Council on Criminal Justice

OUT TODAY: Today the Council’s Crime Trends Working Group released a roadmap to strengthen the nation’s crime data infrastructure and better equip policymakers with timely, accurate, and usable data essential to effectively address community violence and other crime. Led by Director John Buntin, Chair John Roman, and late Founding Chair Rick Rosenfeld, the 16-member Working Group said that despite recent improvements, national crime data fall short of what the country needs to sufficiently understand, control, and prevent crime.      Unlike readily available data on inflation and unemployment trends, national crime data lag by many months, the Group said. That delay hinders government and community leaders as they seek to spot emerging crime issues and deploy appropriate interventions, a problem that has become more serious in recent years as the internet, social media, and other technologies have fostered the rapid spread of new types of crime. In addition, the lack of real-time national data—which crimes are rising, which are falling, and by how much—can also distort public perceptions of trends and prompt changes to policy and strategies based on anecdote rather than evidence, the group said.      “Even small discrepancies can have big consequences in the policy and political environment. This is especially true when an inaccuracy makes the difference between a particular crime trend going up or down,” the Working Group said. “The potential fallout can be huge—in terms of crime tactics and strategies, whether the police chief stays on the job or gets fired, even whether the mayor or prosecutor is re-elected or driven from office. At stake are billions in government spending on public safety and criminal justice, the viability of businesses and urban centers, and the extent to which Americans are safe, and feel safe, in their homes and communities.”     The group proposed action in multiple areas by federal, state, and local agencies, focusing on improving the timeliness, accuracy, completeness, and usability of crime data. Funding recommendations accompany the roadmap, including a proposed increase in Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) appropriations as well as several one-time and annual funding recommendations for federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the OJP Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).    CCJ extends its gratitude to Working Group members Ruth Abaya, Thomas Abt, Delrice Adams, Jeff Asher, Deb Azrael, Jamein Cunningham, Drew Evans, Chief Edgardo Garcia, Brandon Gibson, Janet Lauritsen, Michael A. Nutter, Kathleen O'Toole, Fernando Rejón, Lisa Shoaf, Keon Turner, as well as Senior Adviser Alexis Piquero.    Explore the report: https://lnkd.in/gJ-JaQ9f

July 4th is a time to honor and thank current service members, while remembering the sacrifices of veterans. Loud noises and flashing lights can be triggering for those with PTSD and other service-related mental health disorders. Learn more at: https://lnkd.in/gCjxcufK As part of its ongoing work, CCJ’s Veterans Justice Commission produced a policy roadmap to help states expand alternatives to prosecution and incarceration for veterans whose PTSD and other service-related conditions drive criminal offending: https://lnkd.in/gHNMGmnk

Thanks, Scripps News, for allowing me to discuss our research (Natasha N. Johnson, EdD) on the pros and cons of AI and facial recognition tech in policing. Council on Criminal Justice Georgia State University - Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

“Big social and economic forces appear to have been behind the sharp trends that began in 2020, but now there is considerable variation between cities and crime types that suggests local factors are becoming more significant,” said Adam Gelb, president and CEO of the Council on Criminal Justice. Keep an eye out for CCJ's mid-year 2024 crime trends report - scheduled for release in just a few weeks! https://lnkd.in/gkGTEx-c

CCJ Board of Directors member Jeremy Travis has spent his career working for a more just and effective criminal justice system, through multiple roles in government, academia, and the nonprofit sector. He is currently a senior fellow at Columbia University’s Justice Lab, where he is writing a book on the role of values in future justice reforms with lab Director Bruce Western, working on a major research project on the impact of mass incarceration on New York City neighborhoods, and continuing his involvement with the Square One Project, a multi-year initiative dedicated to “reimagining justice.” Before joining the Justice Lab, Travis was executive vice president of criminal justice at Arnold Ventures. In this role, he led a team advancing evidence-based reforms to strengthen police accountability, improve community supervision, reduce unjust pretrial detention, and more. Earlier in his career, he served as president of John Jay College (CUNY) of Criminal Justice. During his 13-year tenure, John Jay became a senior liberal arts college, increased graduation rates, and became a leading voice in the national justice reform movement. Other career highlights include leading the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) as director in the Clinton Administration, serving as a senior fellow with the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute, working as chief counsel to the House Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, and serving as a special adviser to the mayor of New York.

"Criminal justice reform is not a destination, but a journey that requires policies and practices more closely aligned with the best evidence on what works, America’s constitutional principles and the nation’s most cherished values." A perspective by CCJ Chief Policy Counsel Marc Levin in Route Fifty highlighting examples of continuing progress on criminal justice reform: 

There's no easy answer to whether crime is up or down. Many factors - including offense type, timeframe, and data source – are essential to consider. Ahead of tonight's presidential debate, we've pulled together resources to help explain what we know - and don't - about crime. CCJ's Year-End 2023 crime trends report found that, among sample cities, homicide and most other violent crime declined in 2023 but remained above pre-pandemic levels: https://lnkd.in/gnW7cTRf If the decrease in homicide seen in Q1 (-26%) holds through 2024, it would be among the biggest single-year drops since at least 1960. Still, the homicide rate in 2022 was 43% higher than in 2014, which recorded the lowest homicide rate since the 1960s. https://lnkd.in/e6WTMSGn The discrepancy between the nation’s two crime measures – the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) – creates complications in understanding violent crime trends, but there are possible explanations: https://lnkd.in/gjuNqBNT Urgent action is needed to better equip policymakers with the data needed to effectively address crime. CCJ's Crime Trends Working Group released a report this week outlining recommendations for more timely, accurate, complete, and usable data: https://lnkd.in/gJ-JaQ9f For a more comprehensive look at long-term trends, CCJ’s “Footprint” tracks decades of trends in crime and victimization rates, arrests, probation, parole, jails, state prisons, federal prisons, and women and juveniles in a series of 40 interactive charts: https://lnkd.in/gFAiXCu9

“As a democratic society, we need to know what the facts are, so elected leaders can solve the problem as it exists, not as it’s messaged.” - John Roman, CCJ Crime Trends Working Group Chair. In his piece for The Washington Post, Tom Jackman highlights the latest report from CCJ's Crime Trends Working Group calling for action to improve national crime data. The report - Better Crime Data, Better Crime Policy - presents a set of recommendations to strengthen the nation’s crime data infrastructure and better equip policymakers with timely, accurate, and usable data essential to effectively address crime. Explore the report here: https://lnkd.in/gJ-JaQ9f

June is PTSD Awareness Month, a reminder that research shows that the likelihood of justice involvement increases for veterans with PTSD and/or traumatic brain injuries. Learn more from Ugur Orak’s study for CCJ’s Veterans Justice Commission: https://lnkd.in/gAzmWRDk

CCJ is delighted to welcome Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson, partner at Alexander Dubose & Jefferson LLP and former Chief Justice of Texas.