Today’s guest post comes from two Harvard Ph.D. students in Public Policy and Economics, respectively, Helen Ho and Natalia Emanuel. Helen and Natalia are affiliates of the Lab and have been working on their own randomized control trial (“RCT”) focused on failures to appear (“FTAs”) for arraignments. This post is the second in a series Read more about Guest Post: Another RCT Tackling Failure to Appear, Part II[…]
We at the Lab want to make sure that we are taking on research projects that address the needs of the access to justice field. So, occasionally we’ll post about some pressing A2J issues for which we think more rigorous research is really needed. We welcome your ideas on our thoughts below, of course. For Read more about Spotlight: Fines and Fees[…]
Today’s guest post is authored by Katy Weinstein Miller, Chief of Programs & Initiatives at the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office. In 2013, San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón launched a new approach to handling juvenile delinquency. Rather than prosecute young people accused of certain felony offenses, the office began offering them the opportunity to Read more about Guest Post: Evaluating Make It Right[…]
On Tuesday, Jan. 16 pretrial staff in Polk County, Iowa entered their offices with a slightly different charge. They had been accustomed to perusing a list of arrestees scheduled for first appearance and searching for individuals who qualified for an interview and pre-disposition release. That morning, some staff members continued this time- and resource-intensive practice. Read more about Previewing and Reviewing Pretrial Risk Assessment RCTs[…]
Discussions about the use of performance standards and metrics to measure the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of legal services have become common in the access to justice community. Increasingly, legal services programs are being asked to use data to communicate about their effectiveness to funders, community stakeholders, and policy makers. And, more importantly, by grounding Read more about The Evaluation Feedback Project Has Launched[…]