Since 2013, seven states have engaged in the evidence-based Comprehensive Strategy for Juvenile Justice Systems Improvement Initiative to change their juvenile justice system through legislation. Through this initiative, states also receive implementation assistance to maximize the impact and sustainability of enacted changes. As a result, over half the states have closed secure facilities, choosing instead to fund community alternatives to out-of-home placement.

• A brief review of the origins, background and framework of the Massachusetts Community Justice Project and workshop;
• A Sequential Intercept Map as developed by the group during the workshop;
• A summary of the information gathered at the workshop;
• A list of best practices and resources to help the partners in the Lawrence region action plan and achieve their goals

Innovating in community corrections sometimes seems like an impossible task. The field’s challenging population, underresourced and overworked agencies, and the disconnect between cutting-edge research and frontline realities often result in stagnation where innovation is needed the most. There is, however, another way. In this paper, we review a collaborative effort to tackle one of community corrections’ most troubling challenges: the shortage of effective tools to reduce the infamously high recidivism rates among young adults.

Nearly 300,000 people are held in state and federal prisons in the United States for drug-law violations, up from less than 25,000 in 1980. These offenders served more time than in the past: Those who left state prisons in 2009 had been behind bars an average of 2.2 years, a 36 percent increase over 1990, while prison terms for federal drug offenders jumped 153 percent between 1988 and 2012, from about two to roughly five years.

The 50-State Report on Public Safety is a web-based resource that combines data analyses with practical examples to help policymakers craft impactful strategies to address their state’s specific public safety challenges. The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center analyzed millions of data points, and with support from the Association of State Correctional Administrators, interviewed corrections staff in all 50 states to collect new data on each state’s research capacity and supervision practices for use in this first-of-its-kind resource.

Federal agencies collaborate with each other and with some foreign governments, such as China, Mexico, and Canada, to combat the production and availability of illicit synthetic opioids. Our recent report looks at some of these cooperative activities, such as sharing information on emerging trends and helping to expand the regulation of illicit substances.

This article reviews a new pretrial risk assessment tool that calculates whether a defendant is at low, moderate, or high risk for failure to appear at trial or to commit another crime if released. The tool, incorporated in Alaska’s new bail statute, aids in the judicial officer’s decision regarding pretrial bail conditions.

Looney, Adam, and Nicholas Turner

Brookings Institution (Washington, DC)