Oregon broke with the War on Drugs three years ago, decriminalizing the possession of most illicit drugs. The measure promised instead a "health-based approach." But the state has just ended the short-lived experiment. The law faced stiff headwinds from the start: from fentanyl's arrival to a relentless opposition campaign. But part of what went wrong was a challenge for any legislation: implementation. How do you make a sweeping new approach work on the ground?
Every major reform is a hard-fought win, but if your goal is genuine system-change, getting your policy passed is only the beginning of your fight. With the help of a range of seasoned policy campaigners and real-world examples, our guide highlights the elements of strong, sustainable implementation, helping to ensure your policy translates into lasting change on the ground.
The Center for Court Innovation piloted a small electronic monitoring program—using smartphones—for young people under justice supervision. This article offers insights into the best ways to approach technology projects in the justice system, but also concludes that electronic tracking of 16- to 18-year-olds in school raised multiple challenges and provided too little benefit to serve as a replacement for traditional supervision methods.
Rachel Barkow contends criminal justice policy is a “prisoner of politics,” driven by appeals to voters’ worst instincts and an aversion to evidence of what actually works. In her new book, the NYU law professor makes a provocative case for “freeing” criminal justice from the political imperative in order to achieve real reform.
Who gets to decide which reforms to the criminal justice system receive the imprimatur of "evidence-based"? To combat what she sees as the monopoly over these decisions created by the high cost of the current evaluation model, Angela Hawken founded BetaGov, offering free and fast evaluations of public policy programs. What is more, as Hawken explains on our New Thinking podcast, the ideas tested generally come from practitioners, or even clients, inside the systems themselves.
This presentation—with audio commentary provided by Aubrey Fox and Emily Gold—highlights the main findings of a national survey of more than 600 police chiefs, state chief judges, elected prosecutors, and probation and parole officials on their views on innovation and leadership
The results from a survey of over 600 national criminal justice leaders provides a snapshot of the current state of innovation in criminal justice. It seeks to answer such questions as: Is innovation a priority? Are criminal justice leaders aware of emerging research? Do they use research to inform policymaking? What obstacles stand in the way of innovation?
This presentation highlights the main findings of a national survey of more than 600 police chiefs, state chief judges, elected prosecutors, and probation and parole officials on their views on innovation and leadership.
Kevin G. Kelly, deputy commissioner of NYC Business Customer Service in the New York City's Mayor Office, discusses how the city uses technology to improve efficiency and radically restructure how businesses interact with government.
