How do we effectively communicate to the public about the need to reform the criminal justice system? The goal of the project is to develop more effective ways to communicate about the challenges facing America’s criminal justice system and the reforms necessary to fix the system. The project aims to provide criminal justice experts and advocates with tools and strategic recommendations they can use to reframe the issue of public safety for broad public understanding and support.
This project is conducted in partnership with the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard University’s Law School and Behind the Cycle, with support from the Ford Foundation.
This page will be updated with further research and communication tools as our engagement on this important issue progresses in the coming months.
Our Research
Public Safety: Framing a Reform Agenda
This report details the first stage of the FrameWorks Institute engagement on this issue. The initial section of the report is an analysis of the story of the field as told through communications materials, policy briefings, legislative testimony and websites from criminal justice reform advocates. The second section is based on a recalibration of this story that resulted from an October 2010 convening, during which meeting attendees were given a chance to review the story their materials are telling and react to a critique of this story by FrameWorks staff. The final section expresses several testable propositions that result from the preceding analysis.
Caning, Context and Class –
Mapping the Gaps Between Expert and Public Understandings of Public Safety
This report lays the groundwork for this larger reframing effort by comparing expert discourse on the topic with the ways that average Americans think and talk about public safety. Data from interviews with both experts and average Americans are compared to locate and examine gaps in understanding surrounding this issue.
Strengthen Communities, Educate Children and Prevent Crime: A Communications Analysis of Peer Discourse Sessions on Public Safety and Criminal Justice Reform
This report details research findings from a series of six peer discourse sessions conducted by the FrameWorks Institute with groups of civically engaged Americans across the country. These sessions provide an opportunity to see how cultural models function in settings that approximate the social contexts in which discussions about public safety and the criminal justice system naturally occur.
Applications
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Our Recommendations
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