myAIPMHow the Criminal Justice System's COVID-19 Response has Provided Valuable Lessons for Broader Reform
Brian A. Jackson, et al. | RAND Corporation
"The Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative is a joint effort managed by the RAND Corporation in partnership with the Police Executive Research Forum, RTI International, and the University of Denver on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice.
As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic began to unfold in spring 2020, it brought both disease and enormous disruption as communities grappled to understand what they were dealing with. How and when COVID-19 affected specific states and locales varied considerably, and the circumstances to which government, the private sector, and the public had to respond also varied.
For justice organizations, the need to adapt to reduce the risk of spreading the virus was urgent. Many justice processes — including interactions between police officers and citizens on the street; court processes, which bring together many people from different areas; crowded prisons that house residents in close proximity; and group counseling sessions that support former inmates' reentry — require close physical interaction. Without substantial changes, the justice system had the potential to make the pandemic worse, harming public health even as it sought to protect public safety.
In addition to needing to change policies and procedures to address external pressure, many agencies and organizations in the justice system were facing internal pressure on their operations. The stresses of quarantines and of illness and death on staff members have been compounded by the economic fallout of the pandemic and having to do more with fewer resources."
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How the Criminal Justice System's COVID-19 Response has Provided Valuable Lessons for Broader Reform, Brian A. Jackson, et al. , RAND Corporation, 2021