JohnJayREC began in 1976 as the research team of John Jay’s former “Criminal Justice Center” and was later launched as a distinct office, becoming one of the most prominent research centers at the College. Our mission is to produce credible research evidence that can be accessed and utilized by many audiences and communities working to improve public safety. We help non-researchers understand the critical roles played by quantitative and qualitative analyses, implementation metrics, causal inference, and the many factors that alter or obscure the relationship between law, policy, equity, and social justice. We evaluate crime prevention strategies and test the effectiveness of justice systems while controlling for the impact and origin of disadvantages rooted in political conflicts, economic and class biases, racial and ethnic inequities, and other inappropriate influences on the policies and practices of the criminal justice system.*
We aspire to create research evidence characterized by:
- Relevance: Serving the needs of communities, practitioners, and policymakers.
- Rigor: Products created with integrity and transparency.
- Impact: Useful results for building community well-being.
Since 2010, we have managed projects with combined budgets of $48 Million ($59M in constant dollars). While our work sometimes generates academic publications, our core mission is to produce open-access research for diverse audiences. We draw on the expertise of John Jay faculty and staff to advance our collective understanding of public safety challenges in partnership with policymakers, community organizations, and practitioners. We also develop future generations of researchers by mentoring and training students at John Jay College, preparing them for careers in applied policy analysis and evaluation.
* The name “justice system” has always been aspirational. We do not embrace the alternative name “legal system,” which derives from a presumption that system-related harms and injustices are inevitable and permanent. “Justice” is the goal even when it is not yet a reliable reality.Â