Justice Management Institute

The Justice Management Institute (JMI) was formed in 1993 to improve the administration of justice by working with courts, defenders, prosecutors, and other allied professionals to build justice systems that are fairer, more equitable, and more effective, both for the people involved in them and the broader public. Since its inception, JMI has conducted more than 300 projects leading to improvements in the administration of justice in the United States and internationally.

JMI is guided by three principles—Think, Inspire, Change. We think about emerging and pressing issues by conducting original research and evaluation designed to both understand the nature of the problems facing justice systems and practitioners as well as to test the effectiveness of various approaches to responding to these issues. We have conducted large-scale justice system assessments over the past decade that involve understanding the drivers of inefficiencies in the courts, prosecution, and defense in more than 12 jurisdictions in the past 3 years alone. These assessments involve system mapping, documenting the flow of information, extensive analysis of operational policies and procedures, and quantitative statistical analyses to determine where inefficiencies and ineffectiveness exist and strategies for reducing both. Over its 20-year history, JMI has also conducted a number of issue-specific research studies at the national, state, and local level. Among those that have been undertaken in the past couple of years are an assessment of the impact of legislative changes on quality of representation for indigent clients; determining the outcomes of using graduated responses for probation violations; understanding the impact of the CSI effect on criminal justice decision making; and identifying effective strategies for reducing caseloads, jail populations, and backlogs.

JMI inspires criminal justice practitioners and policymakers through our education and training programs. Our educational programs, such as the Smarter Sentencing to Reduce Recidivism, apply state-of-the-art research to the practical day-to-day operations of the justice system. Other training is designed to help practitioners improve their overall competencies and effectiveness in managing the work of the criminal justice system. Examples of these trainings include measuring organizational performance, caseflow management, and improving judicial leadership and skills in the juvenile justice system. Finally, JMI helps bring change to the administration of justice by providing on-site specialized services to help local justice systems and individual stakeholders within the systems to design and implement different approaches to improve their overall effectiveness.