We encourage honest self-reflection and thoughtful risk-taking among criminal justice agencies, beginning with ourselves.
Even as we look to spread evidence-based programs, there is also a need to encourage more experimentation in the justice system. There are many problems that we do not yet know how to solve.
Closer to home, we remain committed to an active research model. We have assigned researchers to each of our operating programs to provide us with regular feedback about what works and what doesn't so we can make adjustments as needed.
Daring to Fail is a collection of interviews with leaders in a variety of fields—prosecution, policing, community corrections, indigent defense and others—about leadership, management and innovation.
The Center for Court Innovation piloted a small electronic monitoring program—using smartphones—for young people under justice supervision. This article offers insights into the best ways to approach technology projects in the justice system, but also concludes that electronic tracking of 16- to 18-year-olds in school raised multiple challenges and provided too little benefit to serve as a replacement for traditional supervision methods.
Rachel Barkow contends criminal justice policy is a “prisoner of politics,” driven by appeals to voters’ worst instincts and an aversion to evidence of what actually works. In her new book, the NYU law professor makes a provocative case for “freeing” criminal justice from the political imperative in order to achieve real reform.