This report presents the findings of a scoping review to assess the current state of literature and policy related to individuals with physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities who interact with the civil and criminal legal systems, with the goal of identifying priorities for future research related to these populations.
The authors explore the experiences of people with various disabilities who navigated the civil and criminal legal systems in the United States. Drawing on firsthand experiences of professionals, practitioners, family members, and people with lived experience, the authors' findings highlight challenges with disability accommodations across legal system settings, as well as opportunities to investigate research and practice gaps.
This report presents an evaluation of Neighborhood Court, a restorative justice diversion program run by the District Attorney in San Francisco. A randomized trial indicates that the program reduces recidivism (although this result is statistically insignificant), a discrete choice experiment shows demand and public willingness to pay for its features, and a qualitative analysis demonstrates positive perceptions of the program among stakeholders.
This brief report estimates the lifetime prevalence of incarceration among U.S. military veterans using data from three nationally representative U.S. samples.
This guide was developed to share best practices from the RAND Corporation’s work in implementing six community-police dialogues across four sites. This guide provides background on the purpose for the development of the community-police dialogue, guidance for planning and implementing the dialogue, and materials to help carry out the dialogue effectively.
RAND Europe was commissioned to conduct an international review of approaches to police performance measurement. The study examines how police performance is measured in a selection of countries and assesses how police performance measurement in the Netherlands could be improved. The report draws on information from Australia, Canada, England and Wales, Finland, Israel, New Zealand, North Rhine-Westphalia, the Netherlands, USA and Sweden.
People of color are overrepresented in the probation and parole population, yet relatively little attention has been paid to disparate treatment and outcomes at this stage of the justice system. This report presents findings from an expert panel that explored ways to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in the handling of technical violations of probation and parole — violations that, while not criminal, can be an important driver of incarceration.
This brief summarizes research into financial incentives that increase employers’ willingness to hire applicants with criminal records. The researchers find that tax credits and insurance increase employers’ willingness to hire such individuals.
The California County Resentencing Pilot Program was established to support and evaluate a collaborative approach to prosecutorial discretion in resentencing eligible incarcerated individuals. The evaluation seeks to determine how the pilot is implemented in individual counties, whether it is effective in reducing criminal justice involvement, and whether it is cost-effective. This report documents results from the program's second year.
The systems that provide counsel for indigent adult and juvenile defendants in the United States vary considerably across states, localities, and judicial jurisdictions. RTI International and RAND Corporation researchers developed a set of research priorities that, if addressed, could advance knowledge around effective indigent defense strategies.
Explores whether direct incentives for employers may increase employment of people with criminal records.
Race-based inequity in federal criminal sentencing is widely acknowledged, and yet our understanding of it is far from complete.
Public defense attorneys with excessive caseloads cannot give appropriate time and attention to each client. Excessive caseloads violate the ethics rules and inevitably cause harm. Researchers analyzed 17 state-level public defense workload studies and used the Delphi method to determine the average time needed to provide reasonably effective assistance of counsel and establish national workload standards in adult criminal cases.
This study aims to shed light on the prisons and detention centres in Tibet, using the innovative method of night-time lighting data.
Using night-time lighting data, this study looks at the potential changes in the construction, growth or decline of specific detention centres across Tibet that may not be visible using overhead satellite imagery alone.
Roughly half of U.S. counties do not provide defense counsel at bail hearings. A field experiment in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, shows that providing counsel can decrease the use of monetary bail and pretrial detention.
Gainful employment has been recognized as a key factor in efforts to reduce recidivism and promote successful reentry. However, returning citizens who were incarcerated in federal prisons face significant barriers to employment. Researchers convened a workshop to explore challenges and opportunities associated with improving employment outcomes among these individuals. This report summarizes needs identified by workshop participants.
In this report, RAND researchers share results of a process and outcome evaluation of Project Reset, a program that diverts adults arrested for low-level crimes into community-based support programs and out of the court system. Researchers identified key program facilitators and barriers, documented participant experiences, determined the effect the program had on case outcomes and rearrest rates, and examined whether the program was cost-effective.
This research brief summarizes results of a process and outcome evaluation of Project Reset, a program that diverts adults arrested for low-level crimes into community-based support programs and out of the court system.
Project imPACT provides employment, behavioral health, legal, and housing services, with the goal of improving employment outcomes as a way to reduce future criminal justice system involvement. This report presents findings related to individuals served between June 2020 and September 2022, demonstrating that Fellows achieved several program goals, including improved employment outcomes and low rates of recidivism.
A team of researchers from the RAND Corporation and Harder+Company Community Research partnered with the Los Angeles Mayor's Office of Reentry to evaluate Cohort 2 of Project imPACT. This brief highlights program implementation and outcome findings.
Roughly half of U.S. counties do not provide defense counsel at bail hearings, and few studies have documented the potential impacts of legal representation at this stage.
This study looks at three 'tools' that Member States can deploy in the fight against serious and organised crime. The report describes the current state of play and outlines possible policy solutions to address challenges identified.
The authors examine trends in the overall coronavirus disease 2019 infection rate for the U.S. state prison population and present the results of a 2022 survey of state correctional education directors to assess the impact of the pandemic and response efforts on education programs in state prison systems.
This publication summarizes the discussions and presents four pieces of scholarship presented during the UCLA-RAND Center for Law and Public Policy–sponsored "Rethinking Civil Case Management" conference. Participants discussed how and whether the American civil justice system might develop a stronger culture of experimentation and reform, with a focus on case management to shape and channel litigation.
