National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR)

Founded in 2017, NICJR is a member of the African American-led Coalition to Advance Public Safety, along with the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, the Community-Based Public Safety Collective, and Cities United. In February 2023, this coalition launched an initiative to reduce gun violence across 12 cities including Baltimore, Maryland and Newark, New Jersey. ¹

Research and Policy Advocacy

The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR) was founded in 2017. It is based in California and produces research to advocate for gun-control policies and increased leniency in the criminal justice system across the United States. An illustrative example of NICRJ’s research and advocacy can be found in its “Washington, DC Gun Violence Reduction Strategic Plan,” which followed its 2020 crime report “Landscape Analysis of Washington, DC.” After highlighting an increase in homicide in D.C., NICJR provides a long, varied list of recommendations to reduce violent crime. Some of these strategies involve collecting data profiles on D.C. youth enrolled in public or charter schools and matching them to a list of risk-factors. Students deemed “at-risk” would then be paired with “government agencies and community-based organizations” to help reduce the risk. NICRJ’s Gun Violence Reduction Strategy is a similar program, calling for a citywide database of at-risk individuals, followed by identification and targeted intervention. ²

Other solutions include increasing the number of community social-services agents, such as the proposed creation of a Violence Intervention Worker Academy. This project would serve to increase the number of, and provide training and certification for, community members as alternative responders to police intervention and to prevent repeat or retaliative acts of violence. NICJR also proposes the creation of Community Resource Hubs, which would provide local service on an open-door basis, and the Credible Messengers for All program, which provides mentorship and advocacy to every person prior to their release from police custody. ²

Another suggestion, Intensive Life Coaching, involves regularly paying youths considered to be at the highest risk to complete milestones in a mentorship program. A similar program implemented in Oakland offered a gift card of $50-$100 for meeting with the a coach within 48 hours after being invited, and paid similar amounts for completing certain milestones such as applying for or starting a job, or graduating from mentoring programs. ²

Programs

Police Transformation Resource Center

National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform seeks to alter policing nationwide through its Police Transformation Resource Center. This initiative has partnered with several police reform and accountability groups in California, such as the Berkeley Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, the Oakland Reimagining Public Safety Task Force, and the Fresno Commission on Police Reform, as well as highlighting similar efforts in Eugene, Oregon and Austin, Texas. NICLR advocates replacing police responders wherever possible, such as sending in alternative responders when a mental health issue is indicated, and even going so far as to suggest automating all traffic policing with technology “to the maximum extent possible.” Other suggestions include hiring officers that are local to the relevant area and are thus “representative” of the community they are policing. NICJR also advocates the repeal of state and local laws “that provide undue protection to police unions and prohibit effective and efficient disciplinary action.” ³

Neighborhood Opportunity and Accountability Board

The Neighborhood Opportunity and Accountability Board (NAOB) is a diversion program that presents youth who have committed nonviolent felonies with an alternative to serving jail time. The program concept was awarded funding in 2017 through the J.M. Kaplan Fund, and was first implemented in 2020 in Oakland, California. Possible candidates are referred by police and, after a consultation with a NOAB coordinator, appear before a “council” of local community members including clergy and business owners. The candidate is then given counseling, an “individual achievement plan” is designed, and mentors and facilitators are provided to guide the candidate through a two-year diversion process. After this process, the charges are expunged. ⁴

Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program

The Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP) utilizes hospital workers to screen for and identify patients who have been victims of gun violence to assess candidates for intervention. After identifying an at-risk patient using metrics such as past violence and criminal record, NICJR partners and community social workers will use the patient’s injury as a “teachable moment” to convince them to make life changes, especially focusing on removing the threat of possible retaliation. ⁵

Young Professionals of Color Fellowship

The Young Professionals of Color Fellowship is a joint venture of NICJR, the Live Free Campaign, and Advance Peace. The program targets young minorities working in social services, activism, and influencer positions that show potential as leaders and social change agents. It then provides them with networking opportunities and training in areas such as public speaking and budget management, over a two-year period; participants are sometimes offered jobs as a direct result of the program. Presenters speak at each convention; 2021-22 topics included book discussions such as Maree Brown’s Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good, and Arnold Chandler’s A Life Course Framework for Improving the Lives of Boys and Men of Color. ⁶

African American-led Coalition to Advance Public Safety

NICJR is a member of the African American-led Coalition to Advance Public Safety, along with the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention, the Community-Based Public Safety Collective, and Cities United. In February 2023, this coalition launched an initiative that it claims will could gun violence by 20 percent across 12 cities including Baltimore, Maryland and Newark, New Jersey. ¹ Using funding provided by Walmart, this group also runs the Youth Data and Intervention Initiative, a database which identifies and tracks at-risk youth. ⁷

Leadership

As of 2023, David Muhammad was the executive director of the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (NICJR). He is the former Alameda County, California chief probation officer. Muhammad was appointed the monitor by federal court for the implementation of mandated changes to Illinois’ parole system after the class-action lawsuit Morales v. Monreal. ⁸

James Bell, board member of NICJR, is also the founder and executive director of the left-of-center criminal justice non-profit W. Haywood Burns Institute. He is also a former consultant for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund. ⁹