We are proud to present the 2023 award recipients.

Harold Clarke, Director of Corrections, Commonwealth of Virginia - 2023 Lifetime Achievement Award

Harold W. Clarke grew up in the Canal Zone in Panama. After graduating from Doane College in Crete, Nebraska in 1974, Mr. Clarke joined the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services as a counselor. He rose through the department, becoming Warden at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in 1987. In August of 1990, he was appointed Director of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, a position he held until 2005, when he left Nebraska to become the Secretary of the Washington State Department of Corrections. In November of 2007, Mr. Clarke left Washington to accept the position of Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Corrections. Commissioner Clarke left Massachusetts in November 2010 to accept an appointment by Governor Robert McDonnell as the Director of Corrections in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He was reappointed Director in 2014 by Governor Terry McAuliffe, in 2018 by Governor Ralph Northam, and again in 2022 by Governor Glenn Youngkin. Director Clarke is the longest serving Director of Corrections both in Virginia and in the United States. He has served five Democratic Governors and four Republican Governors as the head of corrections agencies. Throughout his career Director Clarke has focused on diversifying the agency, working on organizational development, and public safety by helping inmates successfully reintegrate into the community.

Mr. Clarke has served as an adjunct faculty and lecturer for the National Institute of Corrections since 1990. In August 2010, he completed a 2-year term as President of the American Correctional Association. He has also
served as President of the Association of State Correctional Administrators and served on the Board of Trustees of Doane College. In 2016 Mr. Clarke was inducted as a Fellow into the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA); NAPA was chartered under Title 36 of the United States Code in 1984 under President Ronald Reagan. He is a Trustee of the Academy of Professional Dialogue, and he also serves as a Trustee of River Road United Methodist Church in Richmond, Virginia.

His awards include the Martin Luther King Service award in 1991, the Dedicated Correctional Service Award in 1994, the Citizen of the Year Award from the Nebraska Association of Substance Abuse Directors in 1996, the Michael Francke Award from the Association of State Correctional Administrators in 1997, the Pioneer Human Services Partner of the Year Award in 2006, the Legacy Award from the Association of Women Executives in Corrections in 2007, the Honor “D” Award from Doane College in October 2007, the Commander’s Award For Public Service in 2010; the Reentry Champion Award from Offender Aid Restoration inc. in 2012, the Visionary Leadership Award from the Muslim Chaplain Services of Virginia in 2013, and the E.R. Cass Award from the American Correctional Association in 2014; the 2019 ASCA Tom Clements Innovation Award, the Governor’s Award for Personal and Professional Excellence in 2019, the William Hastie Award in 2021 from the National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice, and he was presented the Correctional Leadership Award from Vital Core in 2022.

Tom Riley - 2023 Distinguished Service Award

Tom Riley is from Chicopee, Massachusetts. He attended grade school and high school in that area and graduated from St. Michael’s college in Winooski, Vermont with a degree in American Studies and a minor in Spanish.
Riley went on to attend Creighton law school and upon graduation passed the Nebraska Bar in 1975. That same year he came to work in the Douglas County Public Defender’s Office as an assistant Public Defender. In 1983, he was promoted to Chief Deputy Public Defender.

In 1996, Riley was elected to the office of Douglas County Public Defender where he remains to this day. His father, grandfather and several uncles were all career members of the Chicopee police department. “My Dad wanted me to be a defense attorney,” he explained. “Obviously, I took his advice.”

He is a past member of the Nebraska Criminal Defense Attorneys Association. In 2000, he received the Alumni Merit Award from Creighton Law School. In 2009, he received the NCDAA Don Fiedler Lifetime Achievement Award and in
2015 he received the Award of Special Merit from the Nebraska State Bar Association. Since 1975, the Public Defender’s Office has grown from about a dozen lawyers to the current staff of 55 attorneys. The responsibilities of the office have also increased and currently include felonies, misdemeanors, juvenile delinquency cases, board of mental health commitments, child support contempt cases, and the representation of parents in juvenile court who are in danger of losing their parental rights.

Shannon O'Connor, U.S. Prosecutor - 2023 Outstanding Community Service Award

Shannon O’Connor graduated from the University of South Dakota School of Law in 1980. He immediately entered the U.S Army JAG Corps where he first experienced the court room prosecuting felony courts martial. Shannon discovered his true calling as a criminal defense attorney at the Douglas County Public Defender’s Office in 1986. He was then the first trial attorney hired by the newly created Federal Defender’s Office in 1994. Shannon represented nearly 2,000 felony clients and tried approximately 100 jury trials in his 35 years as a practicing attorney. He received an award from the National Defender’s Association for his outstanding defense provided to the indigent. Shannon’s last courtroom appearance was at the United States Supreme Court where he successfully argued a fourth amendment unlawful
seizure case. The winning opinion was written by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg.

Shannon believes in explaining the role of the criminal defense attorney to the public by speaking to different professional groups and to students ranging from elementary school through college. He spoke to law students and volunteered to judge student competitions at Creighton Law School. Shannon coached high school and college mock trial teams. The UNO team won two of three invitational in his first year as coach. Shannon was the keynote speaker at his alma mater’s 2018 law school graduation ceremony.

Dr. Abby Carbaugh - 2023 Alumni Achievement Award

Dr. Carbaugh has earned all three of the UNO School of Criminology and Criminal Justice degrees: a Bachelor of Science in 2008, a Master of Arts in 2010, and a Ph.D. in 2013. During her final years in the Ph.D. program, she served as an intern in the Research Division of the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services. In that role, she helped create metrics for the agency to assess its average daily population and worked with multiple external partners to create the agency’s 10-year population projections and Master Plan studies. She also used agency data to complete her dissertation, which investigated the effectiveness of parole supervision in reducing recidivism rates. Abby was hired by NDCS as their full-time Research Manager in 2012, and promoted to the roles of Research Administrator and Research Director. She grew the Research Division from two full-time employees to five and supervised three other UNO Ph.D.-student interns as they gained real-world experiences in applied research.

In 2021, Dr. Carbaugh was hired as the Juvenile Justice Data Administrator for Douglas County, Nebraska. In two years, Abby has procured over $3.9 million in federal grant funds for Douglas County from the Office of Juvenile Justice and
Delinquency Prevention, the Bureau of Justice Assistance, and the Office for Victims of Crime. Dr. Carbaugh has also been pivotal in improving data-sharing across a variety of state and local agencies, and in the adoption of a new electronic case management system for the Douglas County Youth Center to facilitate better data-driven decision making. Her favorite part of being an applied researcher in Nebraska is her ability to maintain ties to UNO. She has been an adjunct instructor since 2016, and routinely collaborates with the NCJR and JJI faculty and staff on a variety of projects.

Lt. Neal Bonnaci, Omaha Police Department Public Information Officer - 2022 Rising Star Award

Lieutenant Neal Bonacci began his career with the Omaha Police Department on January 25, 2010. As an officer, Neal worked in Uniform Patrol Bureau in all four original precincts.
In 2017, Neal was promoted to Sergeant. He worked in UPB until July 2018 when he was assigned to the Traffic Unit in crash investigations and prevention, and as the Project Nightlife sergeant.

In 2020, Neal was assigned to Criminal Investigations Bureau in the Robbery Unit. Neal has volunteered with various Omaha area non-profits. He is the OPD chaplain liaison. Neal
earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska-Omaha (2009), and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration (2016).

As the commander of the Public Information Office, Lieutenant Bonacci works directly for Chief Schmaderer as a liaison to the public and news media outlets. The Public Information Office (PIO) disseminates information to the news media and the public. Through a combination of the Omaha Police Department website, social media and news affiliates, the PIO strives to keep the community informed about the activities of the department and issues of public safety and crime prevention.