About Criminal Justice

The CSG/ERC Criminal Justice Program assists state policy makers across all levels of state government to promote innovative state and regional criminal justice policy on a variety of important issues. Since its inception in 1995, the Criminal Justice Program has worked on a variety of issues, including crime victims' satisfaction with the criminal justice system, improving the response to people with mental illness in the criminal justice system, and racial disparities in the justice system.

History

In December 1995, following an unprecedented surge in the region's prison population and a corresponding increase in state spending on the construction and operation of prisons, the CSG/ERC Executive Committee established the Criminal Justice Advisory Board. Members of the board include ranking state legislators, judges, corrections officials, juvenile justice agency directors, and crime victim advocates; cumulatively, they represent a cross-section of the senior-level state officials who shape criminal justice policy in the northeast.

Because CSG/ERC is the only regional office of the Council of State Governments that focuses on criminal justice policy, the CSG/ERC criminal justice program often works on projects that are national in scope.

Relationship with CSG National Public Safety and Justice Group

The CSG/ERC Criminal Justice Program works closely with CSG's national Public Safety and Justice Group, which coordinates a national Public Safety and Justice Task Force, and facilitates multi-state collaborative efforts, such as the Interstate Compact for Adult Offender Supervision and the Interstate Compact for Juveniles.

Project Development

Initiatives of the ERC Criminal Justice Program are established according to the priorities of the Criminal Justice Advisory Board. Typically, Board members will propose convening a small focus group of policymakers and experts to discuss a particular issue to determine whether significant interest and concern exists regarding this topic and whether there is potential for bipartisan consensus regarding improvements to policy.

If this initial meeting demonstrates that the issue does merit sustained attention from the Criminal Justice Program, the Board may recommend the development of an initiative and instruct staff to identify a diverse group of funding sources to provide the financial support needed to sustain the initiative. If CSG's national Justice and Public Safety Task Force is also interested in the effort, the Criminal Justice Program may make the initiative national in scope.

Rarely open-ended (although there are some notable exceptions), initiatives of the Criminal Justice Program typically conclude after three to five years.