The Urban Institute’s Justice Policy Center staff members conduct research and evaluations and provide technical assistance to improve justice policy and practice at the national, state, and local levels. Urban researchers examine the development, implementation, and impact of policing, crime prevention, and gang disruption initiatives. The work includes a large breadth of topics ranging from risk assessment, community corrections and reentry, human trafficking, forensic science, courts and sentencing, to gun violence.

Researchers work closely with governors, mayors, state and federal policymakers, police chiefs, corrections directors, community groups, and service providers to provide technical assistance to improve public safety and find smarter ways to spend scarce criminal justice resources. Urban staff members use their knowledge of the federal, state, and local correctional systems to guide concrete, real-world solutions. They conduct rigorous evaluations and in-depth data analyses and give context to the data through interviews with victims, perpetrators, and the practitioners who interact with these groups. This hands-on work and technical assistance allows Urban staff members to hear from the people most affected by justice policy decisions and makes findings more relevant and useful.