PROGRESS UPDATE

July 2025

The Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) launched the Women’s Justice Commission in July 2024 to document and raise awareness of the unique challenges facing women in the justice system and build consensus for evidence-based reforms that enhance safety, health, and justice.

Led by former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch (Chair) and Oklahoma First Lady Sarah Stitt (Senior Adviser), the Commission includes 15 other leaders with a wide variety of professional and personal experience at local, state, and federal levels, from law enforcement and the courts to academia and healthcare. Incorporating the perspectives of people who live, work, and serve within the justice system—including those directly impacted by crime and violence—is central to CCJ’s mission, and multiple Women’s Justice Commission members identify as formerly incarcerated and survivors of crime. The Commission is advised by an additional group of experts who have decades of experience in women’s justice issues.

Since its launch, the Commission has convened five times to explore issues related to women’s pathways to justice system involvement, law enforcement interactions, pretrial detention, and sentencing. During each meeting, the Commission reviewed the best available research and policy innovations, visited pioneering direct service programs, and learned from local experts.

The Commission’s first set of findings and recommendations—focusing on the arrest, pretrial, and sentencing phases—will be released in September. A second set of findings and recommendations—focusing on correctional conditions, programs and services, and reentry—is slated for fall 2026. Both reports will identify actionable strategies to safely reduce the number of women involved in the justice system and improve outcomes at every stage.

Why Women?

Women commit different types of crimes for different reasons than men and face distinctive caregiver, health, and economic challenges that affect the outcomes of their justice involvement. And yet, criminal justice policy and practice often fail to address women’s needs. Without adequately considering these unique variables, criminal justice system responses to women risk undermining public safety efforts and further exacerbating other harmful outcomes, including family destabilization.

Meetings

The Commission is informed by the tremendous work of research, advocacy, policy, and direct service organizations serving justice-involved women. Staff have engaged more than 100 practitioners, researchers, advocates, and others for input and to help shape the meetings; several have presented to the Commission, further elevating their voices.

Meeting 1 (July 2024) focused on women's unique pathways into the justice system. The meeting featured research presentations on women’s risk factors and pathways, as well as drivers of women’s jail incarceration. In addition, commissioners visited the Brownsville Community Justice Center (part of the Center for Justice Innovation) in Brooklyn, New York to learn about several of the center’s many programs designed with women's unique needs in mind and efforts to transform responses to intimate partner violence. Commissioners also heard from local leaders about the practical realities of implementing community safety efforts for women in New York City.

Convening in New York City in July 2024. WJC commissioners discussing group expectations.

Convening in New York City in July 2024. Group photo of WJC members in attendance.

Convening in New York City in July 2024. WJC site visit to the Brownsville Community Justice Center.

Convening in New York City in July 2024. (From left to right) WJC Director Akhter, Former Attorney General Lynch, and Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.

Meeting 2 (August 2024) focused on law enforcement interactions with women. It featured research presentations on women’s arrest trends and policing strategies for women in behavioral health crisis and those experiencing intimate partner violence. This meeting sparked the formation of a subcommittee to examine law enforcement issues.

Meeting 3 (January 2025) focused on women’s needs, experiences, and outcomes as they move through the criminal justice system pretrial. The meeting featured research presentations on prosecutor-led diversion efforts, as well as a discussion with experts about the impact of pretrial detention and bail on women. The Commission met with local policymakers and stakeholders and visited Women in Recovery, an intensive outpatient alternative for women facing long prison sentences in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This meeting sparked the formation of a subcommittee to examine opportunities to reform the pretrial system.

Convening in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in January 2025. (From left to right) First Lady Stitt, Former Attorney General Lynch, and WJC Director Akhter.

Convening in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in January 2025. WJC site visit at Women in Recovery.

Convening in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in January 2025. WJC attendees visiting the Greenwood Rising Black Wall Street History Center.

Convening in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in January 2025. WJC Chair, Former Attorney General Lynch, interviewing with 2 News Oklahoma (KJRH-TV) and Public Radio Tulsa.

Meeting 4 (March 2025) focused on sentencing. It included a presentation of sentencing trends and rearrest rates of women and a presentation about the impact of fines and fees on women. This meeting led to the formation of a subcommittee to identify experiences unique to women to be considered during sentencing decisions.

Meeting 5 (May 2025) focused on prioritizing the policy recommendations discussed so far to identify the most impactful ones for the first report. Commissioners also began exploring the evidence around correctional programming for women. The meeting included a site visit to the Women’s Justice Institute and the Cook County Jail to learn about a substance abuse program designed for women that operates in partnership with community-based service providers.

Convening in Chicago, Illinois, in May 2025. WJC site visit to the Women's Justice Institute.

Research

The Commission has produced a series of reports to ground its discussions, inform policy deliberations, and raise public awareness, including:

  • A preliminary assessment of the challenges facing women in the justice system
  • A statistical brief establishing a common understanding of key trends in women’s justice system involvement

The Commission has developed a research agenda and is supporting further original research to inform deliberations and advance national conversations on women’s health and justice. The Commission will continue to engage with researchers across disciplines about the importance of disaggregating and analyzing data by sex to understand the unique experiences of justice-involved women.

Media Coverage and Partnerships

Media coverage and opinion articles about the Commission’s work include pieces in:

  • The 19th, featuring interviews with Chair Lynch and Director Stephanie Akhter about the launch of the Commission and the unique needs of justice-involved women;
  • USA Today by Chair Lynch highlighting the challenges faced by women in a system built around the needs of men;
  • Newsweek by Commission member Norma Cumpian about the needs of criminalized survivors of domestic violence;
  • Tulsa World by Commission Senior Adviser Stitt about efforts underway in Oklahoma to break generational cycles of female incarceration;
  • The Courier Journal by Commission member Whitney Westerfield about the importance of understanding women’s pathways to criminal activity and the impact of trauma and victimization;
  • WorkingNation, featuring an interview with Commission member Topeka Sam about solutions to the workforce challenges faced by women impacted by the justice system; and
  • Governing by CCJ Chief Policy Counsel Marc Levin and Director of Engagement and Partnerships Khalil Cumberbatch on how to better support children of incarcerated parents.

The Commission has also sought creative ways to reach new audiences and successfully partnered with the socially conscious skincare brand Topicals to highlight issues facing justice-involved women. The partnership included a social media campaign, featured stories about justice-involved women’s experiences, and a financial contribution to the work of the Commission.

External Events and Briefings

In October 2024 (Domestic Violence Awareness Month), the Council hosted a public webinar to discuss findings from a new Council analysis that found that aggravated domestic violence incidents are an estimated 30% to 50% higher than incidents reflected in law enforcement data. Commissioners and expert advisers joined members of the Council’s Crime Trends Working Group to discuss challenges in data collection and essential considerations regarding measuring and effectively resourcing strategies to address domestic violence. Panelists included: Commission member Emily Salisbury (Associate Professor of Social Work; Director, Utah Criminal Justice Center, University of Utah), Expert Adviser Marium Durrani (Vice President of Policy, National Domestic Violence Hotline), and Alex Piquero (Acting Chair and Professor of Sociology and Criminology, University of Miami and a member of the CCJ Violent Crime Working Group).

In July 2025, the Council hosted a public webinar focused on the complex impact of domestic violence policing and explored promising approaches to improve safety, accountability, and justice for women. Panelists included: Commission chair and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Commission members Ed Gonzalez (Sheriff, Harris County, Texas) and Courtney Bryan (CEO, Center for Justice Innovation), as well as Leigh Goodmark (Professor of Law, University of Maryland), an academic expert on domestic violence.

Council staff also briefed key leaders and practitioners, including advisers to the governors of Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York; the National Governors Association; the National Conference of State Legislatures; and the U.S. Department of Justice. These relationships will be instrumental in ensuring the Commission’s recommendations are understood and put into practice.

Looking Forward

To ensure a broad awareness of the Commission’s first set of recommendations in September, the Council will distribute the findings to key stakeholders via conference presentations, op-eds in key outlets, partnerships, media coverage, and public web events.

The Commission has a full schedule of meetings throughout the remainder of the year and 2026. Upcoming deliberations will focus on the back-end of the system, including correctional programming, services, and health care; jail and prison conditions; community supervision; and reentry.

Supporters

Support for the Women’s Justice Commission comes from the Ford Foundation, George Kaiser Family Foundation, the Joan Ganz Cooney & Holly Peterson Fund, The J.B. and M.K. Pritzker Family Foundation, Ms. Foundation for Women, the Navigation Fund, the National Football League, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, and the Tow Foundation. The Commission also receives support from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Just Trust, Southern Company Foundation, and other CCJ general operating contributors.