The substantial investment of jail resources used to detain defendants has received significant attention of late.
Stakeholders, practitioners, and researchers are expanding correctional reforms that had focused mostly on post-disposition populations to now include the front end of the criminal justice system.
This is certainly a positive change, but the field is lacking rigorous research testing what works with pretrial defendants and identifying a cadre of evidence-based practices for jurisdictions to implement. Given this dearth in existing knowledge about pretrial efforts, the Crime and Justice Institute is using a data-driven approach to helping jurisdictions empirically identify jail population drivers, propose appropriate reforms and promising practices, and apply a comprehensive implementation framework. By focusing on implementation, agencies integrate reforms with fidelity, monitor reform progress, and then assess the reforms for impact.
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