The National Network's approach has attracted significant media attention over twenty years. This page features the most recent coverage of our work and a searchable archive of media about the National Network's projects around the nation and abroad.
The National Network convenes regular conferences, working sessions and webinars to discuss and promote developments in its core areas of operation, showcase innovations, and set research and development priorities.
A new report from Pew has highlighted that the United States' "imprisonment rate fell 8.4 percent while the combined violent and property crime rate declined 14.6 percent" with 31 states reducing both simultaneously. This report is further evidence that focused policing can reduce crime without harming communities.
"The violent crime rate in Connecticut fell nearly 23% from 2012 to 2015, representing the sharpest decline of any U.S. state, according to the state’s own analysis of federal data."
This piece features a slideshow documentating some of the places that took significant steps towards a more equitable bail system in 2016.
"Implicit bias is grounded in a basic human tendency to divide the social world into groups."
"By his own account, Stockton Police Chief Eric Jones says law enforcement has had a troubled history with its community. He believes the only way forward is dialogue with the community."
"A special unit of "elite" prosecutors and police detectives devoted to putting violent repeat gun offenders behind bars has officially begun operations in Baltimore."
"So what can America do to stop gun violence? A new, major report from Harvard University researchers Thomas Abt and Christopher Winship reviewed the evidence, putting together the big take from 43 reviews of the research that covered more than 1,400 individual studies, while following up with on-the-ground fieldwork across the US and Latin America."
"For decades, two things have been true about criminal justice in Jefferson County, Alabama: The district attorneys have been white men, and a lot of people have been sentenced to death. Lynneice Washington is about to change that."
"Pittsburgh’s acting Police Chief Scott Schubert assured a group gathered in Larimer Wednesday night that he would follow through with former chief Cameron McLay’s vision for the force in improving community relations."
CREDIT SARAH SCHNEIDER / 90.5 WESA
"Every day, mayors across the country, including here in Minneapolis, are guided by a vision of a city that runs well for everyone. A core part of that work is making sure every resident is safe in every neighborhood. "
"Eric Gonzalez says he wants to continue the work, especially in healing community relations, that Mr. Thompson championed before dying in October."
An Rong Xu for The New York Times
Institute for Innovation in Prosecution advisory board member Lenore Anderson published an op-ed highlighting the important work that can and will be done on state and local levels in the near term.
"Phillip Atiba Goff, the recently appointed Franklin A. Thomas Professor in Policing Equity, delivered his first lecture in that role on Oct. 20, speaking eloquently and earnestly on “Justice as a Second Language.”"
"Amid the current turmoil surrounding police and community relations, both nationally and locally, it is important that the citizens of this community be aware of the efforts and successes that are occurring in this area with our Stockton Police Department."
"The past few years of race relations in America beg the question: can our racism be unlearned? Experts believe perhaps it can, but that work starts with a better understanding of the nation's history."
"Bail systems across the country continue to function as another way the criminal justice system exacerbates poverty and racial inequality."
"In an exclusive tour of the new lab, Fortune got a glimpse of Law & Order in the digital age. The [New York DA's] lab is Exhibit A in how America’s biggest city is embracing big data analytics and a dash of hacker culture to solve complex crimes."
Bermuda "National security minister Senator Jeff Baron has encouraged respected community figures to step forward as 'moral voices' to help in the fight against gang violence."
"Several San Francisco law enforcement officials are expressing support for bail reform in response to a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Vicki Hennessy."
"Even as Americans ushered in a presidential candidate who favors hard-line law enforcement tactics on Tuesday, voters still passed criminal justice reform measures by comfortable margins in many states."
"Law-and-order may have won the White House on Tuesday, but in a series of closely-watched district attorney races around the country, voters ushered in candidates who argued for less incarceration and punitive sentences."
"During his tenure, short-lived as it was, McLay worked to alleviate racial tensions between the police force and Pittsburgh’s minority communities, made police more visible to the community and pushed for officers to undergo implicit bias and other new types of training."
"According to a report by The Sentencing Project, over 6 million Americans, mostly black and brown, mostly men, will not be allowed to vote this year as a result of felon disenfranchisement laws—a higher number than ever before due to growing size of the criminal justice system. But only about 20 percent of this disenfranchised population are actually behind bars—the rest are living in their communities, having completed their prison sentences or on parole or probation."
"Only a few dozen out of more than 2,300 elected prosecutors nationwide are African-American, according to two recent studies" and people are organizing to increase the profession's diversity.
Ken Thompson understood that his experiences shaped his professional goals, as all of our experiences do, and sought to create a fairer justice system because of them.
