Preventing Justice Involvement

Justice system involvement negatively impacts the lives of millions of Americans each year—especially people of color. The right interventions can break patterns of community violence and help people lead more successful lives. We conduct research into what works and why, and we help federal, state, and local agency clients and community partners adopt evidence-based reforms and pilot new approaches.

More than 650,000 people are released from prison each year. Many find it challenging to return to work, family, and community and re-offend within a few years. That’s why justice and correction systems at all levels have invested in programs and services to support successful reentry. We evaluate these efforts, conduct research to identify successful practices, and provide technical assistance to help scale what works.

Preventing justice involvement requires understanding systems—justice and juvenile justice and corrections, jails and prisons, the courts, probation, and human services—and how they interact with and across jurisdictions and communities. We work with clients along the full continuum of services and programs to assess and evaluate strategies and interventions, identify and scale effective practice, and collaborate on solutions to new problems—always with an equity lens, a human-centered approach, and a respect for people and data.

We have worked with clients to implement projects ranging from rigorous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to qualitative implementation studies. Most often, we employ a range of methods and design our approach collaboratively—with clients and partners—so that we can incorporate awareness of local context, institutional constraints, and emerging opportunities early and throughout the research process.