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Community courts

Guardianship Abuse: Bad Apples or Tip of the Iceberg?

January 2025

When cases involving high-profile individuals, like Britney Spears, make national headlines, issues surrounding guardianship and conservatorship take center stage. But after those specific cases resolve and national interest fades, the systemic issues remain. We have very little data on how the guardianship system is actually working, and the scope and prevalence of guardianship abuse remains unclear. We don’t know how many individuals suffer abuse under guardianship. We don’t know to what extent guardianship, when properly executed, improves the lives of those it’s intended to serve.

Desistance from Crime: Interventions to Help Promote Desistance and Reduce Recidivism

November 2022

No single criminal justice agency can promote desistance on its own. Partnerships across state, local, and federal agencies — along with the support of family and community stakeholders — are instrumental in supporting desistance from crime and reducing recidivism.

Law enforcement, courts, corrections, and community supervision agencies play a key role in the desistance process and reducing recidivism.

Booker and Beyond Analyzing Sentencing Reform and Exploring New Research Directions

January 2022

This webinar features a discussion of previously published research on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 Booker decision - which effectively transformed the United States Sentencing Guidelines from a mandatory, to an advisory, system. The presentation will address selected research findings from the last 15 years. Individual participants will briefly review their previous research findings with particular attention paid to the analytic methods used.