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Criminal Justice

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RAND research on criminal justice examines such topics as drug policy, counterterrorism, DNA evidence, security trade-offs, victims' rights, and much more.

Research Brief
A More Accurate Way to Predict Recidivism Risk in Background Checks
Roughly 30 percent of people in the United States have criminal histories, so exclusions resulting from background checks can foreclose job and other opportunities for many. But what if it were possible to show that some people pose a low risk of recidivism?
Jan 6, 2022
Report
Leveraging Technology to Support Prisoner Reentry
How can technology help ease the transition from jails or prisons back into the community—and ensure better outcomes for individuals who have been incarcerated?
May 3, 2022

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Blog
Reconstructing Ukraine, Wildfires, Telehealth: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on reconstructing Ukraine, what to do about wildfires, virtual mental health care services, and more.
Jun 16, 2023
Report
Promising Strategies to Support Justice-Involved Veterans
Veterans make up about eight percent of the 2.2 million people incarcerated in U.S. jails and prisons. On top of this, an unknown number of veterans have had contact with the criminal justice system. What policies and programs can better support these individuals?
Jun 12, 2023
Report
Implementation and Outcome Evaluation of LA DOOR: A Proposition 47-Funded Program in Los Angeles: Cohort 2 Final Evaluation Report
The authors discuss the Los Angeles Diversion, Outreach, and Opportunities for Recovery program, which uses a health-focused preventative approach to engage those at risk of misdemeanors related to substance use, mental illness, or homelessness.
May 24, 2023
Research Brief
Wraparound Services Are Key to Helping Justice-Involved Los Angelenos Get and Keep Jobs
A team of researchers from the RAND Corporation and Harder+Company Community Research partnered with the Los Angeles Mayor's Office of Reentry to evaluate Cohort 2 of Project imPACT. This brief highlights program implementation and outcome findings.
May 12, 2023
Report
Implementation and Outcome Evaluation of Project imPACT — A Proposition 47–Funded Program in Los Angeles: Cohort 2 Final Evaluation Report
This report presents findings related to individuals served by Project imPACT, an employment-focused reentry program, between June 2020 and September 2022, demonstrating how service providers helped Fellows achieve several of the program's goals.
May 12, 2023
Journal Article
The Impact of Defense Counsel at Bail Hearings
Roughly half of U.S. counties do not provide defense counsel at bail hearings, and few studies have documented the potential impacts of legal representation at this stage.
May 11, 2023
News Release
Providing Legal Counsel at Initial Bail Hearings Reduces Use of Cash Bail, Lowers Incarceration
Providing defendants with legal counsel during their initial bail hearing decreases use of monetary bail and pretrial detention, without increasing the likelihood that defendants fail to appear at the subsequent preliminary hearing.
May 5, 2023
Journal Article
Study Strengthening the Fight Against Organised Crime: Assessing the Legislative Framework
This study looks at three 'tools' that Member States can deploy in the fight against serious and organised crime. The report describes the current state of play and outlines possible policy solutions to address challenges identified.
Mar 29, 2023
Periodical
RAND Review: March-April 2023
The cover story describes how K-12 schools can build trust with students to increase threat reporting and strengthen school safety. The Q&A with Ashley Woo explores how restrictions on race- and gender-related topics are affecting teachers.
Mar 22, 2023
Testimony
Evaluation of the California County Resentencing Pilot Program
The California County Resentencing Pilot Program was established in 2021 and will run through September 1, 2024. In the program's first year, what were some of the implementation challenges participants faced? And what are some early results from the nine pilot counties' case reviews?
Mar 17, 2023
Commentary
Everyone Over 21 Has a 'License to Drink.' When Should It Get Suspended?
Excessive drinking creates massive economic costs because of its effects on workplace productivity, health care expenditures, and crime. This raises the question: Should some people be required to stop drinking?
Mar 11, 2023
Report
Regulating the Use of Facial Recognition by Law Enforcement
Facial recognition technology is developing rapidly and is increasingly being used in policing. What do policymakers need to understand in order to minimize the risks it poses, while also maximizing its benefits?
Feb 15, 2023
Journal Article
Strengthening the Fight Against Corruption: Assessing the EU Legislative and Policy Framework
This study aims to provide recommendations for possible EU measures in the area of corruption prevention and repression and to assess and compare the impacts of the identified policy options.
Jan 19, 2023
Report
A Multi-Site Evaluation of Law Enforcement Deflection in the United States
The authors describe how law enforcement deflection programs have been implemented at six U.S. sites and identify key program facilitators and barriers. The authors also conducted outcome analyses at two of the sites.
Jan 10, 2023
Essay
Hackathon Focuses on Making Policing More Equitable
Hackathons bring new ideas and perspectives to hard policy problems and introduce college students to the field of policy analysis. The latest hackathon, hosted by Pardee RAND and RAND NextGen, explored ways to make the criminal justice system more equitable and more effective.
Jan 9, 2023
Report
Promising Services for Justice-Involved Youth: A Scoping Review with Implications for the Los Angeles County Juvenile Justice Crime Prevention Act
The authors of this report provide a review of the literature that evaluates programs for youth who are involved in the juvenile justice system to identify promising and effective practices, describing implications for Los Angeles County.
Jan 5, 2023
Report
Better Data Collection Could Support Efforts to Reduce Deaths in Police Custody
No national data collection program describes all deaths that occur in law enforcement custody. These data are critical to support strategies to reduce such fatalities, to promote public safety through appropriate police responses, and to build trust with communities.
Oct 11, 2022
Journal Article
Laws for Expanding Access to Medications for Opioid Use Disorder: A Legal Analysis of 16 States & Washington D.C.
This study reports on the results of a qualitative analysis that identified and categorized state medications for opioid use disorder related statutes and regulations in a stratified random sample of 16 states and Washington D.C.
Oct 7, 2022
Report
Evaluation of the California County Resentencing Pilot Program: Year 1 Findings
This evaluation of the California County Resentencing Pilot Program seeks to determine how the program is implemented in nine pilot counties and what the characteristics are of a possible candidate for resentencing.
Oct 3, 2022
Report
Criminal History Record Information Sharing with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency: Education and Training Materials for State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial Partners
This report presents materials to facilitate more effective and efficient criminal history record information sharing with the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, which performs federal background investigations.
Sep 7, 2022

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Jamie Morikawa

Associate Director, RAND Institute for Civil Justice

Jamie Morikawa is the associate director of the RAND Institute for Civil Justice (ICJ) and the Kenneth R. Feinberg Center for Catastrophic Risk Management and Compensation, through which she is responsible for helping manage strategic direction and research portfolios. She also builds and…
Annalena Wolcke

Research Assistant

Annalena Wolcke (she/her) is a research assistant at RAND Europe working in the area of home affairs and social policy. She is based in RAND’s Cambridge office, where she engages mainly in criminal justice related research. Her research interests include justice, migration, and race. Annalena…

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