Abstract
A research and information center on crime prevention and public safety in Washington, D.C., is being created at the Urban Institute with an $800,000 grant from the Executive Office of the Mayor.
Contact: Stu Kantor, (202) 261-5283, skantor@urban.org
Simona Combi, (202) 261-5709, scombi@urban.org
WASHINGTON, D.C., September 25, 2009 — A research and information center on crime prevention and public safety in Washington, D.C., is being created at the Urban Institute with an $800,000 grant from the Executive Office of the Mayor.
The District of Columbia Juvenile and Criminal Justice Research and Policy Institute will produce independent evaluations and cost-benefit analyses to help the District craft evidence-based criminal justice policies and practices and allocate its resources more wisely. The new organization will also create a web-based library to catalogue prior research on crime and justice in Washington, D.C. In addition, the institute's researchers will create statistical models to predict how well promising practices and policies from other locales would serve District residents.
In its first year, the research center will initiate several studies. Topics under consideration include former prisoners' reintegration into society, collaboration among city agencies to serve the most challenged neighborhoods, and anti-homicide strategies. Final selections will be made in consultation with the Executive Office of the Mayor and the city's Justice Grants Administration.
The institute's portfolio will include study of the influence of crime and disorder on the health of residents and neighborhoods. Can we predict, for instance, when a neighborhood might begin to experience increased crime? What conditions support low levels of crime? Can factors that buffer crime in one neighborhood work in others?
John Roman, a senior research associate in the Urban Institute's Justice Policy Center, will direct the research. He has overseen studies of substance abuse, specialized courts, prisoner reentry, DNA evidence, policing, juvenile justice, and capital punishment. Jocelyn Fontaine will be the deputy director.
The public safety institute will be part of the Urban Institute?Brookings Partnership for Greater Washington Research. The Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution, among the nation's premier research entities, have long histories of District-themed research on such topics as housing conditions and trends, education and employment, schools, crime, and prisoner reentry.
The two organizations' combined research capabilities enable them to address how local juvenile and adult criminal justice concerns intersect with aspects of health, youth development, education, employment, housing, and neighborhoods.
The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that examines the social, economic, and governance challenges facing the nation. It provides information, analyses, and perspectives to public and private decisionmakers to help them address these problems and strives to deepen citizens? understanding of the issues and tradeoffs that policymakers face.
The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.
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