NCJ Number
244698
Date Published
2014
Length
178 pages
Annotation
In discussing ways to reduce crime and incarceration, these essays address how to translate ideas into action at the local level, how to launch a new criminal justice reform, how to measure the impact of a criminal justice intervention, and how to present new practices to resistant audiences.
Abstract
Part 1 of the book examines these issues through a case study of the Red Hook Community Justice Center, an experimental courthouse in southwest Brooklyn. Although this Justice Center is a relatively small project that works with a few thousand minor offenders, it demonstrates the difficulty of implementing even small-scale experimental programs; however, they can become powerful sources of information when evaluated independently. The Justice Center was found to reduce the number of defendants who received jail sentences as well as the percentage of those who reoffended. Part 2 contains essays on "problem-solving" courts, which are part of a national movement to tailor court case processing and dispositions to the problems and issues associated with particular types of offenders and offenses. These specialty courts include drug courts, mental health courts, domestic violence courts, and veteran's courts. By focusing criminal justice and community resources on particular offenses and offenders, evaluation research has shown that these courts are more effective than multi-purpose courts in reducing reoffending. Part 3 of the book is composed of essays that explore the challenges of effective implementation of problem-solving courts. The central theme is that good ideas will not have the desired impact unless they are adapted to particular settings and are monitored by research that guides continuous adaptation to change. The final two chapters reflect on a generation of criminal justice reforms guided by research on the impact of new approaches to law enforcement, court processing, and correctional treatment. Notes and a subject index