Council on Criminal Justice

OUT TODAY: CCJ’s?mid-year 2024?crime?trends?report?shows?that homicide and most other violent crimes have dropped to pre-pandemic levels in?a sample of?U.S. cities.?The report is the 13th?the Council has produced since?mid-2020.?Explore?the full?analysis?by Ernesto Lopez and Bobby Boxerman:?https://lnkd.in/gGaqwuSd ? In addition to the longer-term trends,?the study?also documented declines for?11 of?12 crime types?in the first six months of this year compared to the first half of 2023.?Homicides were 13% lower, representing 319 fewer lives lost?in the 29 cities providing data for that crime.?Nineteen of those?cities recorded decreases?in homicide,?ranging from a drop of 71% in Chandler, AZ, to an 8% decline in Austin. Nine cities experienced increases, ranging from 5% in St. Louis to 26% in Buffalo.? ? Motor vehicle theft,?a crime that?had risen sharply since mid-2020,?reversed its trend?this year,?dropping?18%.?But shoplifting (+24%) was a different story.?A?crime that has received extensive attention from the media and policymakers, reported shoplifting incidents increased by 24% in 23 study cities during the first six months of 2024?compared?to the same period last year.?It’s unclear how much of the change may reflect an actual rise in incidents or increased reporting of incidents to law enforcement.?? ? Said?CCJ Senior Research Specialist Ernesto Lopez: “Especially with homicide, the continuing downward trends are heartening, as every killing prevented is a life saved. But crime is heavily influenced by local factors, and many U.S. cities continue to face high levels of violence.”? ? CCJ President and CEO Adam Gelb?noted the encouraging trends?while?emphasizing?the need for “policymakers and community leaders [to] accelerate the momentum by doubling down on crime-prevention strategies that are backed by evidence and are delivering measurable results.” ? The Council also released four new factsheets?spotlighting?trends in assault, burglary, larceny, and robbery. Check out these data-based snapshots and more crime trends research at:?https://lnkd.in/gMypPkX2 ? The mid-year?crime?trends, as well as recent recommendations to improve the nation’s crime data infrastructure from CCJ’s Crime Trends Working?Group,?will be discussed at a?live web event?today, July 25, at 12ET: https://lnkd.in/gX9MPxdt

CCJ is pleased to congratulate The Bronx Defenders Executive Director Juval Scott on her election as a new member.

A perspective from CCJ Chief Policy Counsel Marc Levin and Senior Fellow Jesse Rothman in Governing magazine on the complicated implications of using artificial intelligence in criminal justice: https://lnkd.in/gV_eUrxm ? With the use of AI tools in criminal justice already on the rise, CCJ’s artificial intelligence initiative convened experts and stakeholders in the field to discuss the promise and peril of the technology for policing, courts, corrections, and other sectors. Learn more about the key themes that emerged from the event at: https://lnkd.in/gV8wWhMe

As retailers and consumers prepare for the holiday shopping season, two reports?for CCJ’s Crime Trends Working Group add new analysis to what we know about shoplifting trends in major American cities.?? The first, by CCJ Senior Research Specialist Ernesto Lopez, ABD, MPA, examines data through fall 2024 from the nation’s three largest cities-Chicago, LA, and NY-and finds that shoplifting levels remain higher than before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.?https://lnkd.in/gusP3YSe Given that plus an earlier analysis showing shoplifting up 24% in a 23-city sample at mid-year, Lopez says year-end 2024 rates will likely exceed those for 2023. The report also finds that shoplifting increases in November and December, reflecting greater in-person retail activity. Examining federal data for shoplifting, the report highlights a conflict between figures from the FBI’s two sources – the Summary Reporting System (SRS) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). One, the SRS, shows that shoplifting levels were about the same in 2019 as they were in 2023, while NIBRS shows a 93% increase over the period. Guidance from the FBI is needed to explain the discrepancy, the report said. A second analysis digs into shoplifting patterns in Chicago and LA. One of many findings: Portions of both cities that were not high-shoplifting areas before and during the pandemic began to experience increases after the pandemic. The report also found that shoplifting in both cities was often highly concentrated in places with high levels of other crimes. https://lnkd.in/gvMAX8cz. The report was prepared by Bobby Boxerman and Kelsey Cundiff from the University of Missouri-Saint Louis.

Today at Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, CCJ Board of Directors Vice Chair Timothy Head, trustee David Safavian, and members Udi Ofer and Insha Rahman will discuss the history of bipartisan criminal justice reform and prospects for future progress. CCJ President and CEO Adam Gelb will moderate. Learn more at: https://lnkd.in/eGuGddP5

The Council extends a warm welcome to one of our newest members – Denise Robinson, president and CEO at Alvis, Inc.

Excited to honor our colleague and friend, Dr. Evan R. Seamone (deceased), this weekend in Virginia. Evan was such an amazing scholar, lawyer, and friend. All leaders at the Veterans Justice Commission, Council on Criminal Justice, were impressed with Evan. We miss him dearly but we are very excited that he will be inducted into the Veterans Hall of Fame.

AI is advancing quickly and it has implications for every sector of society including the #criminaljustice system. Check out this report from Council on Criminal Justice to see how AI can be used to improve outcomes and also what challenges must be addressed. https://loom.ly/BFb701E

In The Hill,?Ellen Mitchell and Bradley Dress highlight a list of 2025 priorities that veterans groups plan to present to Congress, including a call from CCJ’s Veterans Justice Commission for the VA to provide health care to former service members behind bars: https://lnkd.in/gfxxUjxz CCJ launched the 15-member commission in mid-2022 to assess the extent and nature of veterans’ involvement in the criminal justice system and recommend evidence-based policy changes that enhance safety, health, and justice. Explore the recommendations:?https://lnkd.in/ghtYdhsN Jim D. Seward, Olivia McLarnan, Lindsey Kirchhoff

Join the?Council on Criminal Justice?team at the 2024?American Society of Criminology conference this week in San Francisco! We have three presentations: - The Criminal Justice Data Landscape panel on Weds at 12:30p (Nob Hill B - Lower B2 Level) with folks from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, CJARS, and SEARCH, the National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics - Pushing Toward Parity: Examining Racial Disparity Trends in State Imprisonment roundtable on Thurs at 9:30a (Salon 7 - Lower B2 Level - Area 6) with Thaddeus Johnson and Cameryn Farrow - Where's the data? The Diversity of Crime Data in the Modern Landscape panel also on Thurs at 9:30a (Pacific A - 4th Level) with Ernesto Lopez, ABD, MPA, featuring crime trends research commissioned by CCJ from Mark Berg, Ethan Rogers, Brendan Lantz, and Bobby Boxerman Hope to connect with y'all on site! #ASCSanFran24?#ASCriminology