travel funding.
Notably, she was awarded a State of Michigan King-Chavez-Park Future Faculty Fellowship. In addition, she has received three honorable mentions from the Ford Foundation for her thesis and dissertation research on racial equity in juvenile risk assessment.
In the classroom, Dr. Barnes-Lee aims to create an inclusive learning community where students can feel safe to actively engage in the learning process. Her approach has consistently resulted in strong student evaluations. In addition to her formal teaching experience, she has taught, trained, and mentored student research assistants who disseminated their findings at national conferences and later earned degrees in psychology, criminal justice, social work, and public policy.
Dr. Barnes-Lee is a member of several professional associations, including, American Psychological Association (Division 27) Society for Community Research and Action, American Society of Criminology, and Michigan Association for Evaluation. She enjoys teaching Zumba, taco Tuesdays, and movie nights with her family.
Industry Expertise (1)
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (5)
Juvenile Justice Reform
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in School-Based Discipline
Strengths-Based Risk Assessment and Treatment
Community-Driven Research Methods
Scale Development
Accomplishments (5)
VCU iCubed Professional Development Grant (professional)
2019
National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity Grant (professional)
2019
Michigan State University AGEP Alumni Spotlight (professional)
2019
Service-Learning Faculty Learning Committee Award (professional)
2018
Virginia Commonwealth University ASPiRE Faculty Fellow (professional)
2018
Education (4)
Michigan State University: Ph.D., Ecological-Community Psychology 2017
Michigan State University: M.A., Ecological-Community Psychology 2013
Michigan State University: B.A., Criminal Justice 2008
Michigan State University: B.A., Psychology 2008
Affiliations (2)
- State of Michigan King-Chavez-Park Initiative : Fellow
- Virginia Commonwealth University : Affiliate Faculty, Center for Cultural Experiences in Prevention
Links (4)
Event Appearances (3)
Racial disparities in the juvenile justice system: Addressing racial bias in risk and needs assessment.
(2020) Criminology Consortium Virtual Conference
Parental racial socialization as a mechanism to reduce racial disparities in delinquency and school-based discipline
(2020) Black Doctoral Network National Virtual Conference
Parental racial socialization as a mechanism to reduce racial disparities in delinquency and school-based discipline
(2020) American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting
Journal Articles (3)
A scoping review of strengths-based risk and needs assessments for youth involved in the juvenile legal system
Children and Youth Services Review2023 Scholars have purported that strengths are an important—but often overlooked—component of risk and needs assessment, resulting in a body of literature primarily focused on deficits. Moreover, scholars have theorized that incorporating strengths in risk and needs assessment can lead to less stigmatization of individuals involved in the legal system and more accurate recidivism predictions models. Research in this area is growing, and in need of a comprehensive review to better understand the empirical value of strengths in juvenile legal system rehabilitation to support past theoretical assertions.
(In) Effectiveness of In-Home Detention Tethers to Reduce Recidivism for System-Involved Girls
Justice Evaluation Journal2022 In-home detention tethers are an intermediate, correctional sanction that have become popular alternatives to detention or incarceration. However, there is limited research on whether in-home detention tethers reduce recidivism among juvenile legal system involved girls. The current quasi-experimental study examines recidivism outcomes among adjudicated girls who received the intervention compared to a matched comparison group of girls. Recidivism rates were analyzed following completion of the intervention. In-home detention tethers were not found to be an effective method to reduce recidivism among girls.
Protective factors for reducing juvenile reoffending: an examination of incremental and differential predictive validity
Criminal Justice and Behavior2020 Juvenile court practitioners and researchers have recently gained interest in evaluating internal and external strengths, or protective factors. Some scholars assert that incorporating measures of strengths into the risk assessment process can increase the accuracy of identifying odds of recidivating. Relatively few juvenile risk assessment validation studies have evaluated the predictive validity of strengths. This study employed a diverse sample (N = 278) of juveniles under supervision in a Midwestern court. The Protective Factors for Reducing Juvenile Reoffending (PFRJR) significantly predicted recidivism for the total sample, males, and White youth.
