Crime Solutions
Getting It Right: Collaborative Problem Solving for Criminal Justice in the U.S
This guide spells out a practical team-based approach to building the kind of criminal justice system a community wants, assessing the current system, and planning and implementing strategies for 'getting it right'. Five sections comprise this manual: an overview of a comprehensive planning process; establishing the policy team and the process; keeping the focus on outcomes; building an understanding of your system; and moving from understanding to change.
Title: Getting it right: Collaborative Problem Solving for Criminal Justice
Author: National Institute of Corrections
Number of Pages: 236
Date Published: 2006
Availability: Download Full Report 2.45Mb PDF
Public safety changed dramatically over the 20th century. People no longer feel as safe as they did and need to know what the criminal justice system is doing to increase their safety. This has led to the U.S criminal justice system expanding in size by nearly 75% between 1995 and 2005. Such expansion is impossible to control, so the criminal justice system in 2006 is a huge sprawling mass of branches and departments. For these branches to work together effectively there needs to be a unified strategy which serves the same goal: To make our communities feel safe.
This is where criminal justice system planning comes in and it is a process divided into three main stages:
1. Creating a vision of success (Where do we want to be in the future?)
2. Assesing current policies, practices, programs and how have they changed over time. (Where are we now?)
3. Planning and implementing strategies for change (How do we get from here to there?)
This process requires a policy team from different backgrounds so that they can view the problems that arise from different perspectives. The policy team needs to be made up of people with the power to implement the changes needed, such as :
- The Chief Judge
- The Elected Prosecutor
- The Court Administrator
- The Chief of Police
- The Sheriff
- The Head of Probabtion
- The Captain of the Jail
These people however are unlikely to read this guide. This guide is designed to provide staff charged with supporting a policy team with the tools they need to assist policymakers in taking on the planning process. It can also offer the policy group leadership an overview of the expected activities and results of the process.
Getting a copy
Download Full Report 2.45Mb PDF
Last update: Tuesday, September 19, 2006
