2026 Forensic Social Work Alliance (FSWA) Annual Conference

2026 Forensic Social Work Alliance (FSWA) Annual Conference is organized by Forensic Social Work Alliance and will be held from May 26 - 29, 2026 at Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America.

Description:
The recognition of forensic and criminal legal social work as a distinct and specialized practice is growing globally, as is the impact of this practice area. Despite this, forensic social work education remains underdeveloped and varies significantly across jurisdictions. This conference seeks to advance forensic social work education scholarship by exploring curriculum development, pedagogical innovations, interprofessional training, and global perspectives on preparing social workers for forensic practice.

• From Protection to Permanency: Evidence-Based and Trauma-Responsive Forensic Practice in Child Welfare
• Bridging Law and Social Work: The Critical Role of Forensic Social Work in Death Row Mitigation
• Working with Experts: Ethics and Practices for Mitigation
• Accepting Expertise: Immigration Judges Respond to Objections to Forensic Evaluations and Testimony in Removal Defense Cases
• Constitutional Harm and Survivor Testimony: Preparing Social Workers for Forensic Practice in Systems of Concealment
• Centering DEI in Mental Health Courts
• We Carry Our Hope and Traditions Forward: Growing Networks of Resilience and Resistance in Rural Forensic Social Work Practice
• Innovation in Public Defense- Interdisciplinary Defense System Project
• Social Work in Public Defense: Reducing Recidivism through Re-Entry Support
• Mining for Gold: In-Depth Search and Review of Client Records

Education (Primary, Secondary, Higher Education)

• The Transformative Power of Doctoral Education in Forensic Social Work Practice and Leadership
• Bridging the Gap: Teaching Tomorrow’s Forensic Social Workers Today
• Global Perspectives on Forensic Social Work Education: Emerging Frameworks and International Developments
• Reimagining ATI for Adolescents: An Anti-Oppressive, Multi-Level Framework for Training Future Forensic Social Workers
• Forensic Social Work and the Legal Desert: Reframing Law-Based Practice for Access to Justice
• Creative Opportunities for Dissemination and Translation of Forensic Social Work Research into Practice and Education
• Preparing and Supervising Social Work Students for Forensic Field Education

Juvenile Justice:

• Apples & Oranges: co-creating evaluation strategies for restorative justice in rural and urban programs
• parenting, peer problems, and mobility as predictors of delinquency onset in IPV-exposed youth
• Disproportionate Minority Contact (DMC) to Racial and Ethnic Disparities (RED) in Juvenile Justice: What does it Mean and Does it Matter?
• Outlining the Development of an Evidence-Based Curriculum for Children of Incarcerated Parents

Law Enforcement:

• Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Juvenile Custodial Interrogations: Implications for Forensic Social Work
• Defining and diagnosing serious mental illness (SMI): Implications for the disciplinary process in carceral settings
• Understanding Law Enforcement Response to IPV: A Collaborative Conversation
• Police Response to Intimate Partner Violence: A Scoping Review

Forensic Practice| Mental Health:

• Threat Assessment of Violence Risk: Bridging Research, Practice, and Structured Clinical Judgment
• Differentiating Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia in Solitary Confinement: Implications for Forensic Social Work Practice
• From Data to Defense: Integrating Community Context into Forensic Evaluation and Mitigation Practice
• Beyond Conflict: Developing Effective Co-Parenting Education for Interparental Conflict in Custody Cases
• The Role of Family in Disrupting the Pathway to Hate Fueled Violence
• Support for Those Who Support Others: The Impact of Social Workers on Mental Health of Civil Legal Aid Staff
• Digital Evidence and Authentication (or Not) in Forensics – What You Need to Know Before it “Bytes” You
• Rewriting Redemption: Narrative Therapy as a Transformative Tool in Correctional Mental Health Practice
• Sustainability Practices for Forensic Social Workers: Beyond Self-Care
• More than the Worst Moment: Empathy and Self-Care when Working with Individuals who Commit Sex Crimes