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.
Officials in Albany will hold community meetings to discuss issues of implicit bias as it relates to policing.
"eEas fewer people are behind bars, the number going to prison nationally changed little [over the last several years] — outside of California, where the Supreme Court ordered major reforms to the state's overcrowded system in 2011."
"A consensus is building around the need to seriously rethink the role of the prosecutor in the administration of justice. Power dynamics are unbalanced,sentencing guidelines are outdated, and old-fashioned human biases persist." The Institute for Innovation in Prosecution will be a leader in prosecutorial innovation and reform that drive progress in the criminal justice system.
"All too often...the promise of safe, healthy and hopeful communities for all is not being realized for African-American men. Indeed, while they represent significant populations in many of our cities, black men are disproportionately impacted by violence and other systemic barriers to opportunity."
"The American Bar Association is developing a program designed to have judges, prosecutors, and public defenders address implicit bias and how it might enter into the decisions they make. Part of the program are videos of established legal minds, coming to terms with the bias that they were not even aware of. "
"The States Attorney’s Office received the Criminal Justice Award for its work with Project Longevity, which works to reduce gun violence, offers re-entry services to those coming out of incarceration and administers anti-bias training to police officers."
"New Haven Chief of Police Dean Esserman [announced] findings which illustrate that crime rates, including violent crimes such as murder, burglary and assault, have declined in the city."
Peter Hvizdak — New Haven Register
Healing from Both Sides is a community support group for those who have lost loved ones to group and gang violence in Chattanooga, TN. The group reaches out to families who have lost children to violence, as well as those whose sons and daughters are in jail after acts of violence.
"In law enforcement, there is perhaps no more important concept than that of procedural justice. At its core, this is the idea that a certain basic fairness must exist in the policing process, not only to help resolve certain disputes but also to allocate resources to where they can help do the most good. "
"The Justice Department is taking a number of steps to reintegrate those released from prisons and jails into society, most notably during the recent National Reentry Week, such as asking states to provide identification to convicts who have served their sentences and creating a council to remove barriers to their assimilation into every day life. Here, Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason, who has headed the Office of Justice Programs since 2013, announces in a guest post that her agency will no longer use words such as “felon” or “convict” to refer to released prisoners."
NNSC Director David Kennedy published an op-ed praising the good work being done in Connecticut by Project Longevity. Kennedy explains the strategy's conceptual roots as well as its real successes in communities across the country.
"Over the past year, everyone from the conservative Right on Crime project to the Black Lives Matter movement has pushed criminal justice reform to the forefront of political debates. Yet politicians at every level of government remain almost completely silent about one of the biggest crises facing criminal justice: the utter collapse of indigent defense."
"Gun violence is seen as a serious problem by a greater percentage of people of color than either police misconduct or mass incarceration, a new survey of 1,200 registered African-American and Hispanic voters found."
Lorie A Fridell, former research director at the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) discusses the importance of police trainings and how to avoid instances of implicit bias impacting police encounters.
Thomas Abt responds to a Marshall Project report debating the merits of police trainings that took place in Chicago. Abt makes clear that reform is hard, and though the process may be slow, the changes have been working in communities around the country.
"Shootings in South Bend decreased by about 20 percent through the first quarter this year, and those that involved gang activity dropped by 40 percent, according to the latest police statistics."
Project Longevity "led to a significant reduction in gang-related violent crime in the city, according to a study by Yale researchers published in the journal Crime and Delinquency."
"Mayor Mitch Landrieu announced Thursday that the city's latest "NOLA for Life" basketball season was the most highly attended season since the program began in 2012. "
"There's something about Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit that traps children in poverty. Poor kids who grow up there are less likely to reach the middle class as adults than poor kids who grow up in, say, Salt Lake City, according to a now-famous study released three years ago that found wide geographic variation in economic mobility across the country."
Brenda Johnson, of Chattanooga, regularly speaks at VRI call-ins as she seeks to end gun violence by telling her story to young men in her community.
"The South Bend Police Department is working to prevent gun violence before it begins, by specifically targeting gang members.Tuesday night The Group Violence Intervention Strategy held their sixth 'Call-in.'"
A Hartford community group is working to reduce gun violence in its neighborhoods.
Patrick Raycraft / The Hartford Courant
"The New Orleans Police Department recently began working with doctoral students at Louisiana Tech University to develop a new set of hiring tools designed to identify candidates whose skill sets and personalities are most aligned with the NOPD’s reform agenda."
"Savannah Chatham Metro Police are taking another step toward curbing gun violence in Savannah...They've recently hired a new staff member to help lead their "End Gun Violence: Step Forward" initiative, who they believe will help boost the program."
Gary Chief of Police Larry McKinley recently published an op-ed outlining the strides that his department is is making when it comes to building community trust and enhancing public safety.
