About RJIP
In 2010 the American Bar Association, Criminal Justice Section launched the Racial Justice Improvement Project (RJIP), with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). The RJIP is designed to identify and reform policies and practices that produce racial disparities in local criminal justice systems across the country.
While people of color have a higher rate of criminal activity in some crime categories, this does not explain why defendants of color who commit the same crimes, and have the same criminal history as white defendants, are more likely to be denied pretrial release and are sentenced more harshly. Likewise, while there are some bad actors in the criminal justice system whose professional judgment is affected by racial bias, “race neutral” laws that are fairly and evenly enforced across all racial groups can still have a disparate impact on defendants of color.
While people of color have a higher rate of criminal activity in some crime categories, this does not explain why defendants of color who commit the same crimes, and have the same criminal history as white defendants, are more likely to be denied pretrial release and are sentenced more harshly. Likewise, while there are some bad actors in the criminal justice system whose professional judgment is affected by racial bias, “race neutral” laws that are fairly and evenly enforced across all racial groups can still have a disparate impact on defendants of color.
History
In 2010 the American Bar Association Criminal Justice Section launched the American Bar Association Racial Justice Improvement Project (RJIP), with support from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA). RJIP was originally a two-year federally funded initiative designed to identify and reform policies and practices that produce racial disparities in local criminal justice systems across the country. The original task force groups included Delaware (statewide); St. Louis County, Minnesota; Kings County, New York; and New Orleans, Louisiana, each of whom received financial support and technical assistance to implement a local racial justice improvement task force focused on addressing problems contributing to the racially disparate impact of their local criminal justice system. Each of the four original sites are in the process of evaluating their reforms’ effectiveness and are working to continue, expand, and sustain their current reform efforts utilizing additional funds from the Public Welfare Foundation. The project staff is working on a final report for each jurisdiction’s findings and is creating a promising practices report and a task force replication guide to assist and encourage other jurisdictions in implementing criminal justice reform using the project’s task force model.
In June 2013 RJIP received additional funding from the Public Welfare Foundation (PWF) to sustain the reform efforts in three of the original project jurisdictions. RJIP was recently refunded by BJA to conduct reform in an additional four sites: Halifax and Guilford County, North Carolina; Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; Dane County, Wisconsin; as well as conducting further reform in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Project's Advisory Board chose all of the project's reform sites through an evaluative process, overlooked by an independent evaluator. The four additional jurisdictions that began participating in the project in June 2013 can be viewed here.
In June 2013 RJIP received additional funding from the Public Welfare Foundation (PWF) to sustain the reform efforts in three of the original project jurisdictions. RJIP was recently refunded by BJA to conduct reform in an additional four sites: Halifax and Guilford County, North Carolina; Montgomery County, Pennsylvania; Dane County, Wisconsin; as well as conducting further reform in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Project's Advisory Board chose all of the project's reform sites through an evaluative process, overlooked by an independent evaluator. The four additional jurisdictions that began participating in the project in June 2013 can be viewed here.
The Kellogg Foundation is one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world and has been investing in the city of New Orleans and its people for decades. Recently it gave financial assistance to help establish a juvenile diversion task force to supplement the existing adult diversion task force created by RJIP.
Mission
RJIP's purpose is to work with officials in state and local criminal justice systems to identify the discretionary decision points in the adjudication process where policies and practices have an adverse impact on people of color and to develop evidence-based policy reforms in an attempt to correct racial disparities. An essential component of this policy reform initiative is having the work of each task force developed and implemented under the watchful eye of the top criminal justice officials in each jurisdiction, all of whom have the ability to make and change policies and practices and the expertise needed to successfully implement reforms. Each Task Force, in each of the four originally chosen jurisdictions, as well as the four new jurisdictions added in 2013, is composed of the district attorney, the chief public defender, the police chief, the chief judge of the criminal court, and a representative from a community organization that focuses on criminal justice reform. This local Task Force expands it's membership to include other local stakeholders with specific relevance in the chosen reform area, such as probation or pretrial services' officers.
Objectives
The goal of the American Bar Association Racial Justice Improvement Project is to create a pathway by which local communities can address critical criminal justice issues that contribute to the racially disparate impacts of the criminal justice system.
The specific objectives of the Project are to:
(1) Pilot a Racial Justice Task Force Model to address the racially disparate impact of the criminal justice system in eight jurisdictions;
(2) Provide facilitation and informational resources to each pilot jurisdiction to implement the Task Force Model;
(3) Facilitate stakeholder consensus regarding the racial justice issues that exist in each local jurisdiction, develop a work plan to address the specific racial justice issue(s) in each local jurisdiction;
(4) Pilot a prospective solution to the identified problem(s) based on the expertise of the RJIP Task Foce, the ABA, and the leading criminal justice agencies across the country;
(5) Evaluate the Pilot Model’s effectiveness in each site; and
(6) Create a sustainable plan for the Racial Justice Task Force and the proposed reform beyond the pilot period.
The specific objectives of the Project are to:
(1) Pilot a Racial Justice Task Force Model to address the racially disparate impact of the criminal justice system in eight jurisdictions;
(2) Provide facilitation and informational resources to each pilot jurisdiction to implement the Task Force Model;
(3) Facilitate stakeholder consensus regarding the racial justice issues that exist in each local jurisdiction, develop a work plan to address the specific racial justice issue(s) in each local jurisdiction;
(4) Pilot a prospective solution to the identified problem(s) based on the expertise of the RJIP Task Foce, the ABA, and the leading criminal justice agencies across the country;
(5) Evaluate the Pilot Model’s effectiveness in each site; and
(6) Create a sustainable plan for the Racial Justice Task Force and the proposed reform beyond the pilot period.