U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

Maximum security

State Responses to Mass Incarceration

June 2011

Researchers have devoted considerable attention to mass incarceration, specifically its magnitude, costs, and collateral consequences. In the face of economic constraints, strategies to reduce correctional populations while maintaining public safety are becoming a fiscal necessity. This panel will present strategies that states have undertaken to reduce incarceration rates while balancing taxpayer costs with ensuring public safety.

Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy

Less Prison, More Police, Less Crime: How Criminology Can Save the States from Bankruptcy

April 2010
Series
Research for the Real World

Professor Lawrence Sherman explains how policing can prevent far more crimes than prison per dollar spent. His analysis of the cost-effectiveness of prison compared to policing suggests that states can cut their total budgets for justice and reduce crime by reallocating their spending on crime: less prison, more police.

Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy

Changing the Behavior of Drug-Involved Offenders: Supervision That Works

December 2012
Series
Research for the Real World

A small number of those who commit crimes are heavily involved in drugs commit a large portion of the crime in this country. An evaluation of a "smart supervision" effort in Hawaii that uses swift and certain sanctioning showed that individuals committing crimes who are heavily involved in drug use can indeed change their behavior when the supervision is properly implemented.

Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy

Benefit-Cost Analysis for Crime Policy

February 2011
Series
Research for the Real World

How do we decide how to allocate criminal justice resources in a way that minimizes the social harms from both crime and policy efforts to control crime? How, for that matter, do we decide how much to spend on the criminal justice system and crime control generally, versus other pressing needs? These questions are at the heart of benefit-cost analysis.

Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy

Just Wrong: The Aftermath of Wrongful Convictions

October 2017

The strength of our criminal justice system depends on its ability to convict the guilty and clear the innocent. But we know that innocent people are sometimes wrongfully convicted and the guilty remain free to victimize others. The consequences of a wrongful conviction are far-reaching for the wrongfully convicted and the survivors and victims of the original crimes. 

Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy

Alternative Sentencing Policies for Drug Offenders

June 2009

The panel presentations from the 2009 NIJ Conference are based on an NIJ-sponsored evaluation of the effectiveness of Kansas Senate Bill 123, which mandates community-based drug abuse treatment for drug possession by nonviolent offenders in lieu of prison. 

Transcript
Alternative Sentencing Policies for Drug Offenders
Audio file
1 of 5: Alternative Sentencing Policies for Drug Offenders, Linda Truitt, National Institute of Justice , 2 of 5: Alternative Sentencing Policies for Drug Offenders, Roger Werholtz, Secretary of Corrections, Kansas Department of Corrections , 3 of 5: Alternative Sentencing Policies for Drug Offenders, Don Stemen, Assistant Professor, Department of Criminal Justice, Loyola University Chicago , 4 of 5: Alternative Sentencing Policies for Drug Offenders, Andres F. Rengifo, Assistant Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri-St. Louis , 5 of 5: Alternative Sentencing Policies for Drug Offenders, Question and Answer Session

Cell Phones in Prison

June 2010

Criminals are using cell phones illegally in prisons and jails to conduct their business and intimidate witnesses. Although technology solutions to this problem are available, they can create new challenges, such as legal and implementation issues associated with cell phone use in correctional facilities. Panelists will discuss various aspects to consider from how prisoners use cell phones, to day-to-day and operational aspects, to legal and regulatory concerns.

Transcript
Cell Phones in Prison
Audio file
1 of 7: Cell Phones in Prison, Ellen Scrivner, National Institute of Justice , 2 of 7: Cell Phones in Prison, Gary D. Maynard, Secretary, Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Service , 3 of 7: Cell Phones in Prison, Harley Lappin, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons, U.S. Department of Justice , 4 of 7: Cell Phones in Prison, Aaron D. Kennard, Executive Director, National Sheriffs' Association , 5 of 7: Cell Phones in Prison, James Arden Barnett, Jr., Chief, Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, Federal Communication Commission , 6 of 7: Cell Phones in Prison, Larry D. Atlas, Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary, Office of the Assistant Secretary, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Washington, D.C. , 7 of 7: Cell Phones in Prison, Question and Answer Session

Discussing the Future of Justice-Involved Young Adults

September 2015

New science in brain development is transforming young adult involvement with the justice system. On Tuesday, September 8, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason, and experts from NIJ and the Harvard Kennedy School Program in Criminal Justice who serve on the Executive Session on Community Corrections discussed the future of justice-involved young adults.

Review the YouTube Terms of Service and the Google Privacy Policy

An Examination of Justice Reinvestment and Its Impact on Two States

June 2010

Funded in part by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Pew Center on the States, the justice reinvestment project is a data-driven strategy aimed at policymakers to "reduce spending on corrections, increase public safety and improve conditions in the neighborhoods to which most people released from prison return." Representatives from two states where the justice reinvestment strategy is currently being implemented will discuss how it is being used to reduce the rate of incarceration and how states can reinvest in local communities.

Transcript
An Examination of Justice Reinvestment and Its Impact on Two States
Audio file
1 of 5: An Examination of Justice Reinvestment and Its Impact on Two States, Marie Garcia, National Institute of Justice , 2 of 5: An Examination of Justice Reinvestment and Its Impact on Two States, Jake Horowitz, Project Manager, Public Safety Performance Project, Pew Center on the States , 3 of 5: An Examination of Justice Reinvestment and Its Impact on Two States, John Lazet, Chief of Staff, The Office of Senator Alan Cropsey, Lansing, Mich. , 4 of 5: An Examination of Justice Reinvestment and Its Impact on Two States, Anne Rice, Associate Attorney General, New Hampshire Office of Attorney General , 5 of 5: An Examination of Justice Reinvestment and Its Impact on Two States, Marshall Clement, Project Director, Justice Center, The Council of State Governments

What Works in Probation and Parole

June 2009

How can we prevent reoffending and reduce costs? Research points to a number of solutions. At the Tuesday plenary, Judge Steven Alm from Hawaii will describe his successes with hard-core drug offenders. “Swift and sure” is his motto. West Virginia Cabinet Secretary James W. Spears will discuss the issues from his state's perspective, and Adam Gelb, Director of the Pew Charitable Trust's Public Safety Performance Project, will lend a national overview.

Transcript
What Works in Probation and Parole
Audio file
1 of 7: What Works in Probation and Parole, Kristina Rose, Acting Director, and Thomas Feucht, Executive Senior Science Advisor, National Institute of Justice , 2 of 7: What Works in Probation and Parole, Adam Gelb, Director, Public Safety Performance Project, Pew Center on the States , 3 of 7: What Works in Probation and Parole, James W. Spears, Cabinet Secretary, West Virginia Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety , 4 of 7: What Works in Probation and Parole, Honorable Steven S. Alm, Judge, First Circuit Court, Honolulu, Hawaii , 5 of 7: What Works in Probation and Parole, Tom Williams, Associate Director, Court Services and Offender Supervision, Washington, D.C. , 6 of 7: What Works in Probation and Parole, Pamela Lattimore, Principal Scientist, RTI International , 7 of 7: What Works in Probation and Parole, Question and Answer Session

What Works in Offender Supervision

June 2009

This NIJ Conference Panel highlights findings from NIJ projects that evaluated strategies to enhance the supervision of offenders in the community. Researchers discuss the effectiveness of fair, swift and certain sanctions for high-risk probationers in the Hawaii HOPE program. Panelists also provide empirical evidence on the effectiveness of electronic monitoring — including the use of GPS tracking — for medium- and high-risk offenders on supervision and upon completion of their supervision sentence.

Transcript
What Works in Offender Supervision
Audio file
1 of 4: Marlene Beckman, Senior Policy Advisor to the Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. , 2 of 4: Bill Bales, Associate Professor, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University , 3 of 4: The Honorable Steven S. Alm, Judge, First Circuit Court, Honolulu, Hawaii , 4 of 4: Angela Hawken, Assistant Professor of Economics and Policy Analysis, School of Public Policy, Pepperdine University, Malibu, Calif.