We help leaders in every state create second chances, reduce harm, and transform lives.
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 evidence-based, consensus-driven strategies to increase public safety and strengthen communities. The Justice Center evolved from the Council of State Governments’ East
ern Regional Conference justice program to a national center in 2006, and 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 related to reentry, responses to justice-people with mental illnesses who are involved with the criminal justice system, 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, who together represent a cross-section of the senior-level state officials who shape criminal justice policy across the country.
