Projects

When people who are incarcerated are empowered to ask and answer their own research questions, a different set of questions arise out of the lived experiences of being in the prison. 

Despite significant funding for the construction of permanent supportive housing (PSH) in California, the state has continued to struggle with a persistent homelessness crisis. In partnership with a group of housing and service providers, we…

Communities are seeking new ways to respond to behavioral health crises, that reduce the possibilities of harm and meet the needs of individuals and their families. As policymakers look to evaluate innovations, they seek metrics…

Peace officers who are promoted to a supervisory management role (e.g., Lieutenant) must take on a new set of challenges and responsibilities. What core competencies are required to successfully prepare these individuals for their new…

Public-sector agencies can be key sites of creativity and problem solving, but they often lack access to the resources and infrastructure necessary to design, implement, and evaluate new ideas. Sustained partnerships between government, private foundations,…

With the full lifting of the 1994 ban on Pell Grant distribution announced in 2020, the return of Pell to incarcerated students is likely to radically alter the landscape of postsecondary educational opportunity during imprisonment,…

Residents’ calls for service represent an important—though frequently overlooked—aspect of American policing. Through calls for service, residents proactively alert officers to the presence of people they perceive as being out of place, often by virtue…

As wildfires become increasingly numerous and severe throughout the American northwest, the need for innovative approaches to their mitigation grows. Throughout history, native tribes conducted cultural burns. These practices were outlawed centuries ago, but recent…

More than 700,000 Americans are currently held in custody in local jails. While a common misconception is that these individuals are ineligible to vote, the vast majority are legally permitted to cast a ballot in…

In the context of a national movement to reimagine community policing, state and local governments are reevaluating their approaches to public safety and how public dollars are spent. College campuses are likewise facing decisions about…

Cities across the country are seeking fundamental, systemic reforms that can increase equity and reduce disparities between different groups of people over time. Creating and deploying city-wide equity indicators, and designing and testing interventions to…

Guilty pleas account for up to 95 percent of convictions in criminal courts in America today. As Justice Kennedy wrote in a 2012 court decision, “Plea Bargaining is not some adjunct to the criminal justice…