Evidence Based Decision Making in State and Local Criminal Justice Systems: Implementation Strategy for Sustainability and Scaling Up

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The overarching goal of the Evidence Based Decision Making (EBDM) initiative is to establish and test articulated linkages (information tools and protocols) between the decisions of local criminal justice stakeholders and the application of human and organizational change principles (evidence-based practices) in achieving measurable reductions in pretrial misconduct and post-conviction risk of reoffending. The unique focus of the EBDM initiative is the review of locally developed criminal justice strategies that guide practice within existing statues and rules. The initiative intends to (1) improve the quality of information that jurisdictions use to make individual case decisions in local systems and (2) engage these systems as policymaking bodies to collectively improve the effectiveness and capacity of their decision making related to pretrial release/sentencing options. Local officials involved in the initiative include: judges, prosecutors, public defenders, police, human service providers, county executives, and administrators of jail, probation, and pretrial services agencies.

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