Criminology & Public Policy最新文献

{"title":"Pulling back the curtain: A mixed-methods study of prosecutorial discretion in probation conditions and revocations","authors":"Sarah Jensen,&nbsp;Rebecca Stone,&nbsp;Pavithra Nagarajan,&nbsp;Shannon Magnuson,&nbsp;Brian K. Lovins","doi":"10.1111/1745-9133.70028","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1745-9133.70028","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Research Summary</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Prosecutors play a significant but poorly understood role in setting probation conditions and pursuing revocations. For the 3.7 million U.S. adults under supervision, noncompliance with conditions can result in revocation and incarceration. Prison admissions from probation often stem from technical violations, not new convictions, suggesting that probation may often be “delayed incarceration.” Despite their impact on incarceration rates, there is little research on how and why prosecutors recommend conditions or pursue technical revocations. We conducted an iterative mixed-methods study using multiple data sources: (1) a national statutory scan of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, (2) a national survey of prosecutors’ offices (<i>n</i> = 305), (3) semistructured interviews with prosecutors (<i>n</i> = 18), (4) a targeted survey of reform-minded prosecutors (<i>n</i> = 22), and (5) focus groups with elected prosecutors and chiefs of staff (<i>n</i> = 14). The statutory scan reveals that prosecutorial authority for recommending conditions is often only vaguely defined, creating a regulatory vacuum that allows for variation in prosecutors’ roles both within and between states. Survey and interview results indicate that when setting conditions, prosecutors consider statutory requirements, workload constraints, case characteristics, and broad rehabilitative concerns that may extend beyond the facts of the case. However, they typically do not pursue revocation for violations of rehabilitation-oriented conditions. Finally, many prosecutors already have the authority to implement immediate policy changes to reduce technical revocations but are constrained by other court actors and public support.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Policy Implications</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Prosecutors already have the authority to reduce technical revocations through internal policy changes requiring no new legislation or funding. In many cases, they can immediately limit condition recommendations, eliminate most court fines and fees, and decline to pursue technical violations. These reforms would reduce unnecessary incarceration, allow individuals under supervision to focus on stability, and reduce strain on criminal legal system resources.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47902,"journal":{"name":"Criminology & Public Policy","volume":"25 2","pages":"353-377"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148286565","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The impact of prosecutors’ office caseloads on case processing outcomes","authors":"R. R. Dunlea,&nbsp;Don Stemen","doi":"10.1111/1745-9133.70017","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1745-9133.70017","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Research Summary</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Contemporary criminal justice discourse frequently highlights rising caseloads as a crisis for prosecutors across the United States. Yet, empirical assessments of how caseloads impact prosecutorial decision making are scarce. This study exploits data on office caseloads and cases disposed between 2021 and 2024 in 19 prosecutors’ offices across Colorado to investigate the impact of office caseload pressure on plea and charge reduction rates. We use a two-level modeling strategy in which weekly activity is nested within prosecutors’ offices, and caseload pressure is measured using weekly open case counts. While nearly as much variation in outcomes occurs across prosecutors’ offices as across weeks, we find that prosecutors’ offices resolve fewer cases via guilty plea in weeks when caseload pressure is higher. Effects are slightly stronger on dispositions for misdemeanor offenses than felonies. Little relationship between caseload pressure and charge reductions is observed.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Policy Implications</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This study provides useful insight into prosecutorial responses to caseload pressures. Although pleas are traditionally conceptualized as a tool to increase efficiency in case processing, we find little evidence that prosecutors’ offices increase their use of pleas or charge bargaining when caseload pressures are higher. Current rising caseload pressures may incentivize dismissals rather than plea bargains, potentially impacting case outcomes, public safety concerns, and disparities in case processing burdens across sociodemographic groups. The results highlight how staffing in high-pressure offices, early case reviews, and policies prioritizing cases may ensure caseloads remain manageable or may limit the impact of caseload pressures on case outcomes.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47902,"journal":{"name":"Criminology & Public Policy","volume":"25 2","pages":"297-322"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1745-9133.70017","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147630706","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Examining the effect of Indiana prosecutor-led diversion programs on recidivism outcomes: A case study of two jurisdictions","authors":"Tri Keah S. Henry,&nbsp;Eric Grommon,&nbsp;Carmen Diaz,&nbsp;Evan M. Lowder","doi":"10.1111/1745-9133.70023","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1745-9133.70023","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Research summary</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Indiana Code allows local prosecutors to withhold prosecution and offer diversion for residents charged with low-level offenses. In doing so, prosecutors can minimize the collateral consequences of justice-system involvement. Although widely adopted as an alternative to traditional prosecution, few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of prosecutor-led diversion programs. The current study builds on this area of research by evaluating two prosecutor-led diversion programs operating in one large and one moderately sized jurisdiction, highlighting their effectiveness in limiting future criminal justice contact. We examined administrative prosecution records from 2013 to 2023 in which 21,653 filed cases met statutory eligibility for diversion, and 4572 individuals accepted a diversion offer in the larger site. In the moderate-sized jurisdiction, 17,357 cases were eligible, with 6335 offers accepted. Propensity score-weighted and instrumental variable regression techniques indicate that diversion was associated with a reduced probability of a new criminal case filing 1-year after the instant case filing relative to all other eligible cases. Moreover, program participation moderated the effect of race on future criminal justice contact.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Policy implications</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Prosecutor-led diversion programs are one strategy used to efficiently manage criminal caseloads, hold defendants accountable, temper the collateral consequences of conviction, and reduce recidivism. The findings reported here indicate that these programs are associated with lower rates of recidivism. However, the programs’ discretionary design results in case- and defendant-level sorting and selection processes that shape program efficacy. After adjusting for sorting and selection effects, associations between diversion and favorable outcomes persist but raise important questions about both equitable access to diversion programs and the reliability of previously reported diversion findings.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47902,"journal":{"name":"Criminology & Public Policy","volume":"25 2","pages":"213-240"},"PeriodicalIF":3.8,"publicationDate":"2026-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1745-9133.70023","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148286593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“It's a start”: Formerly incarcerated adults’ perceptions of second-chance employers and policies","authors":"Megan Denver,&nbsp;Rod K. Brunson,&nbsp;Oscar Navarro","doi":"10.1111/1745-9133.70010","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1745-9133.70010","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Research Summary</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Second-chance hiring, or an employer's commitment to hiring (at least some) people with criminal records, is simultaneously an ongoing public movement and an opaque process. To examine perceptions of second-chance policies and employers, we analyzed interview data from formerly incarcerated adults in the Greater Boston area. We find that a small portion was familiar with Ban-the-Box (BTB), a policy that had been in effect locally for more than a decade; after learning about the policy, participants indicated that it was a promising start but could unintentionally provide false hope if employers conduct criminal background checks soon thereafter. We then asked for definitions of criminal record (or in our study context, “CORI”) friendly employers. Participant descriptions fell into three categories: exclusionary, CORI-friendly under certain circumstances, and fully inclusive. Descriptions of the sometimes-friendly employers reflected individualized assessments, where the criminal history and context seemed to matter. Although partial exclusion was not ideal to participants, even the most well-reputed inclusive jobs—those connected to labor unions—carried cautions from union-member participants. Finally, we explored whether submitting evidence of rehabilitation is feasible. Most participants indicated they could readily provide a recommendation letter and/or accomplishments to an employer if provided the opportunity—but few reported having this experience.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Policy implications</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Examining the perceptions of job applicants with criminal records can provide insight into both problems and possibilities. Existing counterintuitive empirical findings on BTB may be driven, in part, by job applicants with criminal records not being aware of (and therefore not responding to) policy changes. Even after being informed, skepticism of BTB points to the importance of employer responses throughout the decision process. We recommend four policy pathways: increasing awareness of existing policies, expanding CORI-friendliness through employer engagement, promoting broader culture change, and incorporating positive credentials into individualized assessments through formalized processes.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47902,"journal":{"name":"Criminology & Public Policy","volume":"25 1","pages":"3-30"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145920189","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Understanding variation in juvenile life without parole legislation following Miller","authors":"Leah Ouellet,&nbsp;Daphne M. Brydon,&nbsp;Laura S. Abrams,&nbsp;Jeffrey T. Ward,&nbsp;Dylan B. Jackson,&nbsp;Rebecca Turner,&nbsp;J. Z. Bennett,&nbsp;Reese Howard,&nbsp;Ashley Xu","doi":"10.1111/1745-9133.70011","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1745-9133.70011","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Research Summary</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p><i>Miller v. Alabama</i> and <i>Montgomery v. Louisiana</i> restricted states’ ability to impose life without parole for youth under age 18 (henceforth JLWOP). Since <i>Miller</i>, 46 pieces of legislation across 34 states and the District of Columbia have altered JLWOP sentencing policies. The current study provides the first comprehensive and scientific review of this legislation. Using policy surveillance as a methodological guide, we found that a majority of statutes (<i>N</i> = 28) ban JLWOP sentencing, above and beyond the Supreme Court's requirement. Many statutes also extended sentencing reforms and post-conviction relief eligibility to other types of sentencing beyond JLWOP. However, all but one statute still allows either JLWOP or life <i>with</i> parole as a sentencing option for minors convicted of homicide crimes and requires between 15 and 40 years, at minimum, to be served before being eligible for release. Grounding our analysis in institutional theory, we argue that the relative punitivity of the JLWOP reforms enacted was associated with measures of JLWOP institutionalization across states (i.e., pre-<i>Miller</i> JLWOP population and pre-<i>Miller</i> sentencing schema), suggesting that states where JLWOP was more routinely used were more resistant to policy reform.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Policy Implications</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The current study provides implications for future decarceration efforts. Findings suggest that state legislatures are willing to enact post-conviction relief measures (e.g., judicial review or “second look” measures) for individuals convicted of violent crimes to address over-incarceration, deviating from previous decarceration efforts focused on non-violent, low-level offenses. In spite of the promising window for juvenile justice reform that <i>Miller</i> provided, however, these reforms have taken a relatively modest, incremental approach toward altering extreme youth sentencing practices in the United States. Policy makers and advocates seeking to promote sentencing reform efforts should factor in how highly institutionalized a sentencing practice is in each state, as this might inform effective strategies for policy change.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47902,"journal":{"name":"Criminology & Public Policy","volume":"25 1","pages":"139-168"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-01-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1745-9133.70011","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145920188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rethinking rules for 911: Dispatching alternative responders in Denver and San Francisco","authors":"Jessica W. Gillooly,&nbsp;Barry Friedman","doi":"10.1111/1745-9133.70008","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1745-9133.70008","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Research Summary</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Alternatives to police response to 911 calls have emerged as a leading public safety reform strategy. A key policy implementation challenge lies in determining whether alternative responders, police, or both are most appropriate for a given situation—a decision that largely falls to 911 call takers and dispatchers. This article examines how dispatch organizations have tried to structure these decisions through protocols and decision trees. Drawing on 39 interviews and 20 h of observations with 911 workers in San Francisco and Denver, we argue that these tools, as currently structured, are poorly suited to handle the uncertainty, subjectivity, and ambiguity that characterize many street crisis calls. In the absence of more thoughtfully designed guidance from leadership, we find that dispatch staff routinely work around the rules to attain the response they believe is most appropriate.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Policy Implications</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Addressing the dispatch protocol issue is critical for the success of the alternative response movement. Absent workable protocols, dispatchers sometimes default to sending the police, undermining the progress alternative response promises. Applying our learnings from Denver and San Francisco, this study points to a two-pronged approach that dispatch agencies can use to improve call diversion guidance. First, they can refine existing protocols and decision trees by grounding them in the experiential knowledge of frontline staff. Second, they can supplement these tools with more flexible forms of guidance—such as organizational value statements or collaborative decision-making frameworks—to aid decision making when protocols reach their limits. Together, these changes can produce guidance that is more responsive to the realities of dispatch work and better aligned with the goals of alternative response.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47902,"journal":{"name":"Criminology & Public Policy","volume":"25 1","pages":"113-137"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-11-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145427403","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Drug decriminalization and policy alienation among frontline police in British Columbia: A qualitative study","authors":"Sarah Ferencz,&nbsp;Alissa Greer,&nbsp;Amanda Butler","doi":"10.1111/1745-9133.70007","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1745-9133.70007","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Research Summary</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>This qualitative study examines how frontline police officers in British Columbia experienced and adapted to Canada's first formal drug decriminalization policy 1 year after implementation. Drawing on 30 semi-structured interviews and using thematic analysis with a policy alienation and street-level bureaucracy lens, we analyzed how officers felt alienated from the policy process and coped with this experience as frontline implementers. Key themes show that frontline officers experienced processes of policy alienation in various ways: they felt that the policy was misaligned with their frontline perspectives; the Policy undermined their ability to help people in their communities; and legal ambiguity surrounding the Policy was challenging to navigate. Their coping strategies revealed that officers interpreted and executed decriminalization in divergent ways.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Policy Implications</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>These findings have important implications for policymakers and police leadership considering drug policy reforms. Officers’ feelings of disempowerment and policy meaninglessness, especially in contexts of legal ambiguity, may lead to inconsistent or inequitable enforcement. Strengthening communication across police ranks is critical. Middle managers may help translate reform goals, identify resource gaps, and support effective coping strategies. Legal clarity should extend beyond policy updates to help officers reconcile overlapping laws and reduce liability concerns. While there are limits to policy consultation with frontline officers within the hierarchical structure of police institutions, reform efforts should still engage with frontline officers’ working logics. Training should address harmful attitudes and misunderstandings of drug use, clarify legal boundaries, and mitigate unintended harms of enforcement. Ultimately, effective drug policy reform in a multi-jurisdictional system requires acknowledging how frontline officers interpret and shape policy within institutional constraints.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47902,"journal":{"name":"Criminology & Public Policy","volume":"25 1","pages":"63-88"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1745-9133.70007","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145382296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Can enhanced street lighting improve public safety at scale?","authors":"John M. MacDonald,&nbsp;Aaron Chalfin,&nbsp;Maya Moritz,&nbsp;Brian Wade,&nbsp;Alyssa K. Mendlein,&nbsp;Anthony A. Braga,&nbsp;Eugenia South","doi":"10.1111/1745-9133.70006","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1745-9133.70006","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Research Summary</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Street crimes are thought to be influenced by changes in ambient lighting; yet, most studies have focused on small-scale interventions in limited areas. It remains unclear whether enhanced lighting can improve safety on a larger, jurisdiction-wide scale. This study examined the first 10 months of Philadelphia's citywide rollout of enhanced street lighting. Between August 2023 and May 2024, 34,374 streetlights were upgraded across 13,275 street segments, converting roughly one third of the city's street segments to new LED (light-emitting diode) fixtures that provide clearer and more even lighting. We assessed the impact of these upgrades on total crimes, violent crimes, property crimes, and nuisance crimes. Our findings reveal a 15% decline in outdoor nighttime street crimes and a 21% reduction in outdoor nighttime gun violence following the streetlight upgrades. The streetlight upgrades may have contributed to 5% of the citywide decline in Philadelphia gun violence during the study period. Qualitative data also suggest that resident perceptions of safety and neighborhood vitality improved after new streetlights were installed.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Policy Implications</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Although prior research has mostly focused on small-scale implementations, our study demonstrates that improvements in street lighting can significantly reduce crime rates across large urban areas. These results support the adoption of energy-efficient LED street lighting as a crime reduction strategy for cities. Further research is needed to explore the impact of enhanced streetlight interventions on other types of crime and to determine whether the crime reduction benefits are sustained when these upgrades are implemented across the entire City of Philadelphia for an extended period.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47902,"journal":{"name":"Criminology & Public Policy","volume":"25 1","pages":"31-62"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1745-9133.70006","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145127723","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"How Mexican judicial reforms may have fueled crime: Arrest trends and trust erosion","authors":"Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes,&nbsp;Marilyn Ibarra-Caton","doi":"10.1111/1745-9133.70005","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1745-9133.70005","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Background</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Mexico rolled out state-led criminal justice reforms between 2000 and 2017 to modernize procedures and improve rule of law. Whether these changes reduced violent crime—especially in cartel-affected areas—remains uncertain.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Aims</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Estimate the impact of reform implementation on homicides and arrests, and assess mechanisms related to enforcement capacity and public cooperation with law enforcement.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Materials &amp; Methods</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>We build a municipality–year panel (2000–2017) from death certificates (homicides) and administrative records (arrests). Because states adopted reforms at different times, we use difference-in-differences estimators designed for staggered adoption and heterogeneous treatment effects, with rich fixed effects and controls. To probe mechanisms, we analyze nationally representative survey measures of crime reporting, institutional trust, and perceived police/prosecutorial integrity.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Results</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Reform implementation is associated with a ~25% increase in homicide rates. Over the same horizon, arrest rates fall by &gt;50%. As homicides are less prone to underreporting than other crimes, the homicide increase is unlikely to be a reporting artifact. Survey evidence shows reduced crime reporting, declining trust in institutions, and more negative views of police and prosecutors; effects are strongest in cartel-affected regions.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Discussion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>The pattern is consistent with an erosion of effective enforcement capacity at rollout: fewer arrests and lower public cooperation raise expected returns to violent crime. In high-violence settings, reforms that change procedures without parallel boosts to investigative and prosecutorial capacity—and without safeguards for witnesses—can weaken deterrence.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Conclusion</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Mexico’s staggered judicial reforms coincided with higher homicides and sharply lower arrests. Successful reform in violent contexts likely requires coordinated institutional strengthening (policing, prosecution, witness protection), phased implementation with measurable benchmarks, and strategies to sustain public trust and reporting.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47902,"journal":{"name":"Criminology & Public Policy","volume":"25 1","pages":"89-112"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1745-9133.70005","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144901571","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“This is everyone's issue”: Policy entrepreneurs, issue framing, and coalition building in the passage of automatic criminal record expungement","authors":"Elsa Y. Chen,&nbsp;Sarah E. Lageson,&nbsp;Ericka B. Adams","doi":"10.1111/1745-9133.70003","DOIUrl":"10.1111/1745-9133.70003","url":null,"abstract":"<div>\u0000 \u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Research Summary</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Since 2018, at least 12 U.S. states have introduced policies to expunge certain eligible arrest and criminal conviction records through automated or algorithmic means. Drawing on interviews with governmental representatives and community stakeholders, this paper identifies strategies used to pass this legislation in Pennsylvania and Utah, the first two states to enact automated expungement policies. We frame our findings around three established theoretical frameworks of public policy making—policy entrepreneurship, issue framing, and coalition building—illustrating their combined strategic importance with data gathered from those involved on the ground in the passage and adoption of automated expungement legislation. The findings add depth and nuance to the policy-making literature, along with practical implications for future criminal legal reform initiatives.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 \u0000 <section>\u0000 \u0000 <h3> Policy Implications</h3>\u0000 \u0000 <p>Interviewees consistently described how key policy entrepreneurs played essential roles in the development, passage, and implementation of automated criminal record expungement by strategically framing the issue of criminal record discrimination around core values shared by conservatives and liberals, such as workforce development. Broad bipartisan coalition building enabled the scale-up of automated expungement policies within states where it has been adopted and has aided diffusion to new states. These findings can inform the approaches taken by advocates of automated expungement and other criminal justice reform initiatives, particularly in conservative or polarized political environments.</p>\u0000 </section>\u0000 </div>","PeriodicalId":47902,"journal":{"name":"Criminology & Public Policy","volume":"24 4","pages":"655-687"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1745-9133.70003","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144778309","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}