Ongoing Projects
Evaluation of the Corporation for Supportive Housing's Returning Home Initiative—Chicago
This project employs a randomized design to examine whether homeless frequent users of jail who are provided permanent supportive housing will be less likely to recidivate and use homeless shelters than a control group. The Returning Home Initiative—Chicago targets individuals entering Cook County Jail in Chicago.
Hard-to-House Demonstration Project
This project, based in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center ("Metro Center") at UI, involves a collaboration between JPC researchers and Metro Center researchers overseeing and evaluating a pilot project that is providing enhanced case management services to residents of two public housing developments in Chicago. The goals of the research are to evaluate whether the demonstration fostered positive outcomes that include improved housing outcomes, reduced crime and substance abuse, and an improvement in overall quality of life. The study is also assessing the cost-effectiveness of service approach by comparing costs of the various "paths" families take during the demonstration to the outcomes achieved. The demonstration began in March 2007 and the first results from the first wave of data (the baseline survey) are expected to be available by early 2008.
Alcohol Availability and Crime
This 2007 study is examining the relationship between alcohol availability, distribution policies and homicide, assault, and social disorder. The project is based on the development of a geographic information system (GIS) containing neighborhood crime, demographic, and environmental characteristics for Washington, D.C.
Community Organizations and Crime: An Examination of the Social-Institutional Processes of Neighborhoods
The main goal of the study is to examine how local organizations are linked to social control and crime in order to inform policy, research and practice around community development for crime control and public safety. The study defines a new measure of neighborhood organizational capacity based on survey measures of the capacity of community-based institutions. Results are expected by December 2007.
Evaluation of the Ridge House Residential Program
The Ridge House is a faith-based transitional housing program operating in Reno, Nevada, that provides prisoner reentry services to men and women leaving prison. The evaluation is: (1) documenting the logic and operations of the program; the barriers to and facilitators of successful operations; and whether critical program outcomes are achieved; (2) assessing the impacts of the program in reducing recidivism and improving employment, housing, and drug use outcomes of participants compared to a parolee comparison group; and (3) conducting a cost-benefit analysis. Results are expected in late Spring 2008. Interim results are available.
National Census of State Court Prosecutors
The Justice Policy Center is serving as data collection agent for the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) on the 2007 National Census of State Court Prosecutors (NCSCP). The census will collect data on budget, staffing, and policy from the offices of each of the more than 2,300 chief prosecutors in the U.S. with jurisdiction to litigate felony cases in state court. Data collection activities will begin in January 2008; BJS will publish the findings.
Evaluation of Safe City
The Justice Policy Center (JPC) is conducting a four-site evaluation of the Target Corporation's Safe City initiative. Safe City is a public/private partnership between law enforcement agencies and business owners aimed at preventing crime in retail areas using a combination of crime prevention and technology interventions. The JPC evaluation is sponsored by the National Institute of Justice and will evaluate Safe City efforts in Tucson (AZ), Cincinnati (OH), Hyattsville (MD), and Chula Vista (CA).
Evaluation of RFID in Correctional Settings
The Justice Policy Center is conducting a process and impact evaluation of RFID technology to prevent sexual assaults, related acts of violence, and other proscribed behaviors at the Northeast Pre-Release Center (NEPRC), a women’s prison in Cleveland, Ohio. RFID technology is used at NEPRC to track the locations of inmates and issue alerts when inmates are out of place. This study examines the application of this emerging technology that, if successful, has important implications for inmate management and the prevention of violence and infractions occurring in correctional settings.
Evaluation of Community Policing Use of CCTV
The Justice Policy Center has received funding from the US Department of Justice’s COPS Office to conduct a process and impact evaluation of the use of Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) to prevent crime and disorder in four United States (US) cities. The evaluation will include pre- and post-CCTV analyses of both quantitative and qualitative data on CCTV’s role in reducing and/or displacing crime in and around the vicinity of the cameras and the degree to which CCTV supports police arrests, investigations and prosecutions.
Emerging Security Issues
The Justice Policy Center has been awarded a grant from the ASIS International Foundation to anticipate and plan for demographic and crime trends as they relate to the security industry. The focus of this project is to identify how security professionals in retail, hospitality and services, information technology, healthcare, banking and insurance, and transportation sectors might prepare for emerging demographic changes and related security issues over the next five to ten years. This research will help to develop practical guidance to private security experts throughout the country.
National Survey of DOC Release Procedures
With funding from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Justice Policy Center is exploring issues surrounding the moment of release for inmates, identifying promising practices in place that correctional agencies use to help prepare inmates for release, and developing a set of key principles that people can test themselves against in order to improve outcomes for prisoners transitioning back to the community. This will be informed by a national survey of state correctional facilities regarding their release procedures, a scan of practice of risk assessment and discharge planning strategies being employed by correctional facilities around the country, and the convening of corrections experts.
Jail Sexual Assault Prevention (JSAP)
The Urban Institute’s Jail Sexual Assault Prevention (JSAP) project is applying principles of Situational Crime Prevention (SCP), which focuses on closing off opportunities for crime, to address sexual assaults and related acts of violence and self harm in county jail facilities in Jacksonville, Florida; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Cook County, Illinois. Urban Institute (UI) researchers are working with corrections officials in each of these sites to analyze historical violence data, making note of the environmental and situational factors associated with these incidents. This analysis will inform the development of a plan to alter the design and management of each jail to reduce violence and self harm. UI researchers will work in partnership with each of the jails to develop prevention measures that are feasible, affordable, and minimally disruptive to the management of the facility. After implementing the changes, violent incidents will be tracked for a period of 12 months to support a rigorous impact evaluation as well as an assessment of whether the interventions are cost-effective. Based on this work, we will develop a practitioner-friendly guidebook on ways in which to apply SCP to reduce sexual and other violence in correctional settings. The JPC has recently completed a project examining policies to prevent sexual violence in prisons.
Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration Evaluation
The Transitional Jobs Reentry Demonstration Evaluation is being led by MDRC in collaboration with the Urban Institute and the University of Michigan. The evaluation is using a rigorous random assignment research design to measure the differences between transitional job programs compared to basic job search assistance for former prisoners. The demonstration will include programs in Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, and St. Paul and is funded primarily by the Joyce Foundation, with contributions from the JEHT Foundation and the U.S. Department of Labor.
Public Housing Safety Initiative
JPC is conducting a multi-year performance evaluation for the Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO) of the U.S. Department of Justice to document the outcomes of FY2002, FY2004, and FY2005 Community Capacity Development Office (CCDO)/Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Public Housing Safety Initiative (PHSI) grantees. The emphasis is on 19 communities where U.S. Attorney's Offices (USAOs) received FY2004 and FY2005 funding to assist with investigation, prosecution, and prevention of violent crimes and drug offenses in public and federally assisted low-income housing. The USAOs are bringing together diverse stakeholders to implement a variety of intervention and prevention strategies, including environmental re-design, undercover surveillance, increased law enforcement presence in targeted areas, and youth development programs.
Analysis of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children Prosecutions
The Urban Institute and its community partner, the Polaris Project, are funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to conduct a twelve-month study on the commercial sexual exploitation of children and youth (CSEC). The research will take the form of a national longitudinal analysis of federal prosecutions since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000 and will consider the influence of these prosecutions on CSEC service providers.
Modeling Supervision Failure
The Justice Policy Center is validating a risk-assessment instrument for use by the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA) of Washington, D.C. The instrument will be used to develop supervision plans for offenders on probation and parole.
Reentry Mapping Network (RMN)
RMN is a partnership among community-based organizations and the Urban Institute designed to create community change through the mapping, analysis, and dissemination of neighborhood-level data related to prisoner reentry and community well being.
Evaluation of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI)
JPC, with the Research Triangle Institute, is evaluating SVORI, a federal effort to improve outcomes for adults and juveniles returning to their communities after a period of incarceration. The objective is to help states better use their correctional resources to promote productive social roles and reduce the likelihood that released prisoners will return to crime and incarceration. A portrait of SVORI and the evaluation is now available.
Understanding the Challenges of Prisoner Reentry
The Urban Institute began prisoner reentry research in 2000 to better understand how being imprisoned—and then going home—impacts individuals, families, and communities. This research portfolio has informed a broad set of policy and practice discussions about the challenges facing former prisoners. This overview highlights our original research findings across several key dimensions. It also points to recent and relevant reports that provide more in-depth findings.
Evaluation of the DNA Expansion/Demonstration Program
The Justice Policy Center is conducting a randomized controlled trial of the National Institute of Justice’s DNA Expansion/Demonstration program. The purpose of this research is to develop empirical estimates of the cost-effectiveness of using DNA evidence in the investigation of property crimes.
Reentry Roundtable
The Reentry Roundtable is an ongoing forum that brings together leading academics, practitioners, community leaders, policymakers, advocates, and formerly incarcerated individuals to push the envelope of research and practice.
Evaluation of the Judicial Oversight Demonstration Project (JOD)
JPC is conducting process and impact evaluations of JOD, which was implemented in three sites to improve victim safety and services and increase offender accountability in cases of intimate partner violence.
Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Initiative
PSN is a collaborative approach to preventing and reducing gun-related violence. JPC serves as the local research partner for PSN initiatives in Washington, D.C.
Reclaiming Futures Evaluation
JPC is the national evaluator for the Reclaiming Futures initiative, which seeks to build and demonstrate more effective, integrated, community-based solutions to juvenile substance abuse and delinquency.
Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation (MADCE)
The Multi-Site Adult Drug Court Evaluation will analyze the effects of adult drug courts on participant outcomes and evaluate the impacts of different drug court models.
Returning Home
The JPC's major reentry research initiative is Returning Home, a multi-state longitudinal study that documents the pathways of prisoner reintegration, examines what factors contribute to successful or unsuccessful reentry, and identifies how those factors can inform policy. Returning Home examines reentry from the perspective of: the individual, the family, peers, the community, and the state. This project is part of the JPC's Reentry Portfolio.
Evaluation of the Gang Reduction Program (GRP)
This project involves an implementation process and outcome evaluation of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s Gang Reduction Program, a community-focused approach to preventing and reducing gang-related violence.
Federal Justice Statistics Resource Center (FJSRC)
FJSRC collects and analyzes data about the processing of individuals and corporations through the federal criminal justice system. FJSRC compiles these data into the Federal Justice Statistics Program database for the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Past Projects
Study of the Federal Court System Administrative Services
This collaborative study focuses on the delivery of administrative services to the federal judiciary in eight functional areas (human resources, training, finance, budget, information technology, contracts and procurement, property management, and space and facilities).
Addressing Prison Sexual Violence: Review of Prisons’ Prevention and Treatment Policies and Programs
This project provided a national snapshot of Department of Corrections initiatives to address sexual violence in prisons, as well as to identify specific practices that seemed to be, in the absence of formal evaluations, particularly promising or innovative in nature. Practices were identified related to policy development, prevention, investigation and prosecution, victim services, staff training, documenting incidents, and funding. The JPC has an ongoing project examining sexual violence in jails.
