What Criminal Justice Can Learn From Its Bad Outcomes

• NCJ Number: 251507
• Author(s): James Doyle; Rianna P. Starheim
• Date Published: February 2018
• Length: 2 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Issue Overview

Annotation

This article discusses the rationale for and the features of the U.S. Justice Department's National Institute of Justice's (NIJ's) Sentinel Events Initiative (SEI).

Abstract

A "sentinel event" is a "significant negative outcome" in the criminal justice system, such as the conviction of a person who is later proven to be innocent of the conviction offense. The SEI involves mobilizing a system-oriented approach in a review process focused on the sentinel event. It supports the local development of a review process in which all actors, including law enforcement officers, prosecutors, judges, victims, advocates, and other relevant parties conduct a forward-looking review of a sentinel event for the purpose of identifying and countering system weaknesses that contributed to the sentinel event. In addressing factors that eliminate the need for future compensation and lawsuits, sentinel-event reviews can help mitigate the costs associated with these events and prevent them from recurring. The NIJ recently launched a $1.6 million national sentinel event demonstration project in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance. This project will support state and local sentinel-event review panels across the country. It will assist jurisdictions in learning how to best examine system weaknesses and produce locally tailored solutions to mitigate risk and improve performance.