How The Criminal Justice Systems Covid 19 Response Has Provided Valuable Lessons For Broader Reform

As the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, stakeholders have an opportunity to reimagine the justice system. This brief presents key lessons learned and recommendations from participants in workshops related to different aspects of the justice system.

The authors of the chapters included in this volume provide preliminary answers to questions such as: How extensive were COVID-19 outbreaks in prisons, jails, and community corrections systems globally? Which regions and countries reported the largest outbreaks? Why were prisons and jails found to be "hot spots" for the spread of COVID-19 in most countries? How did governments initially respond to COVID-19 outbreaks in their corrections systems? Did the mitigation strategies used in each country reduce the spread of the infection in the corrections system (both in prisons and jails, and in community corrections)? Did the corrections-focused mitigation strategies used in each country have a positive or an adverse impact on public health and public safety? How likely is it that the varied short-term mitigation strategies implemented by governments will result in long-term changes in corrections policies and practices? The book includes three chapters examining the global impact of the COVID-19 outbreaks, six regional overviews, and 27 country-specific reviews, including reviews targeting 21 of the 50 largest prison systems globally. This collection will be an excellent resource for researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and the general public interested in knowing more about the nature and extent of COVID-19 outbreaks in corrections systems globally, and about the diversity of responses developed and implemented by governments from each global region. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Victims & Offenders.

The Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative convened a set of workshops with justice practitioners to take stock of responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. They identified key challenges, system innovations, and lessons for the future.

In this revised edition of their concise, readable, yet wide-ranging book, Greg Berman and Aubrey Fox tackle a question students and scholars of law, criminology, and political science constantly face: what mistakes have led to the problems that pervade the criminal justice system in the United States? The reluctance of criminal justice policymakers to talk openly about failure, the authors argue, has stunted the public conversation about crime in this country and stifled new ideas. It has also contributed to our inability to address such problems as chronic offending in low-income neighborhoods, an overreliance on incarceration, the misuse of pretrial detention, and the high rates of recidivism among parolees. Berman and Fox offer students and policymakers an escape from this fate by writing about failure in the criminal justice system. Their goal is to encourage a more forthright dialogue about criminal justice, one that acknowledges that many new initiatives fail and that no one knows for certain how to reduce crime. For the authors, this is not a source of pessimism, but a call to action. This revised edition is updated with a new foreword by Cyrus R. Vance, Jr., and afterword by Greg Berman.

Rising prison numbers on both sides of the Atlantic are cause for concern. Justice Reinvestment is a major movement in criminal justice reform in the US that is also attracting lots of interest in the UK. Justice Reinvestment is an approach to addressing the penal crisis that uses the best available evidence to re-direct resources to more effective rehabilitation of offenders and better ‘prehabilitation’. It takes a more holistic view of criminal justice and is particularly concerned to address the community dimensions of offending and re-offending. The authors highlight competing models of Justice Reinvestment and argue for a more radical version in which criminal justice reform is seen as part of a wider social justice reform programme. This is the first substantial publication on Justice Reinvestment and shows that ‘Justice Reinvestment’ has huge potential to re-shape the criminal justice system. It will be essential reading for undergraduate and post-graduate students with an interest in criminal justice reform. Practitioners and policy-makers working in the criminal justice system in the US and the UK will also value the fresh perspective it brings to criminal justice reform and its breadth of coverage including insights into the penal crisis, different models of Justice Reinvestment, the use of criminal justice data and research evidence in re-designing criminal justice services and new approaches to commissioning.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Prison Conditions and Penal Policy presents the results of a worldwide exchange of information on the impact of COVID-19 in prisons. It also focuses on the human rights questions that have been raised during the pandemic, relating to the treatment of prisoners in institutions for both juveniles and adults worldwide. The first part brings together the findings and conclusions of leading prison academics and practitioners, presenting national reports with information on the prison system, prison population rates, how COVID-19 was and is managed in prisons, and its impact on living conditions inside prisons and on reintegration programmes. Forty-four countries are covered – many in Europe, but also Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Perú, Costa Rica, Canada, the USA, Kenya, South Africa, China, India, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. In the second part, thematic chapters concentrate explicitly on the impact of the pandemic on the application of international human rights standards in prisons and on worldwide prison population rates. The book concludes by drawing out the commonalities and diverging practices between jurisdictions, discussing the impact of measures introduced and reflecting on what could be learnt from policies that emerged during the pandemic. Particular attention is paid to whether "reductionist" strategies that emerged during the pandemic can be used to counteract mass incarceration and prison overcrowding in the future. Although the book reflects the situation until mid 2021, after the second and during the third wave of the pandemic, it is highly relevant to the current situation, as the living conditions in prisons did not change significantly during the following waves, which showed high infection rates (in particular in the general population), but increased vaccination rates, too. In prisons, problems the pandemic raises have an even greater impact than for the general society. Revealing many notable and interesting changes in prison life and in release programmes, this book is essential reading for students and scholars of penology, criminology, law, sociology and public health. It will also appeal to criminal justice practitioners and policy makers.

Introduction : world-making and "criminal justice reform" -- Correctional control and the challenge of reform -- Follow the money -- Criminalization, policing, and profiling -- The slippery slope of pretrial reform -- Courts, sentencing, and "diversion" -- Imprisonment and release -- Threshold.

This handbook provides a holistic and comprehensive examination of issues related to criminal justice reform in the United States from a multidisciplinary perspective. Divided into five key domains of reform in the criminal justice system, it analyzes: - Policing - Policy and sentencing - Reentry - Treatment - Alternatives to incarceration Each section provides a history and overview of the domain within the criminal justice system, followed by chapters discussing issues integral to reform. The volume emphasizes decreasing incarceration and minimizing racial, ethnic and economic inequalities. Each section ends with tangible recommendations, based on evidence-based approaches for reform. Of interest to researchers, scholars, activists and policy makers, this unique volume offers a pathway for the future of criminal justice reform in the United States.

The most punitive era in American history reached its apex in the 1990s, but the trend has reversed in recent years. Smart on Crime: The Struggle to Build a Better American Penal System examines the factors causing this dramatic turnaround. It relates and echoes the increasing need and desire on the part of actors in the American government system to construct a penal system that is more rational and humane. Author Garrick L. Percival points out that the prison boom did not naturally emerge as a governmental response to increasing crime rates. Instead, political forces actively built and shaped the growth of a more aggressive and populated penal system. He is optimistic that the shifting political forces surrounding crime and punishment can now reform the system, explaining how current political actors can craft more constructive and just policies and programs. The book shows how rationality and humanitarianism lead to a penal system that imprisons fewer people, does less harm to the lives of individual offenders and those close to them, and is less expensive to maintain. The book presents empirical data to concretely demonstrate what is working and what is not in today’s penal system. It closely examines policies and practices in Texas, Ohio, and California as comparative illustrations on what progress has been made or needs to be made in penal systems across the United States. The book includes a comprehensive discussion of highlighted issues, and relates more than two dozen interviews with pivotal political actors who clarify why there is a major shift underway in the American penal system. Their insights reveal paths that can be taken to improve the current penal system.

A new collection of compelling and challenging essays from one of the nation's leading voices on criminal justice reform, Reducing Crime, Reducing Incarceration makes the argument that sometimes small changes on the ground can add up to big improvements in the criminal justice system. How do you launch a new criminal justice reform? How do you measure impact? Is it possible to spread new practices to resistant audiences? And what’s the point of small-bore experimentation anyway? Greg Berman answers these questions by telling the story of successful experiments like the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn and by detailing the challenges of implementing new ideas within the criminal justice system. As Laurie Robinson, a professor at George Mason University, writes in her introduction: “Berman offers vivid testimony that—even in the face of opposition—it is, in fact, possible to push our criminal justice system closer to realizing its highest ideals. And that, indeed, is good news.” Other experts share their opinions: “The central insight of Reducing Crime, Reducing Incarceration is that small tweaks in practice within the criminal justice system can sometimes lead to big change on the streets. By telling the story of the Red Hook Community Justice Center and similar innovations, Greg Berman offers a hopeful message: criminal justice reform at the local level can make a difference.” — James B. Jacobs Warren E. Burger Professor of Law, New York University School of Law “Innovation is hard work.... Berman offers a look at how change happens at the local level—and how, sometimes, it doesn't. These well-written essays offer a compelling vision of both the challenges and opportunities of criminal justice reform.” — Nicholas Turner President, Vera Institute of Justice “The topic of criminal justice reform has challenged and bedeviled social thinkers for centuries. In this book, Berman offers a clear-eyed and inventive approach to the problem. Recognizing that change is best achieved at the local level with small, incremental steps using demonstration projects, Berman provides concrete examples of both successes and failures stemming from the work of the Center for Court Innovation over the last two decades. For anyone interested in the future of criminal justice, this book should be on the top of the 'must read' list.” — John H. Laub Distinguished University Professor, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, College Park “Here you will find Berman's compelling case for community justice, along with classic readings on problem-solving courts. Berman writes like all the rest of us wish we did....” — Candace McCoy The Graduate Center and John Jay College< City University of New York Presented in print and digital formats in the Contemporary Society Series by Quid Pro Books, the ebook edition uses proper formatting, linked notes, active URLS in notes, and active Contents.