Urban Institute plays a role in studying the effectiveness of JRI reforms, looking both at individual states and at the initiative across all participating states. In addition to hosting convenings for practitioners working on JRI projects, our research products range from state assessment briefs and blog commentary, to visual representations of implemented reforms, to a 2016 report containing the most in-depth analysis to date of JRI’s contribution to sentencing and corrections policy reform in the states.

Initiative-wide publications:

• Justice Reinvestment Initiative Data Snapshot
• Justice Reinvestment Initiative State Data Tracker
• Reforming Sentencing and Corrections Policy (2016 state assessment report)
• Local Justice Reinvestment: Strategies, Outcomes, and Keys to Success
• The Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Thinking Local for State Justice Reinvestment
• Lessons from the States: Responsible Prison Reform
• The Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Experiences from the Local Sites
• Justice Reinvestment Initiative State Assessment Report (2014)
• The Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Experiences from the States

State policy assessments:

• Assessing North Carolina's Changes to Supervision Revocation Policy
• Assessing the Impact of Mississippi's Technical Violation Centers
• Assessing the Impact of Idaho's Parole Reforms
• Assessing the Impact of Georgia’s Sentencing Reforms
• Assessing the Impact of South Dakota’s Sentencing Reforms: Justice Reinvestment Initiative
• Assessing the Impact of South Carolina’s Parole and Probation Reforms

Policy Briefs:

• How Have States Addressed Behavioral Health Needs through JRI?
• Strengthening Community-Based Service Capacity through the Justice Reinvestment Initiative
• New Programs for and Approaches to Justice System Challenges: Case Studies of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oregon, and Pennsylvania
• How Have States Improved Accountability to Victims through JRI?

Blog commentary:

• Four Questions States Can Consider for Using the Justice Reinvestment Initiative Process to Address Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Criminal Legal Systems
• Community-Based Supports Are Essential to Better Address Behavioral Health Needs and Reduce Incarceration
• Improving Accountability to Victims through State Justice Reinvestment
• Six myths about criminal justice reform
• States spearhead ambitious criminal justice reform policies
• One way to reduce mass incarceration: Start local
• Local win-wins: How homegrown solutions can reduce incarceration and improve public safety
• Justice reinvestment: Using data to save dollars
• How evidence-based strategies can spur successful correctional reform
   

Multimedia Commentary: