Open Access Publisher and Free Library
05-Criminal justice.jpg

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

CRIMINAL JUSTICE-CRIMINAL LAW-PROCDEDURE-SENTENCING-COURTS

Posts in Criminal Justice
Missouri Justice Reinvestment Initiative:  Improving Community-Based Treatment and Addressing Violent Crime  

By Erin Thorvaldson and Kendric Holder

In 2017, Missouri’s prison incarceration rate was eighth highest in the country, and violent crime had increased 13 percent between 2010 and 2016. If the rate of growth in Missouri’s prison population continued, the state would have needed to build two new prison facilities by 2021, which would have cost nearly half a billion dollars in combined construction and operating costs. To address these challenges, the state used the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), which resulted in legislation in 2018 aimed at reforming Missouri’s criminal justice system. This brief explores the effects of that legislation.

New York: The Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2024. 8p.

The Justice Reinvestment Initiative in Iowa: Aligning Public Safety and Supervision Practices

By Alison Martin and Greg Halls

In March 2020, the Iowa Department of Corrections (IDOC) faced overcrowding and urgent health concerns. To address these issues, IDOC and other criminal justice agencies implemented measures to reduce the prison population and expand community-based corrections (CBC). These efforts included limiting revocations, expanding administrative review processes, releasing low-risk individuals, and increasing the use of telehealth and technology for supervision and programming. As a result, the prison population decreased by 13 percent within 6 months, while the CBC population increased by nearly 17 percent. Despite this increase, the average monthly revocation rate decreased by almost 40 percent between March 2020 and March 2021. In 2021, Iowa state leaders requested support from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs’ Bureau of Justice Assistance and The Pew Charitable Trusts to assess the impact of these changes on public safety and CBC operations using a Justice Reinvestment Initiative approach. This brief summarizes the findings from that effort.

New York: The Council of State Governments Justice Center, 2024. 9p.

Criminal justice and people with disability.. Final Report: Volume 8

By The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability

This volume describes what we have learnt about the treatment of people with disability in the criminal justice system in Australia. In particular, we have found people with disability are significantly over-represented at all stages of the criminal justice system. Chapter 1 gives a snapshot of the available data about people with disability in the criminal justice system, common types of disability, and factors contributing to people with disability having high rates of contact with the criminal justice system. Particular groups of alleged offenders with disability are far more likely to have contact with the criminal justice system (including with police, courts and corrections) than other groups. These include First Nations people with cognitive disability, women with disability experiencing violence, and people with co-occurring cognitive disability, psychosocial disability and other disabilities. The statistics are stark. For example, a 2015 report on adult prisoners in New South Wales found that 43 per cent of First Nations women who participated in the study had a disability,4 and between 40 to 90 per cent of adult prisoners may have an acquired brain injury.5 Because of limitations in the available data, the true number of people with disability in the criminal justice system in Australia is unknown. Nonetheless, it is clear people with disability – particularly those with cognitive disability – are disproportionately represented in criminal justice settings, across all stages, from police contact and arrest, through to court processes and correctional settings. The disproportionate rate of imprisonment of people with disability is not the result of any inherent relationship between disability and crime. Rather, it reflects the disadvantages experienced by many people with disability, such as poverty, disrupted family backgrounds, family violence and other forms of abuse, misuse of drugs and alcohol, unstable housing and homelessness. People with disability, particularly cognitive disability, are also exposed to frequent and intense policing.6 People with cognitive and mental health impairments experience multiple forms of disadvantage, making them more likely to be criminalised and caught up in a cycle of reoffending and incarceration. Relatively little attention has been paid by governments to the disproportionate number of people with cognitive disability who are in custody. The data we received about the proportion of First Nations people with cognitive disability in custody, particularly in youth detention, exposes a largely hidden national crisis. For example, as of 2015, almost one in four First Nations young people aged 14 to 21 in detention were estimated to have an intellectual disability, compared with one in 12 non-Indigenous young people. Despite this strong evidence, with the possible exception of New South Wales Corrective Services, corrective service and youth justice agencies do not collect or record adequate data about disability in their prison and youth detention populations. They also use widely different methods to identify prisoners with disability. No corrective service or youth justice agencies use a culturally validated screening tool to identify disability in First Nations people in custody. This means custodial agencies cannot identify the prevalence and types of disability within incarcerated populations, or adequately understand their support needs. This lack of data also limits the development, implementation and evaluation of criminal justice disability policies and programs, and the monitoring of health and disability support needs of people with disability in custody. We heard that prisoners with disability are: • more likely to have difficulty coping with the prison environment • more likely to experience a higher rate of comorbid mental health disorders and physical conditions than prisoners without disability • at increased risk of being disadvantaged and socially isolated • at higher risk of returning to custody. Interactions with the criminal justice system come at great social and economic cost to the community. It benefits the entire community if people with disability do not enter the criminal justice system in the first place, and if treatment and supports are improved within the criminal justice system and continue after any term of imprisonment. Further research is required on the social and economic benefits of early support to prevent people with cognitive disability and complex support needs from coming into contact with the criminal justice system. Improved screening and identification practices, complemented by further research, are needed to understand the true extent of disability of people in criminal justice settings. This would also improve understanding of Australia’s compliance with its obligations to ensure the rights of people with disability are upheld in the criminal justice system.

Sydney: NSW Parliament: The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability 2023. 368p.

Relative Impact of Underreporting and Desistance on the Dark Figure of Sexual Recidivism

By Nicholas Scurich and Richard S. John

Sexual recidivism rates based on arrests or convictions underestimate actual reoffending due to underreporting. A previous Monte Carlo simulation estimated true recidivism rates under various reporting and conviction assumptions but did not account for desistance—the decreasing likelihood of reoffending over time. This study addresses that gap by incorporating a 12.3% annual desistance rate (from a well-known empirical study) and exploring its impact alongside varying charge rates (100% to 5%). The results showed that reductions in charge rates lead to disproportionately large increases in recidivism. For instance, lowering the charge rate from 50% to 25% results in a much larger increase in recidivism than reducing it from 100% to 75%, despite both being 25% reductions. This indicates that as charge rates decrease, recidivism grows more sharply. A sensitivity analysis also examined desistance rates of 0%, 5%, 12.3%, and 20%. Higher desistance rates cause reoffending to occur earlier but have little impact on long-term totals. Over 25 years, reoffending rates remain similar across desistance rates, suggesting desistance affects the timing, but not the overall amount, of reoffending.

UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2025-02, 26p.

Rethinking Misdemeanor Incompetence

By Susan McMahon

The competence to stand trial system is a “slow-moving tsunami” that has grown exponentially in recent years, capturing far more people than jurisdictions have the capacity to handle. As a result, individuals who are possibly incompetent become trapped in pretrial competence purgatory, often detained in jail for months or even years. The harms of this system can be tragic. Competence detainees have died by suicide, starvation, and beatings. They are placed in solitary confinement, experience neglect and abuse, and deteriorate mentally and physically while confined. Often, these individuals are accused of misdemeanors. Often, they go through the competence process only to be returned to court and released without any connection to long-term support.

Scholars have long advocated for changes to this process. But even the most ambitious of these reforms will only shift outcomes at the margins. As long as the competence system remains in place, it will be overused, and it will continue to cause massive harms, both in dollars wasted and in human suffering.

This Article is the first to propose a more fundamental change: barring misdemeanor defendants from even entering the competence process. If a court finds a bona fide doubt as to an individual’s competence, that person would instead have the charges against them dismissed and would be transferred to treatment outside of the criminal system. This shift reduces the harms of the current competence system and shrinks its footprint, decreasing delays and freeing up funds that could be better spent elsewhere.

At the same time, this approach recognizes that the criminal legal system simply does not work for individuals with mental disabilities. Rather than tinker with its mechanics or create exceptions for this population, a better solution, exemplified by this proposal, is to abandon that system altogether in favor of non-carceral models.

. UC Irvine School of Law Research Paper No. 2024, 53p.

A Look Inside the Black Box of New York State’s Criminal Justice Data

By Measures for Justice

  After experiencing a series of hurdles obtaining and analyzing criminal justice data in New York State, Measures for Justice (MFJ) set out to better understand the state’s data infrastructure. Drawing on interviews with system stakeholders--including practitioners, policy advocates, and researchers--we explored the quality and availability of criminal justice data in the state of New York. With heated criminal justice reform debates underway, there is a clear need for data that can speak to system performance. And yet our investigation uncovered that, with few exceptions, the mechanisms for criminal justice data collection and release in New York State are broken. Efforts to put data to use across the state are frequently hampered by obscure systems, antiquated technologies, arduous request processes, and a degree of partiality that allows data access to some and not others. The present report explores each of these themes and ultimately suggests four pathways forward for New York agencies looking to pursue equitable and responsible data practices.

Rochester, NY: Measures for Justice, 2021. 23p.

The Power and Problem of Criminal Justice Data: A Twenty-State Review

By Sema Taheri, Jennie Brooks, Mason DeLang, Shelby Davis, Hillary Livingston, Nathan LeMahieu, & Trevariana Mason

Despite accounting for a substantial portion of local, state, and federal budgets, our criminal justice institutions are among the least measured systems in our country. In an effort to bring transparency to this sector, MFJ has collected, standardized, and made public 20 states’ worth of criminal justice data.

The purpose of this report is to share what we have learned through this effort, including: (a) what we cannot see when data are missing, and (b) the value that data can provide when they are available and comparable. In particular, we identify patterns around the following:

There is a substantial lack of data around pretrial detention and release decision-making, as well as individual demographics (particularly indigence).

New data privacy laws are also making it needlessly difficult to obtain certain data. This poses challenges to understanding how individuals experience the system in cases that do not result in conviction.

There is great variation in how counties dispose of and sentence nonviolent cases; how financial obligations are imposed on individuals; and the collateral consequences that individuals face when convicted.

Across many of these findings, where demographics are available, we have an opportunity to identify and respond to significant disparities in group outcomes.

This report challenges stakeholders and policymakers to dig deeper into these patterns and missing data. It also implores policymakers and legislators to improve criminal justice data infrastructure to ensure a more transparent, fair, and equitable implementation of justice.

Rochester, NY: Measures for Justice, 2021. 17p.

Restoring Promise: A Randomized Control Trial Examining the Impact of an Innovative Young Adult Housing on Reducing Violence

By Ryan Shanahan, Selma Djokovic, Lidia Vasquez

The Vera Institute of Justice (Vera) conducted a rigorous evaluation of Restoring Promise, an initiative of Vera and the MILPA Collective (MILPA). Restoring Promise creates prison housing units grounded in human dignity for young adults (ages 18-25). The housing units operate with re-trained staff, trained mentors (older adults serving long or life sentences), and developmentally appropriate activities, workshops, and opportunities for young adults. Major goals and objectives The study has three main goals contributing to an overall evaluation of Restoring Promise. The first is to evaluate the impact Restoring Promise has on violence and misconduct among young adults in a large and challenging correctional system—the South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC). The second is to examine whether the impact of Restoring Promise can be generalized to all young adults in SCDC. The third is to understand how Restoring Promise is implemented and experienced across diverse correctional environments including rural and urban settings, jails and prisons, and facilities housing men and women. Research questions The study is organized around three research questions: 1) Does Restoring Promise reduce violence/misconduct and improve perceptions of safety for young adults exposed to the new approach, and by how much? 2) Do outcomes for young adults who volunteer to participate in Restoring Promise differ in important ways from those who do not elect to participate? 3) How is Restoring Promise implemented across diverse correctional environments (jails and prisons) and populations (rural and urban, men and women)?

Brooklyn, NY: Vera Institute of Justice, 2023. 67p.

Federal Justice Statistics, 2023

By Mark A. Motivans

This report provides national statistics on the federal response to crime for fiscal year 2023 and some statistics on changes over time. It describes case processing in the federal criminal justice system, including investigations by U.S. attorneys, prosecutions and declinations, convictions and acquittals, sentencing, probation and supervised release, and imprisonment. It also includes a new section detailing the federal criminal justice system’s response to immigration violations. This is the 37th report in an annual series based on data from BJS’s Federal Justice Statistics Program, which began in 1979. 

Highlights

During fiscal year (FY) 2023, 94,411 suspects were arrested by federal law enforcement and booked by the U.S. Marshals Service, a 3% decrease from 96,857 in FY 2022. 

Of the 25,110 Drug Enforcement Administration arrests in FY 2023, the most common type of drug involved was methamphetamine (7,381 arrests), followed by other opioids (6,688 arrests), which includes fentanyl. 

The median number of days from the receipt of an investigation to the decision by a U.S. attorney to prosecute or decline a matter was 61 days in FY 2023, similar to FY 2022. 

U.S. attorneys prosecuted 61% of suspects in matters concluded in FY 2023. The percentage of suspects prosecuted was highest in immigration (70%), drug offenses (70%), and weapons offenses (68%).

Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs,  Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2025. 37p.

Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics – 2024

By the United States Sentencing Commission

  This is the twenty-ninth edition of the United States Sentencing Commission’s Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics. This Sourcebook contains descriptive statistics on the application of the federal sentencing guidelines and provides selected district, circuit, and national sentencing data. The volume covers fiscal year 2024 (October 1, 2023, through September 30, 2024, hereinafter “2024”). This Sourcebook, together with the 2024 Annual Report, constitutes the annual report referenced in 28 U.S.C. § 997, as well as the analysis, recommendations, and accounting to Congress referenced in 28 U.S.C. § 994(w)(3). The Commission received documentation on 61,678 federal felony and Class A misdemeanor cases involving individuals sentenced in fiscal year 2024.1 The Commission coded and edited information from the sentencing documents in these cases into its comprehensive, computerized data collection system. The Commission first released sentencing data in its 1988 Annual Report and reported this data annually until 1996. That year, the Commission compiled sentencing data into a new publication, the Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics. In 2019, the Sourcebook edition reporting fiscal year 2018 data was substantially revised and expanded. Existing tables were revised to reflect current sentencing practices. Many figures were updated to make them easier to understand and were presented in color while others were removed and the data on them presented in new ways. Additional analyses regarding drug and immigration crimes were added, and new sections on firearms and economic offenses were included. Trend analyses were added to each of the major sections to show how sentencing patterns had changed over the last ten years. The section on Sentenced Organizations was also expanded. Finally, Appendix B, which provides sentencing data for each judicial district, was completely redesigned to reflect current sentencing practices. Beginning with that 2018 Sourcebook, the Commission made important methodological changes in the way the data was presented. Principal among them was the way cases were assigned to a “type of crime” (previously called offense type). Beginning with fiscal year 2018 data, the guideline (or guidelines) that the court applied in determining the sentence determines the crime type category to which a case is assigned. Also, the names of some of the crime type categories were revised and some outdated categories were removed from the tables and figures. Another important methodological change was that sentences were capped at 470 months for all analyses. Additionally, cases involving the production of child pornography were reassigned to the sexual abuse crime type. Previously, these cases were assigned to the child pornography offense type in the Sourcebook. Finally, beginning with the 2018 Sourcebook, the methodology used to analyze the sentence imposed relative to the sentencing range for the case as determined under the Commission’s Guidelines Manual was substantially revised. Sentences now are grouped into two broad categories: Sentences Under the Guidelines Manual and Variances. The former category comprises all cases in which the sentence imposed was within the applicable guideline range or, if outside the range, where the court cited one or more of the departure reasons in the Guidelines Manual as a basis for  the sentence. Variance cases are those in which the sentence was outside the guideline range (either above or below) and where the court did not cite any guideline reason for the sentence. Data for important subgroups within these two categories are also reported. Because of these methodological changes, direct comparisons between data for Sourcebooks from fiscal year 2018 and later years cannot always be made to data reported in the Sourcebooks for years before fiscal year 2018. This year, the Commission has made substantial revisions to the section on sentencing appeals. Beginning with 2024 data, the Commission is no longer collecting information about the guideline forming the basis for reversal or remand in sentencing appeals, or the reasonableness issues appealed in cases where the original sentence was reversed or remanded. Tables providing that information have been removed from the 2024 Sourcebook. Also beginning with 2024 data, the Commission has changed the way it categorizes appeals cases in which a brief was submitted by counsel for the defendant pursuant to the Supreme Court decision in Anders v. California, 386 U.S. 738 (1967). Previously, “Anders Brief” cases were reported as a type of appeal. Beginning with the 2024 data, the Commission has sought to determine the type of appeal involved in an Anders Brief case (e.g., an appeal of the sentence only) and, when that information was available, has classified the case accordingly. Cases in which an Anders brief was filed, but where the sentencing documentation did not indicate the type of appeal, now are classified as “Unknown” types of appeals and are excluded from the data reported on Figure A and the remaining tables. Also, this year the Commission is providing new information in the sentencing appeals section. New Figure A-2 reports additional information on the type of sentence that was appealed. Sentences are classified into three categories: appeals of the original sentence, appeals of an order deciding a motion for a resentencing or other modification of sentence, and appeals of a revocation of probation or supervised release. In appeals of an order deciding a motion for a resentencing or other modification of sentence, the Commission reports the basis asserted in the motion. Additionally, while the Commission has always reported the disposition of sentencing appeals of the original sentence on Table A-2, the Commission now is reporting information on the disposition of post-sentencing motion appeals on Table A-2A. New Figure A-3 provides information about the type of crime involved in appeals of original sentences. While this data was previously available on another table, and continues to be reported on Table A-5, new Figure A-3 presents this information graphically. New Table A-6 reports data on the position of the sentence relative to the guideline range in original sentencing appeals, using the Commission’s standard classifications found on Table 29 of the Sourcebook for original sentences. Finally, the numbers and titles of the remaining tables in the section were revised for clarity.   

Washington, DC: USSC, 2025. 201p.

Sentencing Occupational Health and Safety Offences in Victoria: Report and Recommendations

By Octavian Simu, Paul McGorrery, Melanie Hull

This report to the Victorian Government makes 12 recommendations for reform to the sentencing of occupational health and safety (OHS) offences in Victoria. The recommendations are grouped in relation to victims and other affected persons, changes in sentencing practices, and fine payment and distribution.

Key findings

People injured in workplace incidents, people exposed to risks in workplaces, and the families of deceased workers are not always able to fully and meaningfully participate in sentencing proceedings for OHS offences.

Currently, sentencing practices for OHS offences are not aligned with community expectations, are not aligned with recent changes to penalties in the model work health and safety laws (‘model laws’), are not consistent with sentencing practices in other regulatory contexts, and are not capable of adequately achieving the purposes of sentencing.

Every year, there is almost $2.5 million in unpaid court fines for OHS offences.

State of Victoria, Sentencing Advisory Council, 2025, 218p.

The Costs of Crime – And How to Reduce Them

By Roger Bootle, David Spencer, Ben Sweetman and James Vitali 

Securing the safety of the public is the foremost duty of government. But we are witnessing acute growth in a range of highly visible crimes. This is undermining the very legitimacy of the British state. • Police recorded shoplifting is up 51% relative to 2015 and is at its highest level in 20 years. Police recorded robberies and knife crime offences are up 64% and 89% respectively over the same period. Public order offences are up 192%. The cost of fraud in the benefits system has increased almost eightfold since 2006. • These areas of acute growth in criminal incidents are obscured by the aggregate downward trend in crime since 1995 reported by the Crime Survey of England and Wales. Although this is a reputable source, it excludes many types of serious crime. • Alongside rising crime rates, the criminal justice system is failing. Prisons have reached capacity, and thousands are being released early as a result. As of September 2024, there were 73,105 outstanding crown court cases, 31,000 of which have been outstanding for over 6 months, both numbers being the highest ever. The ratio of police personnel to the population is down 12% from 2010. • The proliferation of crime is an evil in and of itself. But it also significantly diminishes the prosperity of the British people. Crime has direct costs - the damage to, or loss of, property, the cost of insurance, medical bills, the cost of funding the criminal justice system etc. • But some of the greatest costs imposed by crime are indirect and hard-to-measure. They relate to the behavioural changes undertaken by individuals and businesses in response to the expectation of crime. • Order and the rule of law are necessary prerequisites for prosperity. They generate confidence that contracts will be upheld, property will not be stolen or damaged, and that individuals and businesses will enjoy the proceeds of their labour and industry, rather than being deprived of it by criminals. And the converse is true too; when the rule of law is breached with impunity, economic activity suffers. • In the context of increased crime, both businesses and individuals try to protect themselves by undertaking various preventative measures and taking out insurance. But this also drives up their  costs and thereby diminishes the living standards of law-abiding people. • Crime thus harms the profitability of businesses and they will tend to pass on the increase in their costs to their customers. • Moreover, the prevalence of crime and the apparent toleration of it corrode the bonds that hold a society together, damaging the trust in other people and institutions which is essential to the functioning of free markets. In undermining a sense of security, it also increases societal risk aversion. • We believe the tangible costs of crime in the UK to amount to almost £170 bn per annum, or about 6.5% of GDP. Of these costs, about £38bn are inflicted on businesses, £31bn on the public sector, and about £63bn against individuals. • But this is an incomplete estimate of the total costs, because it fails to account for the intangible effects on behaviour that derive from the fear of crime. Although these effects are extremely difficult to estimate, they are probably very large. Incorporating them would probably push the total costs of crime to over £250bn, or 10% of GDP. • Fortunately, the cost of crime to society is a problem with a clear solution. We must ditch the permissive paradigm that dominates our present approach to crime, and shift the balance in policymaking back towards the interests of the law-abiding majority. We lay out here a series of measures that could substantially reduce the prevalence of crime and hence its cost to society. • Our policy proposals are based around five key themes: delivering a dramatic expansion of the prison estate; taking back the streets; promoting smarter policing; and reforming sentencing and our courts system – and providing more funding while demanding more accountability. • Much of this programme can be delivered without any increase in funding. It will yield a return for little or no cost. The organisation of policing needs to be radically restructured to focus on the deterrence of crime and the catching of criminals. There needs to be a clear-out of senior members of the prison service and the Ministry of Justice. • Over and above this, however, there is a need for more funding. More resources need to be ploughed into the police and justice system to permit the recruitment of more police officers and staff, build more prisons and improve the functioning of the courts. • It may seem paradoxical that a programme to reduce the incidence of crime and its costs to society should include spending more public money. But this extra money can bring a significant return to society and a stronger economy. It should be regarded as a form of public investment. • Nevertheless, in these straitened times there is no scope to increase overall government spending financed by borrowing, and the burden of taxation is surely at the limits of what the economy can bear. • Meanwhile, given the global threats faced by the United Kingdom, the defence of the realm requires more funding. This must come at the top of the list of priorities. • So any increase in funding to finance our proposals must come from reductions in other sorts of public spending. While this paper does not seek to lay out in detail what other sorts of spending ought to be cut, with government spending as a share of GDP at a post-war high, there is ample scope for savings. Civil service manning levels, the benefits bill, overseas aid and the regime for uprating pensions will all have to be reviewed. • There are two reasons why our proposals should rank highly in the list of spending priorities alongside the need to spend more money on defence. First, by reducing the cost of crime and bringing about a stronger economy, our proposals will eventually enable the provision of more resources for other spending – including defence. • Second, the external threat to the United Kingdom is no longer purely from conventional warfare. It is hybrid and includes the sponsorship of terrorism, cyber warfare, attacks on critical infrastructure, and campaigns to widen divisions in our society – all activities which undermine the public’s confidence in the nation’s security at home. Maintaining a strong criminal justice system is fundamental to British interests and countering the threats to the nation which originate both at home and abroad. • If we are to take a less permissive approach to policing, we need to put more people behind bars. And to do this, we recommend the construction of 43,000 additional prison places and the phasing out of prison over-crowding by building a further 10,000 prison cells. • Police forces need to take control of the streets and give them back to the law-abiding majority, returning to a version of neighbourhood policing which has community orderliness and security at its heart. • Policing needs to be smarter, both tactically and strategically, making better use of technology. And it needs to neutralise the threat posed by hyper prolific offenders – the 9% of criminals who commit over half of all crime. • There also needs to be a major increase in prison sentences for the most serious crimes. The simple fact is that in our society, the chances of being caught are very low and if and when a criminal is caught and convicted the punishment is often laughably lenient. • This means that for those individuals inclined this way, crime pays. The system needs to be radically redesigned so that it doesn’t.  

London: Policiy Exchange, 2025. 91p.

Domestic Violence Pretrial Practices Working Group Final Report: Recommendations for improving court procedures.

By The Domestic Violence Pretrial Practices Working Group

The Illinois Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity-Today Act (SAFE-T Act) established the Domestic Violence Pretrial Practices Working Group, a group comprised of diverse Illinois criminal justice and victim service stakeholders. Their final report makes eight recommendations for evidence-based improvements to court procedures. Recommendations included strengthening the collection of risk and lethality assessment indicators by law enforcement responding to domestic violence calls and increasing criminal justice stakeholders’ utilization of these indicators in their pretrial decision-making. Other recommendations emphasized the crucial role that domestic violence victims should have in shaping information gathering practices and the value of expanding promising local and regional domestic violence-related initiatives. Implementation of this working group’s recommendations has the potential to improve not only domestic violence pretrial practice court procedures but also to increase domestic violence victims’ safety.

Chicago: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. 2024. 18p.

'Justice Changes Her Face’: What Women’s Problem-Solving Courts can teach us about taking a Community Based Whole Systems Approach to Improving Criminal Justice Outcomes.

 By Ruth Armstrong and Shona Minson

  In this report, Drs Ruth Armstrong and Shona Minson explore the development and evaluation of women’s problem-solving courts (WPSC) in the UK and internationally. Drawing on a detailed review of existing literature, evaluations, and court observations, alongside interviews with practitioners and participants, the report examines how these courts address the unique challenges faced by women in the criminal justice system. It highlights the aspects of problem-solving courts that contribute to their effectiveness, many of which reflect principles of systemic thinking, even if not explicitly designed as systems change initiatives. This executive summary draws out the lessons from this report to consider: 1. The criminal justice problems WPSC aim to address. 2. The approaches these courts take to problem-solving. 3. What makes these approaches effective, according to current evaluations? 4. What further research and practice developments are needed to enhance outcomes and mitigate challenges. The review of WPSC literature offers insights into how justice systems can better serve all populations by addressing systemic inequities and focusing on holistic, relational approaches.  

London: Clinks, 2025. 32p.

Sentencing Outcomes for Extremist Actors in the United Kingdom, 2001-2022 

By Rachel Monaghan and Bianca Slocombe 

  : Few studies have examined the sentencing outcomes of individuals convicted of terrorism or violent extremism-related offences in the United Kingdom (UK). Home Office data can tell us the number of persons arrested for terrorist-related activity and subsequent outcomes, such as charges and convictions by legislation, but this data does not provide a complete picture of the prosecution landscape for extremist actors in the UK. This is due in part to the existence of three distinct legal jurisdictions (England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) and also to differences in the types of data collected and counting practices in operation. Moreover, the official data available publicly are only summary statistics, with no separate data for Scotland. This article addresses this research gap in our knowledge of the prosecution landscape for extremist actors in the UK by utilising data from an original dataset compiled by the research team from open sources on the sentencing outcomes of individuals (n=809) convicted of terrorism, terrorism-related, and violent extremism offences over a 21- year period (April 2001-March 2022). The analysis of this dataset has allowed us to test a range of hypotheses in relation to not only motivation but also offence type, gender, age, co-defendants and having multiple counts (i.e. facing multiple charges). Limitations of the study are also discussed.  

Perspectives on Terrorism, Volume XVIII, Issue 4 December 2024  

Process evaluation of Intensive Supervision Courts pilot Interim report 

By CFE Research and Revolving Doors

  Intensive Supervision Courts (ISCs) are a problem-solving approach that diverts offenders with complex needs away from short custodial sentences and into enhanced communitybased sentences which aim to address underlying issues linked to offending. The ISC pilot is testing a model of community sentence management between probation and the courts, for certain individuals who receive a high-end Community Order (CO), or Suspended Sentence Order (SSO). Orders managed under the ISC comprise both rehabilitative and punitive measures, are delivered by a multi-agency team and are overseen by a single judge who can apply incentives to reward engagement and sanction those who are non-compliant. Key partners include the judiciary, court staff, probation, treatment providers, police, local authority, and women’s services. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) fund the pilot; most of the funding is allocated to dedicated ISC probation resource, the addition of a court co-ordinator role, and a dedicated “privilege and enabler” fund to support and recognise compliance. Privileges are intended to be flexible and creative in order to be individualised to the person on the ISC. The pilot currently comprises two substance misuse (SM) courts in Liverpool and Teesside Crown Courts, and a women’s ISC in Birmingham Magistrates’ Court, and is set to run between June 2023 and December 2024. A third SM court operating in Bristol Crown Court launched in June 2024 after this report was written. This is the interim report of an independent process evaluation of the pilot. It covers the implementation period of the pilot covering elements of best practice, challenges and early findings. It draws on evidence gathered through a survey of pilot staff and stakeholders, in-depth interviews with staff, stakeholders, and individuals on the ISC, observations of ISCs and related activities, and analysis of monitoring data.   

London: Ministry of Justice, 2025. 90p.

Evidence and practice briefing: Pre-court diversion for women

by Carmen Robin-D’Cruz, Stephen Whitehead, Bami Jolaoso, and Lucy Slade

Women represent a relatively small proportion of people who commit crimes in England and Wales, and they tend to commit less-serious crimes and pose a lower risk of harm to the public than men.1 2 In 2021 they accounted for only 14% of those arrested and 5% of those in prison.3 However, women who offend can also be some of the most vulnerable in society. As the 2018 Ministry of Justice Female Offender Strategy notes, “Many experience chaotic lifestyles involving substance misuse, mental health problems, homelessness, and offending behaviour – these are often the product of a life of abuse and trauma.”4 Moreover, we know that criminalising women can make it harder for them to access routes out of the issues driving their offending, creating barriers to them finding or maintaining employment and accommodation and pushing them towards crisis. This is why pre-court diversion, which seeks to offer a swift and meaningful response to offending while reducing or avoiding harmful criminal justice system involvement,5 has been recognised as crucial for this cohort. As Baroness Corston observed in her landmark review of women in the justice system, women are different from men in terms of both the factors that cause them to offend and their paths to desistence.6 This means that, to effectively meet women’s needs – and to reduce the number of women entering the criminal justice system, which is the first priority of the Female Offender Strategy7 – a gender-specific approach to pre-court diversion for women is essential. This briefing aims to support practitioners seeking to develop or improve gender-specific pre-court diversion schemes. It will: • Lay out the policy landscape around women’s diversion; • Outline the evidence on why diversion is especially important for women, including: i) the need for a gender-specific approach given women’s distinct offending patterns and needs, ii) effective practice for working with women who offend and iii) outcomes from existing schemes; • Provide a case study of a current successful diversion scheme tailored for women; and • Distil this into overarching best practice principles for pre-court diversion for women. 

London: Centre for Court Innovation, 2025. 13p.  

Race and Incarceration: The Representation and Characteristics of Black People in Provincial Correctional Facilities in Ontario, Canada

By Akwasi Owusu-Bempah, Maria Jung, Firdaous Sbaï, Andrew S. Wilton, and Fiona Kouyoumdjian

Racially disaggregated incarceration data are an important indicator of population health and well-being, but are lacking in the Canadian context. We aimed to describe incarceration rates and proportions of Black people who experienced incarceration in Ontario, Canada during 2010 using population-based data. We used correctional administrative data for all 45,956 men and 6,357 women released from provincial correctional facilities in Ontario in 2010, including self-reported race data. Using 2006 Ontario Census data on the population size for race and age categories, we calculated and compared incarceration rates and proportions of the population experiencing incarceration by age, sex, and race groups using chi-square tests. In this first Canadian study presenting detailed incarceration rates by race, we found substantial over-representation of Black men in provincial correctional facilities in Ontario. We also found that a large proportion of Black men experience incarceration. In addition to further research, evidence-based action is needed to prevent exposure to criminogenic factors for Black people and to address the inequitable treatment of Black people within the criminal justice system.

Race and JusticeVolume 13, Issue 4, October 2023, Pages 530-54

Judges, Lawyers, and Willing Jurors: A Tale of Two Jury Selections

By Barbara O'Brien & Catherine M. Grosso,

Race has long had a pernicious role in how juries are assembled in the United States. Racism—intentional, implicit, and structural—has produced disparities in how jury venires are selected, whom the court excuses for cause, and how lawyers exercise their peremptory strikes. We are, however, at a moment of reform in the United States. We see courts, legislatures, and citizens looking for opportunities to make our criminal legal system fairer.1 One aspect of the system receiving attention is jury selection, specifically race discrimination in the selection process.2 Efforts to counter discrimination range in scope from creating commissions to study the issue, to implementing rules to address Batson’s shortcomings, to outright abolishing the use of peremptory strikes.3 Much of the research on racial discrimination in jury selection has focused on lawyers, particularly their use of peremptory strikes. But the process that produces racial disparities involves multiple steps and players. Judges, in particular, play a vital role in ensuring that voir dire is conducted in a way that produces a diverse and competent jury. Fortunately, significant research on best practices in jury selection provides practical guidance to judges overseeing the jury selection process. To demonstrate how these best practices play out in the real world, this article examines two high-profile cases in light of what researchers have learned about maximizing the effectiveness of voir dire and, in particular, minimizing racial bias in jury selection. We take advantage of the live broadcasting of jury selection in two notorious cases during these times of crises and change to look closely at ways courts can mitigate racial bias in jury selection and, in the process, further the educational and information-gathering objectives of voir dire.5 In Part I, we review the research on practices that can enhance the effectiveness of voir dire and counter racial bias in jury selection, with a particular focus on the role of judges and on recent efforts to reform jury selection in several states. In doing so, we broaden the focus beyond how lawyers’ behavior in exercising peremptory strikes contributes to racial discrimination to the role of judges. In Part II, we present a brief overview of the main actors, as well as the legal and social context for our two cases: the prosecution of Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis for killing George Floyd, and the prosecution of Travis McMichael, Greg McMichael, and William Bryan in Georgia for killing Ahmaud Arbery. In Part III, we draw on that research to examine the jury selection processes in the Chauvin and McMichael/Bryan cases. We compare the processes by which those juries were selected and the judges’ approaches to voir dire by identifying attributes or initiatives that render voir dire more or less effective.

98 Chi.-Kent L. Rev. 111 (2024), 25p.

How Long is Long Enough? Task Force on Long Sentences Final Report

By The Council on Criminal Justice

As cities across the nation grapple with effective responses to increases in violent crime, a task force co-chaired by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy today released a report outlining a comprehensive approach for the use of lengthy prison sentences in the United States.

The report, How Long is Long Enough?, presents 14 recommendations to enhance judicial discretion in sentencing, promote individual and system accountability, reduce racial and ethnic disparities, better serve victims of crime, and increase public safety. Defining long sentences as prison terms of 10 years or longer, the panel’s proposals include:

Shifting savings from reductions in the use of long prison sentences to programs that prevent violence and address the trauma it causes individuals, families, and communities (Recommendation 1).

Allowing judges to consider all relevant facts and circumstances when imposing a long sentence, and requiring that sentencing enhancements based on criminal history are driven by individualized assessments of risk and other factors (Recommendations 6 and 8)

Providing selective “second look” sentence review opportunities and expanding access to sentence-reduction credits (Recommendations 11 and 12)

Focusing penalties in drug cases on a person’s role in a trafficking organization, rather than the amount of drug involved, (Recommendation 7)

Reducing recidivism by providing behavioral health services and other rehabilitative living conditions and opportunities in prison (Recommendations 3 and 13)

Strengthening services for all crime victims and survivors by enforcing victims’ rights, removing barriers to services, and creating restorative justice opportunities (Recommendations 2, 4, and 9)

“Some may wonder, why would we even discuss the nation’s use of long prison sentences now, amid a rise in homicide rates and legitimate public concern about public safety? Because this is exactly the time to examine what will actually make our communities safer and our system more just,” Yates and Gowdy said in a joint statement accompanying the report. “When crime rates increase, so do calls for stiffer sentencing, often without regard to the effectiveness or fairness of those sentences. Criminal justice policy should be based on facts and evidence, not rhetoric and emotion, and we should be laser-focused on strategies that make the most effective use of our limited resources.”

The report is the product of a year-long analysis by the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) Task Force on Long Sentences, which includes 16 members representing a broad range of experience and perspectives, from crime victims and survivors to formerly incarcerated people, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement, courts, and corrections. The panel examined the effects of long sentences on the criminal justice system and the populations it serves, including victims as well as people in prison, their families, and correctional staff.

Drawing on sentencing data and research, including a series of reports prepared for the Task Force, the sweeping recommendations offer a comprehensive blueprint for action on a complex and polarizing topic. According to an updated analysis by CCJ, 63% of people in state prison in 2020 were serving a sentence of 10 or more years, up from 46% in 2005, a shift due largely to a decline in people serving shorter terms. During the same period, the gap between Black and White people receiving long terms widened, from half a percentage point to 4 percentage points. Though murder defendants were the most likely to receive a long sentence, drug offenses accounted for the largest share (20%) of those admitted to prison to serve 10 or more years.

“Our nation’s reliance on long sentences as a response to violence requires us to wrestle with highly challenging questions about the relationship between crime, punishment, and public safety,” Task Force Director John Maki said. “Through their painstaking deliberations, our members rose to the challenge and produced a set of recommendations that recognize our need to advance public safety while respecting the humanity of those most affected by long prison terms.”

Washington DC: Council on Criminal Justice, 2023. 39p.