Council on Criminal Justice

Amid the continued high number of deaths and serious injuries in Texas jails, my piece in today's San Antonio Express-News examines the need to strengthen the Sandra Bland Act given challenges in both compliance with it's requirement of independent death investigations and genuine loopholes in the language. https://lnkd.in/gUbrBCJZ

"We have about a five-fold increase in the number of people getting bad paper discharges. And we know that we don't have a five-fold increase in bad people."     On July 15th, Director of the CCJ Veterans Justice Commission David "Mac" MacEwen testified on behalf of the Commission as part of a roundtable discussion hosted by the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Veterans' Affairs.     The discussion focused on:   ▪️Service members' return to civilian life and how the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' characterization of their discharge status affects their access to healthcare and benefits  ▪️How the United States Department of War and VA can improve their policies and procedures to better fulfill their obligations to provide care and support to veterans.    Watch the full discussion: https://lnkd.in/eWJj3HPA    Learn more about the CCJ Veterans Justice Commission: https://lnkd.in/g2zEkxzJ 

Accountability is a core component of a fair and effective criminal justice system. What should individual and system accountability look like 250 years from now?    For The Just Trust's Justice & The Next 250 initiative, Khalil A. Cumberbatch, CCJ’s director of engagement and partnerships, shares his vision of accountability that extends beyond punishment—one that holds both individuals and institutions responsible while prioritizing fairness, dignity, repair, and redemption.

CCJ welcomes Jonathan Wroblewski as a senior fellow! Jonathan brings a distinguished career in law and public service to help the Council carry forward the work of our Task Force on Artificial Intelligence.     Jonathan is currently a lecturer at Harvard Law School and has directed the Law School’s Semester in Washington Program since 2010. He began his federal career in 1988 as a prosecutor in the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division and previously served as an assistant public defender in the Alameda County Public Defender’s office.     We’re grateful for the opportunity to have Jonathan as part of our work. 

CCJ Senior Fellow Thaddeus Johnson spoke with CNN for a story on the growing use–and documented cases of misuse–of automated license-plate reader systems, also known as ALPRs, that police departments across the country have adopted in recent years.     Johnson told CNN that ALPRs can strengthen certain investigations, but they aren't a shortcut to safer communities, pointing to the need for quality investigators, policies, and guardrails that can produce safety while protecting privacy and civil liberties.    Read the story here: https://lnkd.in/eFrGqFRz 

We have a lot of work ahead of us to shift the justice system away from a preoccupation with punishment versus sentencing and forms of accountability that protect public safety while also considering healing, family and community. Read more of “The Rising Cost of Women’s Justice System Involvement”, a report by our valued partners Council on Criminal Justice. https://lnkd.in/eRkEfnaG

OUT TODAY: A new CCJ report finds that crime rates in large American cities continued to fall in the first half of 2026, with homicides down 18% from the same period in 2025.     That’s down 51% from the recent peak at mid-year 2022, and it puts the national homicide rate on track for another historic low, building on the record low CCJ projected for full-year 2025.    Explore the full analysis of crime trends in 36 U.S. cities from co-authors Ernesto Lopez and Bobby Boxerman, Ph.D.: https://lnkd.in/e2jaCuN2  Key findings:    ➡️ Reported levels of 9 of 13 offenses were lower in the first half of 2026 than in the first half of 2025. Carjacking saw the largest drop (-47%) and drug offenses saw the largest rise (+12%). Domestic violence rose 8%.    ➡️ Only shoplifting (+5%) remained elevated compared to levels in the first half of 2019.    ➡️ Four offenses have dropped by 50% or more from their peaks homicide (-51% vs. 2022), carjacking (-73% vs. 2023), residential burglary (-56% vs. 2018), and motor vehicle theft (-51% vs. 2023).    ➡️ Lethality—the share of serious violent crime that is fatal—fell 23% from the first half of 2025 among cities with sufficient data.    The report said there is no single or easy explanation for the trends. Researchers and practitioners have pointed to a range of possible influences, including changes in criminal justice operations and strategies, technological advances, and broad shifts in society and culture: https://lnkd.in/g-ycjdbM  

What safeguards are needed as immigration enforcement becomes increasingly intertwined with routine policing?    Writing in USA TODAY, CCJ Senior Fellow Thaddeus Johnson and Natasha N. Johnson, EdD share their perspective following fatal shootings by ICE agents in Houston and Maine involving drivers who were not the intended targets.    The authors argue that these shootings expose a broader accountability problem: DHS tracks enforcement incidents, but its tally excludes many people whom agents threaten, hold at gunpoint, pepper spray, or restrain during an operation.     News coverage can show what happened in a particular encounter. But many incidents go unreported, and those missing records make misconduct harder to detect.    Johnson and Johnson call for a sound federal policy to protect the public from unintended harm including:    ➡️ Comprehensive reporting on the number of stops and encounters, every person threatened or subjected to force, and whether that force involved physical tactics, chemical agents, a pointed gun, or an explicit threat.     ➡️ Routine vehicle stops governed by clear rules for initiating and ending stops, supported by body camera requirements, preservation of footage, and records indicating whether the person stopped was the intended target.      ➡️ Prompt, independent review whenever agents point a gun at, pepper spray, or restrain someone who was not the operation’s target, with findings made public without revealing sensitive tactics. A restored federal misconduct repository would provide an additional layer of accountability.    Read the op-ed: https://lnkd.in/euveZ8CF