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National
With funding from the National Institute of Corrections (NIC), CJI is working with a team of national experts to develop and implement an integrated model for enhanced community-based offender supervision. This model is based on the premise that successful system enhancement requires equal emphasis on implementation of evidence-based practices, organizational development, and collaboration. CJI and the project team have completed a three-year pilot initiative in two states, focusing on system assessment, strategic planning, and implementation support. Replication work will begin in a new site in the Fall of 2007.
For more information on the NIC/CJI Initiative, click here.
CJI is working with the National Institute of Corrections to develop a series of white papers designed to share information with criminal justice system stakeholders about how the implementation of evidence-based practices and a focus on recidivism reduction affects their area of expertise as well as that of community corrections. In addition to existing white papers on evidence-based practices (EBP) in community corrections, the complete set will include papers on pre-trial services, judiciary, prosecution, defense, jail, prison, and treatment.
CJI is partnering with Abt Associates and Justice Systems Assessment and Training for a three-year study to measure the impact of caseload size and the implementation of evidence-based probation interventions on offender recidivism. CJI is responsible for:
CJI is collaborating with Cornerstones for Kids and CPS Human Resource Services to conduct a national assessment of the condition of the juvenile justice workforce, to explore the impact of juvenile justice reform on the workforce, and to produce a report on aligning workforce efforts with reform goals. CJI and its partners are now in the process of developing and testing a technical assistance package to support sites in engaging in comprehensive workforce planning as part of overall system reform. The technical assistance is being piloted in the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services as part of their implementation of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative.
CJI in cooperation with the Bureau of Justice Assistance, is working on a research project that involves three inter-related stages: 1) A survey of existing post-adjudication general recidivism assessment tools to determine availability, strengths and weaknesses, and level of fit when administered to American Indian and Hispanic/Latino offender populations within targeted state and tribal agencies; 2) The identification of key cultural components for both the American Indian and Hispanic/Latino populations in order to ascertain if these cultural aspects are present in the existing assessment tools identified in Step 1; and 3) The testing of questions, methods, or procedures which may increase the effectiveness and/or accuracy of assessment tools for American Indian and Hispanic/Latino offender populations.
The goal of this project is to provide Multnomah County, Oregon, its cities, and stakeholders with a public safety plan designed to assist decision makers in building and maintaining the most balanced, effective, and cohesive public safety system possible within available resources. The plan components include:
As part of a multi-year contract, CJI has recently begun working with the Court Support Services Division (CSSD) of the State of Connecticut's Judicial Branch to expand their Contractor Data Collection System (CDCS) and enhance their ability to use empirical evidence to support data-driven decision-making. Through the implementation of the CDCS, the Court Support Services Division has begun a collaborative initiative to collect treatment data on probation clients from their providers. CJI will assist CSSD in identifying, prioritizing, interpreting and reporting measures to monitor and document their progress. CJI's role in the expansion of this initiative will include facilitating the statewide roll-out of the database to all providers, as well as the provision of technical assistance on how to analyze, interpret and use the information collected on a regular basis.
CJI has conducted organizational assessments of the Iowa Department of Community Corrections and the Minnesota Department of Corrections related to their implementation of evidence-based practices in community corrections. CJI conducts interviews, focus groups, and surveys among staff, board members, and members of the executive team and prepares reports with recommendations based on our analyses.
CJI informs state and national policy development through studies and policy briefs. CJI publications related to reentry include: Returning Inmates: Closing the Public Safety Gap, The Role of Parole, and No Place Like Home: Housing and the Ex-Prisoner.
To view any of CJI’s policy briefs, please click here.
- Reentry and Criminal Justice Policy Work in Massachusetts
With support from the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation, CJI is working with policymakers and diverse stakeholders to assess the Massachusetts criminal justice system to develop recommendations for cost-effective strategies to reduce recidivism and improve the reintegration of prisoners in Massachusetts.
To view CJI’s report “From Incarceration to Community: A Roadmap to Improving Prisoner Reentry and System Accountability in Massachusetts,” click here.
- Criminal and Juvenile Justice Briefing Book
Additionally, the Shaw Foundation supported the development of CJI’s “Criminal and Juvenile Justice Policy Briefing Book” as part of its effort to promote effective and efficient criminal justice policies in Massachusetts. This briefing book was presented to Massachusetts’ political candidates who will impact criminal justice policy going forward. CJI developed this document with the hope that criminal justice issues will be substantively discussed during the campaign season within the context of the important public interests they address
To view CJI’s “Criminal and Juvenile Justice Briefing Book” presented to Massachusetts 2006 political candidates, click here.
The Crime and Justice Institute and Community Resources for Justice are partnering with Dwyer & Collora to convene Massachusetts criminal justice stakeholders to collaboratively develop and implement a statewide reentry system reform plan. To begin this process, CJI and Dwyer & Collora are planning to convene a national criminal justice educational forum. This forum would include a group of diverse criminal justice stakeholders from across the country who are engaged in innovative, evidenced-based practices. The forum would provide an opportunity for Massachusetts professionals to enhance knowledge, foster dialogue, and examine promising practices in offender reentry from other jurisdictions. Forum participants would include attorneys, judges, jail administrators, treatment providers, commissioners, policy makers, and other system-involved professionals. The forum findings would be articulated in a position paper and distributed to government officials, system stakeholders, community providers, the media, and other interested parties.
It is hoped that this forum and ongoing discussions with criminal justice stakeholders across Massachusetts will result in the development and implementation of a comprehensive offender reentry initiative.
The State of Massachusetts, through the Department of Youth Services (DYS) and with other Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) partners, is in the process of implementing detention reform in two pilot counties. With funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety, CJI provides technical assistance to DYS and the JDAI partnership to support the organizational change process necessary to implement detention reform, as well as other assistance specific to detention reform as needed.
The Massachusetts Parole Board contracted with CJI to facilitate a process for the development of guidelines for responding to parole violations. First, CJI completed a review of the current process, including mapping the current system, conducting interviews, gathering and analyzing data on current cases, and reviewing available statistics about past trends. Following this baseline research, CJI worked with the Parole Board to establish clear goals for parole supervision and the violation process. CJI then helped a cross-agency working group to map a range of policy options for appropriate responses for different types of violations. The guidelines that were developed take into account the objective risk of the offender based on a validated risk assessment instrument and the severity of the violation. Following pilot testing and evaluation, the new guidelines have been successfully implemented statewide.
CJI partnered with the Boston Foundation to examine the Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) system and its impact on ex-offenders seeking employment and housing. The collaboration produced a report and a public forum where more than 200 people observed a discussion of the key issues by state officials and practitioners with various viewpoints. At the time of this forum the issues of CORI were not well understood by the public, policy makers or the users of the information. In addition to educating these interests, the report and forum led to a year-long, substantive public discussion about the problems and benefits of the current system and resulted in legislative activity at the city and state levels.
With funding from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety, CJI is collaborating as the local action research partner with the city of Fall River. CJI staff are working closely with Fall River partners to use data to help guide and assess collaborative effort to reduce youth gang violence. The project includes gathering and analyzing a variety of data to help refine the problem definition and intervention strategies; providing ongoing feedback to assess progress and guide improvements; and preparing a case study evaluation of the initiative.
CJI is providing research consulting services to Roca, an innovative community-based organization in Chelsea, Massachusetts that intervenes with high-risk and gang-involved youth, to refine its program model to prepare for a rigorous outcome evaluation.
CJI received a grant from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Public Safety to examine three areas of offender reentry and produce large-scale public forums to discuss the issues. The examination focused on the impact of offender reentry on the communities to which they return and on the victims who live there; on the unique issues of women transitioning to the community; and on employers’ perspectives on hiring ex-offenders. CJI conducted extensive literature reviews, interviewed various stakeholders, conducted focus groups and analyzed data to fully understand the parameters of the issues. Two full-day, public forums were held and brought together approximately 20 discussants. The discussants included key stakeholders such as law enforcement, human service providers, community activists, victims of crime and state officials and legislators. A final report summarizing the research findings, roundtables and recommendations was also produced and disseminated.
With funding from the Boston Foundation, CJI conducted a public opinion study to explore the thinking of Massachusetts and Boston residents about criminal justice policy on such issues as sentencing, corrections, and prisoner reintegration. This nonpartisan study was designed to explore how Massachusetts residents feel when they learn more about the issues and have a chance to consider them at some length. It aimed to understand current views, test what kinds of reforms and policies the public would support, and identify areas where they may have misperceptions or hold conflicting views. Findings from the study were used to educate policymakers and legislators about what the people of Massachusetts believe should be done with regard to criminal justice system reform and prisoner reintegration; highlight opportunities for reform that are likely to have public support; and identify areas requiring more public education before reform is accepted. The study included telephone interviews with 748 randomly sampled Massachusetts adults and in-depth focus groups that informed development of the telephone questionnaire.
In 2003-2004, CJI conducted a series of community safety forums funded by The Boston Foundation and the Gardiner Howland Shaw Foundation. This series engages the community, law enforcement, public officials, and experts in dialogue about a range of public safety issues to inform and raise the level of public discourse, motivates public officials, and harnesses the political will of constituents to demand more effective social strategies. Also as part of this initiative, CJI conducted a focus group with ex-offenders about their experiences when re-entering the community. This group was observed by key policy makers and agency leaders, who subsequently participated in a moderated discussion of how the system can be improved.
CJI received a Civic Leadership Award for Commitment to Community Safety in 2004 from The Boston Foundation for our work on this initiative.
To view upcoming forum dates, please click here
To view any of CJI’s previous forum summary reports, please click one of the following:
Through the Massachusetts Department of Correction, CJI was awarded a project to provide technical assistance to help improve statewide collaboration around prisoner reentry and facilitate implementation of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) grant. CJI worked with a statewide steering committee and six local communities to build their capacity to form collaborative relationships that enhance the reentry process.
Launched with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, CJI’s novel Safety First model used police data to empower community members to develop and implement strategies to address specific public safety issues in their community. In a demonstration project, CJI facilitated partnerships among law enforcement, local leaders, community members, and service groups in three Massachusetts cities (Brockton, Lynn, and Lowell) to achieve public safety goals. CJI produced a monograph for the Annie E. Casey Foundation that provides the history of the project, its accomplishments, and lessons learned.
CJI also supports research and evaluation services for the human services operations of our parent organization, Community Resources for Justice, and its more than 1,300 clients in Greater Boston, Central and Southeastern Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. CJI produces information that assists programs in monitoring and achieving their performance goals, and designing services and programs based on current research on effective, evidence-based practices.
In Massachusetts
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Report (pdf)
Presentation by Elyse Clawson (pdf)
Thursday, January 29, 2004
Summary Report
Tuesday, October 7, 2003
Summary Report Summary Report
Friday, June 6, 2003
Press Release
Summary Report
Forum: January, 2003 and Focus Group: May, 2003
Summary Report
CJI is a division of Community Resources for Justice