Justice Center, The Council of State Governments
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Headquarters Location: New York, NY
Founded: 2006
Mission: The Council of State Governments Justice Center is a national nonprofit organization that serves policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels from all branches of government. Staff provides practical, nonpartisan advice and consensus-driven strategies—informed by available evidence—to increase public safety and strengthen communities. The Justice Center evolved from the Council of State Governments’ Eastern Regional Conference justice program to a national center in 2006. The center serves all states to promote effective data-driven practices—particularly in areas in which the criminal justice system intersects with other disciplines, such as public health—to provide practical solutions to public safety and cross-systems problems. The Justice Center builds on the solid foundation of work that staff have conducted on the responses to justice-involved people with mental illnesses, crime victims, as well as such issues as prisoner reentry and justice reinvestment—a data-driven approach to reduce corrections spending and reinvest savings in strategies that can decrease crime and strengthen neighborhoods. The Justice Center’s board of directors includes state legislative leaders, judges, corrections administrators, juvenile justice agency directors, and law enforcement professionals; together, they represent a cross-section of the senior-level state officials who shape criminal justice policy.
Tags:
justice reinvestment, policy reform, mental illness, crime victims, prisoner re-entry, research, technical assistance, educating policymakers, media and communications, web-based learning, publications, presentations
Summary
Stories
Expert Reviews
Leadership
From the Nonprofit
Leadership
Michael Thompson.
Michael Thompson has worked on criminal justice policy issues for nearly 20 years. He started with the Council of State Governments (CSG) in 1997 as a policy analyst and the sole staff person assigned to the criminal justice program for CSG's Eastern Regional Conference. Under his leadership, that program launched major projects in the areas of victim rights, criminal justice/mental…
See full bio.
Financial Data
Charity Navigator Rating:
(profile)
(profile)
Overhead Ratio:
18.54%
Total Revenue:
$29,004,259
From the Nonprofit
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Contact Info
Address:
100 Wall Street 20th Floor
New York, NY 10005, USA
Twitter:
Story:
In every state, there are a handful of “high-stakes” communities to which most people released from prison return; these are also the communities where taxpayer-funded programs are disproportionately focused. Justice reinvestment is a strategy that makes the most of opportunities presented when helping the increasing numbers of people returning from prison and jail to break the cycle of recidivism—making these communities safer, stronger, and healthier. To assist state policymakers, Justice Center staff working on the Justice Reinvestment Initiative is providing technical assistance to a limited number of states that demonstrate a bipartisan interest in this strategy.
Expert Reviews of Justice Center, The Council of State Governments
Evidence of Impact Summary:
The Council of State Governments is credited with the reduction of incarceration rates across the United States. The council and its program Justice Center are praised for their ability to produce influential publications that have helped guide state and national policy.See expert comments.
Organization Strengths Summary:
The Council of State Governments has been effective in its field because of its political and institutional strength. Due to its bipartisan nature, CSG is a legitimate and respected voice in the field of criminal justice policySee expert comments.
Areas for Improvement Summary:
According to experts, CSG should be more responsive to and inclusive of local organizations and individuals impacted by the organization’s work. Some improvements could also be made in terms of the organization’s funding strategy, internal operations, and online outreach.See expert comments.
Expert Comments: Evidence of Impact
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Raises Awareness |
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CSG placed reentry issues on the map by promoting justice reinvestment and has led justice reinvestment initiatives in many states, which has led to increased resources in services that build communities affected by incarceration. | ||
Valuable Resource |
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CSG's Justice Center is led by an emerging new leader, Mike Thompson. The center provides enormously useful, smart technical assistant around issues of justice reinvestments. | ||
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The Justice Center at the Council on State Governments provides a wealth of valuable tools and resources for advocacy organizations across the country that seek to improve the criminal justice system by increasing collaboration between stakeholders. Two examples are their "Breaking Schools' Rules" and the "Criminal Justice/Mental Health Consensus Project" reports. Without resources such as these, criminal justice advocacy organizations would have a much more difficult task ahead of them. | ||
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They have excellent leadership throughout the organization. They are bipartisan and produce balanced and meaningful publications based upon solid research. | ||
Strong Advocacy Programs |
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In conjunction with and with funding from the Pew Center on the States, CSG has undertaken a very exciting program to reduce rates of incarceration in numerous states through out the country. In collaboration with other organizations, they have systematically pushed through sentencing reform legislation that impacts the lives of thousands of people, helps states reduce their reliance on incarceration for low-level offenses, and ultimately cuts corrections costs. | ||
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The Council of State Governments Justice Center has had a national impact on a variety of justice issues, including probation as an alternative to incarceration. They have specifically worked with PEW to reduce the Texas prison population and have worked with state legislators to gain support for funding of alternatives to incarceration. They have been instrumental in building nationally recognized projects, including the Second Change Act, Justice Re-investment and the Consensus Project. They have worked with a number of State level criminal justice systems, as well as local systems, such as Travis County, TX. | ||
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The Council of State Governments pursues many programs on prisoner re-entry and other important subjects. | ||
Influence on Policy-Making |
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Recent publications by CSG have had an enormous national impact and have been regularly cited by policy-makers and the media for their findings on issues such as numbers of people locked up in the US, reform efforts in various states, and school disciplinary issues. Staff are involved directly with policy-makers in numerous states and have helped direct reform efforts there. | ||
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The Justice Project advises states on how to streamline criminal justice processes in ways that save taxpayer money and improve outcomes. This includes increased use of probation and probation/parole reform, as well as front-end streamlining by employing risk assessment tools in bond determinations. | ||
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This group has been incredibly effective at working with governments to change systems. | ||
Expert Comments: Organization Strengths
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Respected by Policymakers |
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The group has strong connections with leaders across the country. | ||
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CSG has good relationships with policymakers and does not suffer from the same liberal association that more progressive organizations do. Their recommendations for reform are not met with as much suspicion as a result. The staff that I have worked with are highly effective and knowledgeable. CSG's Justice Reinvestment work is strongly supported by Pew and other Foundations, and now the federal government is helping to fund the effort. | ||
Politically Balanced and Legitimate |
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CSG can pride itself on its high-quality, well-funded extensive research and substantial publications. They have a great ability to work directly with policy-makers on both sides of the aisle. They also have excellent relationships with the media. | ||
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The group is non-partisan and research based and holds the confidence of federal and state legislators through its commitment to quality and finances. | ||
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Tony Fabelo is the director of research. He is a wealth of wisdom and information on criminal justice systems and demographics. He is a very thoughtful researcher. The Justice Project also has the institutional advantage of being part of a membership organization that over half of all state governments belong to. | ||
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The board is bipartisan and works to build consensus on key criminal justice issue. They produce excellent publications, and the director of research is the best in the field. | ||
Effective Leadership and Staff |
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The Justice Center has convened and led several nationwide stakeholder meetings as part of its process of researching issues and generating public policy solutions. The Justice Center tackles multiple, interconnected issues related to improving the criminal justice system, from housing to education to mental health. | ||
Great Leadership and Staff |
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Great leadership, quality staff and very savvy political expertise. | ||
Expert Comments: Areas for Improvement
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Foundation Professionals (F)
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Researchers and Faculty (R)
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Nonprofit Senior Staff (N)
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Other (consultants, journalists, policy makers) (O)
Not Independent from Government |
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CSG has a very large budget and staff. Because much of their work is contract work for government agencies, including technical support for re-entry programs, it is difficult to assess them as providing valuable work in the sector. There is very little evidence that any re-entry programs succeed within our current political/economic climate, and with more of them being government sponsored: there is a conflict of interest. CSG has provided some budget analysis that shows America cannot afford its penal system. This was not new, but they helped this gain traction because they were seen as working for the government, rather than against it. However, a financial audit positing reinvestments in other forms of confinement (parole, probation, treatment centers) does not contain the moral component to fundamentally retreat from our Drug War and probation violation scheme. Ultimately, I do not view them as a non-profit any more than a government agency is a non-profit. | ||
Greater Attention to Local Voices |
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The strategies that CSG employs to move policy change through the states generally ignores collaboration with people impacted by the criminal justice system. There is much resentment appearing to develop among advocates and impacted people on the ground in these states. As a result, a few reforms that passed are now facing challenges, and there is little community in the state fighting to keep those reforms because CSG has gone on to its next challenge. | ||
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They have very little openness to working with advocates and others who are not decision-makers. | ||
Stronger Focus on Operations |
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They could have more staff with operational knowledge. | ||
Better Website |
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Their website is difficult to navigate. | ||
Long-Term Funding Strategy |
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The organization's effectiveness has been limited recently by loss of two highly experienced senior staff members. Also, the work is limited by the availability of grant funding to support their work . They are not in a good position to seek individual donations. | ||
Policy Reform |
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Be more ambitious in terms of reform. | ||
Leadership
Michael Thompson
Director
Director
From the Nonprofit
The nonprofit has not added any comments yet. If you are a representative of this nonprofit and would like to leave a comment, please email us at
feedback@myphilanthropedia.org
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