2022
Annual Report
Public safety was on the ballot and in the news in 2022. The Council’s work rose above the noise and cut through political divides. Stakeholders across sectors and the ideological spectrum—and the media—increasingly turned to CCJ as a trusted source of information and expertise about how the nation can best advance the twin goals of safety and justice.
In three short years, CCJ has transitioned from an entrepreneurial start-up to an established organization with credibility and influence at all levels of the political and policy arena. 2022 saw our team testify before Congress and brief the White House, Justice Department, and dozens of state and local officials and stakeholder organizations on policy roadmaps developed by our task forces. Several Council staff and board members were appointed to senior positions in the Biden administration. Our crime data was spotlighted in an exchange between the White House press secretary and a reporter from Fox News. A sheriff in Michigan, the governor of Connecticut, and the mayor of Pittsburgh were among a growing number of leaders using the Council’s violence reduction and policing strategies as a playbook for their on-the-ground efforts.
Former U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC), co-chair of CCJ’s Task Force on Long Sentences, interviewed fellow task force member Sam Lewis, executive director of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, on Gowdy’s Fox News show.
Around CCJ tables, you’ll find some of the nation’s most preeminent voices representing all sectors and areas of expertise. Widely recognized public servants are sifting through data and wrestling with policy options alongside local police, courts, and corrections executives; crime victims and survivors; advocates and researchers; and formerly incarcerated people helping others succeed when they return home. By assembling people from diverse backgrounds and different perspectives, CCJ fosters the relationships and civil, respectful, and robust discourse that are fundamental to our democracy.
What motivated us throughout this year—and what will propel us onward in 2023 and beyond—is our unwavering belief that when you bring people of good faith together to focus on the facts, just and effective solutions will emerge. We look forward to working with you as we forge the path ahead.
Adam Gelb
President & CEO
Laurie Robinson
Chair, Board of Directors
Shaping the National Conversation in the Media
Shaping the National Conversation in the Media
Policymakers and journalists routinely turn to CCJ for data, research, and expert commentary on a wide range of criminal justice topics, from policing to crime trends, community gun violence, racial disparities, recidivism, and sentencing. In 2022, more than 3,500 stories cited our work, with coverage appearing in nearly every major national broadcast and print outlet, as well as regional, local, and specialty press. Task force members and staff conducted briefings of officials from the White House, state capitols and city halls, testified to the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, published 35 opinion columns in leading media outlets, and presented Council work to dozens of major professional associations, advocacy groups, and others. Four public events were attended by more than 1,700 participants from all sectors and disciplines of the field.
Building Actionable Policy Roadmaps
Building Actionable Policy Roadmaps
CCJ’s core function is building common ground: convening diverse groups of high-level leaders and facilitating their agreement on findings and recommendations that can advance both safety and justice. Drawing from across the wide array of sectors, disciplines, and ideologies, member task forces seek consensus on policies and practices that are mostly likely to have the greatest impact. Their deliberations are informed by experts who summarize existing knowledge or conduct original studies to help weigh the pros and cons and tradeoffs of policy choices. In 2022, the Council launched three new policy initiatives while continuing to advance the work of 2021 member task forces.
Launched in August 2022 and led by former Secretary of Defense and U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel (chair) and former Defense Secretary and White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, the multi-year Veterans Justice Commission began its examination with a preliminary assessment of the extent and nature of veterans’ involvement in the criminal justice system.
Our Task Force on Long Sentences, co-chaired by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former U.S. Representative Trey Gowdy, published an unprecedented statistical portrait of trends in long prison sentences. To inform the group’s discussion, CCJ staff and partners also produced briefs on factors affecting time served in prison, the impact of long prison sentences on public safety, and how the U.S. compares internationally in its use of long sentences.
Our Task Force on Long Sentences, co-chaired by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates and former U.S. Representative Trey Gowdy, published an unprecedented statistical portrait of trends in long prison sentences. To inform the group’s discussion, CCJ staff and partners also produced briefs on factors affecting time served in prison, the impact of long prison sentences on public safety, and how the U.S. compares internationally in its use of long sentences.
To promote continuity of care between correctional and community settings and maximize the benefits of expected Medicaid policy changes for public health and public safety, we launched the Health and Reentry Project. With advisory committee members including former federal Medicaid administrator Don Berwick and Topeka Sam of the Ladies of Hope Ministries, the project published two policy briefs that outline top implementation challenges and key principles for changing Medicaid’s role in reentry. Committee members and project staff, including Executive Director Vikki Wachino, also a former Medicaid director, have briefed state organizations and officials at the White House and the departments of Justice and Health and Human Services.
2022 also marked significant advancement of the 2021 Violent Crime Working Group’s efforts. The Working Group held 35 briefings for elected officials, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Global Parliament of Mayors, and the National League of Cities. In conversations at the federal, state, and local levels, the group engaged White House and DOJ officials, organizations such as the National Governor’s Association and National Criminal Justice Association, and more than a dozen community and faith-based groups. The group also held a private discussion for leading funders of violence reduction efforts and in June sponsored an in-person and broadcast event with The Washington Post Live.
2022 also marked significant advancement of the 2021 Violent Crime Working Group’s efforts. The Working Group held 35 briefings for elected officials, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Global Parliament of Mayors, and the National League of Cities. In conversations at the federal, state, and local levels, the group engaged White House and DOJ officials, organizations such as the National Governor’s Association and National Criminal Justice Association, and more than a dozen community and faith-based groups. The group also held a private discussion for leading funders of violence reduction efforts and in June sponsored an in-person and broadcast event with The Washington Post Live.
In Spring 2020, CCJ released the recommendations of the Task Force on Federal Priorities, its first independent panel convened to reach consensus on actionable policies for change. Coming on the heels of the First Step Act, the Task Force set out to identify priorities for reform at the federal level. Among the group’s final recommendations were a call to reinvigorate the U.S. Sentencing Commission, which was down to a single voting member, and the prohibition of acquitted conduct sentencing. In March 2022, we produced a status report updating where the panel’s 15 evidence-based priorities stand.
On May 25, 2022, President Biden signed an executive order on policing. Many of its provisions reflected the five priorities for reform and other recommendations issued last year by CCJ’s Task Force on Policing. Members of the Task Force and CCJ Senior Fellow Thaddeus Johnson, a former police officer who is now a criminologist at Georgia State University, shared their perspectives on the order.
On May 25, 2022, President Biden signed an executive order on policing. Many of its provisions reflected the five priorities for reform and other recommendations issued last year by CCJ’s Task Force on Policing. Members of the Task Force and CCJ Senior Fellow Thaddeus Johnson, a former police officer who is now a criminologist at Georgia State University, shared their perspectives on the order.
Grounding Debates in Facts and Data
Grounding Debates in Facts and Data
We published the first report in a new research series, Pushing Toward Parity, that traces trends in Black-White disparities in state imprisonment over the past 20 years. Advancing the Council’s 2019 analysis on national disparity trends by race and sex—and providing a foundation for the Council’s analysis of state-specific trends in 2023—the report breaks down the contributions of population growth, offending rates, and decisions by police, the courts, and parole authorities to the narrowing or widening of the disparity gaps.
Leaning into CCJ’s position as a resource hub for clear, credible information, we began highlighting high quality academic research that has immediate implications for policy and practice. Produced as part of the Admissible Evidence project, these curated, brief summaries of studies span the full range of criminal justice issues. The early pieces have been viewed by criminal justice practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and academics, with some studies spurring local news features.
Leaning into CCJ’s position as a resource hub for clear, credible information, we began highlighting high quality academic research that has immediate implications for policy and practice. Produced as part of the Admissible Evidence project, these curated, brief summaries of studies span the full range of criminal justice issues. The early pieces have been viewed by criminal justice practitioners, policymakers, advocates, and academics, with some studies spurring local news features.
Since our first real-time crime tracking publication in late 2020, CCJ’s series of crime trend reports continue to provide the most comprehensive and current picture of national crime trends and have been cited extensively by journalists and policymakers across the political spectrum.
Establishing a Center of Gravity
Establishing a Center of Gravity
Centering Justice
A collaboration between CCJ Chief Policy Counsel Marc Levin and Director of Strategic Partnerships Khalil A. Cumberbatch, Centering Justice exemplifies how people of different perspectives can find common ground on a wide array of measures that strengthen public safety, protect due process, and promote equity.
Individual Membership
The Council is the only organization that combines a think tank with invitational membership. By linking these two core elements, we have established a network where the most influential and innovative leaders in criminal justice can participate in both the creation and dissemination of knowledge and ideas. The network is a virtuous cycle: by engaging members in multiple collaborative activities over time, the Council builds increasingly potent pathways for diffusion of our work and helps forge the lasting and trusting relationships that are essential to driving large-scale change. Forty-one new individual members joined us in 2022.
Across all forms of membership, we continue to prioritize inclusion of formerly incarcerated individuals, directly impacted people, victims and survivors, women, and LGBTQ+ people as organizational leaders, task force members, and vital contributors to our work.
The Council is the only organization that combines a think tank with invitational membership. By linking these two core elements, we have established a network where the most influential and innovative leaders in criminal justice can participate in both the creation and dissemination of knowledge and ideas. The network is a virtuous cycle: by engaging members in multiple collaborative activities over time, the Council builds increasingly potent pathways for diffusion of our work and helps forge the lasting and trusting relationships that are essential to driving large-scale change. Forty-one new individual members joined us in 2022.
Across all forms of membership, we continue to prioritize inclusion of formerly incarcerated individuals, directly impacted people, victims and survivors, women, and LGBTQ+ people as organizational leaders, task force members, and vital contributors to our work.
Individual Membership
Member Summit
For the first time since it was established in 2019, CCJ brought together its members for an in-person day of candid dialogue and engagement on trust and legitimacy and other critical issues.
“It was clear that there was a great deal of diversity of opinion in the room, yet all the dialogue was respectful and open, which is hard to pull off these days and I think speaks volumes about the reputation and collaboration you’ve built in this space.”
– Leading CCJ Funder
Corporate Partnerships
Through the Council's new strategic collaborations with the corporate sector, business leaders can connect with and benefit from CCJ experts in multiple ways, including exclusive briefings and customized reports on the latest criminal justice research and trends, priority access to Council events and briefings, and connections to media interviews. We’re thrilled to partner with Bank of America, Microsoft, the National Football League, and Southern Company/Georgia Power.
Through the Council's new strategic collaborations with the corporate sector, business leaders can connect with and benefit from CCJ experts in multiple ways, including exclusive briefings and customized reports on the latest criminal justice research and trends, priority access to Council events and briefings, and connections to media interviews. We’re thrilled to partner with Bank of America, Microsoft, the National Football League, and Southern Company/Georgia Power.
Corporate Partnerships
The Path Ahead
The Path Ahead
Crime Trends Working Group
Why have national and state-level crime data been so poor for so long and what can be done about it? A new Crime Trends Working Group will explore and explain current crime trends, while building consensus for significant improvements in the nation’s capacity to produce timely, accurate, and complete crime data.
In early 2023, the panel plans to release its final report, as well as four documents that lay a foundation for its recommendations: an analysis of how a reduction in the length of long prison sentences impacts public safety; a brief detailing the relationship between sentence length, time served, and state prison populations; an examination of prison programming and conditions that affect people serving long terms; and a qualitative study that explores the experiences of crime victims as well as individuals who served long sentences and their loved ones.
In early 2023, the panel plans to release its final report, as well as four documents that lay a foundation for its recommendations: an analysis of how a reduction in the length of long prison sentences impacts public safety; a brief detailing the relationship between sentence length, time served, and state prison populations; an examination of prison programming and conditions that affect people serving long terms; and a qualitative study that explores the experiences of crime victims as well as individuals who served long sentences and their loved ones.
In March 2023, the Commission is scheduled to publish its first set of recommendations, which will focus on veterans at the front end of the criminal justice system—from identifying veterans who come into contact with law enforcement through sentencing.
In the coming months, CCJ will release additional reports that focus on disparities related to Hispanic and female correctional populations. Subsequent analyses will examine disparity trends in a dozen individual states.
In the coming months, CCJ will release additional reports that focus on disparities related to Hispanic and female correctional populations. Subsequent analyses will examine disparity trends in a dozen individual states.
Thank You, Funders
Thank You, Funders
CCJ deeply appreciates our institutional and individual donors, who made our progress possible. Our major organizational investors in 2022 include:
Arnold Ventures
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
Bank of America
California Health Care Foundation
The Commonwealth Fund
Craig Newmark Philanthropies
Eugene M. Lang Foundation
Ford Foundation
Georgia Power Foundation
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
The Just Trust
The Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation
Microsoft
National Football League
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Rx Foundation
Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Southern Company Foundation
Stand Together Trust
#StartSmall
Wilf Family Foundations
Arnold Ventures
The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
Bank of America
California Health Care Foundation
The Commonwealth Fund
Craig Newmark Philanthropies
Eugene M. Lang Foundation
Ford Foundation
Georgia Power Foundation
Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
The Just Trust
The Margaret and Daniel Loeb Foundation
Microsoft
National Football League
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Rx Foundation
Schusterman Family Philanthropies
Southern Company Foundation
Stand Together Trust
#StartSmall
Wilf Family Foundations
For media inquiries about this report, please contact: Jenifer Warren at jwarren@counciloncj.org. For general inquiries, contact the Council at info@counciloncj.org.