1.
A Systems Approach to Criminal Justice: Agencies within the criminal justice system are structured independently, often operate within silos, develop piecemeal solutions, and, in turn, produce poor outcomes. A systems approach is needed that addresses a revised set of values in criminal justice, and the development of
one administrative entity that addresses the social determinants of health and criminal behavior, and reintegration as the goal of the criminal justice system.
2.🔑Criminal Justice Coordinating Committees (CJCCs): A Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee (CJCC), city, county, or community-based, is needed to guide policy, coordinate program development, and monitor the local jail population. The new National Standards for Coordinating Councils suggests the need for more community engagement and school justice partnerships. Each city and county should consider adopting these new NIC standards.
3. Community & Problem-Solving Justice: There is a need for more community research, education, problem-solving, and restorative justice strategies. It is equally important to study the environmental factors leading to chronic offending and provide prevention strategies while holding each criminal accountable for their actions. Community and problem-solving justice can trace its theoretical roots to community policing, community prosecution, community-based corrections, and community courts.
4. Violence is a Public Health Issue. The American Public Health Association (APHA) officially deemed violence a public health crisis. More social, public health and medical approaches are needed to address the evolution of violence. Dr. Gary Slutkin speaks about how to prevent violence, and Dr. Dyann Daley addresses how to predict and prevent child abuse and neglect. It is time to monitor our community health factors more closely and treat violence like a contagious disease.
5.🔑Data-Driven Dialog & Justice Reinvestment Strategies: More justice reinvestment strategies are needed that can help prevent crime, control costs, and reduce recidivism rates. There is a relationship between community health, social and economic factors, and community safety. Evidence-based, data-driven, and cost-effective programs should be discussed such as decentralized Neighborhood Safety Offices and Nurse-Family Partnerships, that can save dollars and be reinvested into the community and various justice system initiatives.
6. Reintegration as the Goal: Reintegration should be the central goal of the criminal justice system and considered a new pathway for offender reentry. These practices should be legislatively defined, and the planning process required at the time of the arrest. This strategy provides for advocacy, enhanced public safety, and an opportunity for all stakeholders, and individual defendants to collaborate and undertake transitional reentry planning.
7. Standard Measure of Recidivism: There is a need for uniform recidivism measures that facilitate a consistent method to track and compare recidivism rates for individuals released from probation, local and state jails, and prisons. This information will identify areas in need of further examination and improve the effectiveness of policies directed at reducing recidivism.
8. Community Justice Triage Programs: There should be 24/7 decentralized community justice pre-arrest and community transition triage functions that include community resource coordination, video magistrate, pretrial release, and access to mental health and reintegration services. This type of program will help support the social and criminal justice systems and control the jail population.
9. Mental Health Crisis Care Centers: There is support for more diversion services such as Crisis Now drop-off centers that assist in de-escalating the severity of a person's level of distress, ameliorating the symptoms of mental illness, and preventing incarceration. Forty-four percent (44%) of jail inmates have a mental disorder. The co-occurrence of drugs and alcohol is common among these individuals establishing the need for treatment services for these individuals at the same location. CJCCs play a key role in coordinating these services.
10.🔑Social and Justice System Dashboards: It is necessary to use the data, and dashboards, to outline the vital signs of the social and criminal justice system because when data are recorded, merged, and shared, into a visual format, they can reveal trends that were previously undiscovered and may require attention. It is important to monitor incarceration rates because they may be used as performance measures for the justice system and for a range of factors that affect community health.
🔑The three key steps needed to implement this strategy.
