What are evidence-based practices?

Evidence-based practices (EBP) are programs or activities that demonstrate effectiveness and efficiency through an analysis of data conducted by an outside researcher. EBPs are a significant trend in the criminal justice field because they represent strategies and approaches that have the greatest potential for generating positive outcomes given limited resources. EBPs offer the best investment of time and money based on current knowledge and sound research. The publications in this section offer examples of strategies endorsed by ICJIA as effective and efficient for generating positive outcomes and promoting fiscal responsibility.

Justice Reinvestment

The Justice Reinvestment Project is a collaboration of policymakers to advance a data-driven strategy that reduces corrections expenditures, increases public safety, and invests in communities where high numbers of ex-offenders are re-entering. The Initiative provides community-based social services and subsidies such as substance abuse and mental health counseling, employment assistance, and food stamps. The challenge is to increase public safety by reducing recidivism and re-allocating the realized savings from decreased incarceration costs to the communities of greatest need.

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Problem-Oriented Policing

Problem-oriented policing (POP) is an approach to law enforcement whereby police officers identify specific or underlying conditions of neighborhoods or communities contributing to crime with the premise that reducing or eliminating these conditions will also reduce crime. The model places a high value on strategies that involve partnerships between local agencies and citizens to address issues impacting neighborhoods and communities.

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Problem-Solving Courts

Problem-solving courts attempt to get at the root of what may be contributing to offending behavior. Also called specialty courts, problem solving courts address specialized populations through a focus on establishing or restoring offenders as contributing members of society. Problem-solving courts incorporate a balanced approach of treatment and community supervision to hold people accountable.

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Recidivism Reduction

Two major areas of recidivism reduction programming include interventions that are implemented in the community, such as probation or parole programs, and institutional interventions occurring in prisons. Community corrections programs provide a unique opportunity to avoid both the fiscal and human costs of recidivism. In the community, offenders have access to services and programs not available to prisoners, while maintaining ties with their families and their communities. Institutional programs allow inmates to make productive use of their time during incarceration, while providing them with skills and mindsets that can ease their transition from prison to the community and reduce the risk for re-offending.

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Restorative Justice

Restorative justice provides a framework by which the system can respond more holistically to offenders and their victims and the communities in which they live. Restorative justice principles can guide responses to conflicts in many settings, not just those caused by a violation of law. The goal of the philosophy is to balance the needs of three parties -- those identified as offenders or law violators, the crime victim, and the affected community. Although developed with the juvenile justice system in mind, the principles and components set forth within the restorative justice philosophy are quickly being integrated into adult justice system practices.

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Risk Assessment Tools

Over the last 20 years, many efforts have been made by criminal justice practitioners and administrators to identify risks posed by offenders, including potential for violent institutional misconduct, risk of self-harm, and risk to public safety. These efforts have resulted in the development of specific assessment tools with succinct metrics to identify a variety of risk factors. These tools assist in case planning for offenders under the supervision of correctional agencies and community-based corrections programs.

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