Committee on Law and Justice Fall 2023 Semi-Annual Meeting/Public Seminar

The National Institute of Justice’s CrimeSolutions is comprised of two components – a web-based clearinghouse of programs and practices and a process for identifying and rating those programs and practices. The clearinghouse presents programs and practices that have undergone rigorous evaluations and meta-analyses and assesses the strengths of the evidence about whether these programs achieve criminal justice, juvenile justice, and crime victim services outcomes to inform practitioners and policy makers about what works, what doesn’t, and what’s promising.

The process for identifying and rating programs serves as the evidentiary basis for determining whether the programs achieved the intended outcomes. The muti-stage process includes initial screening, outcome selection, review using an objective scoring instrument, and ratings assigned by a consensus score, which is subject to dispute resolution and appeal. The rating is determined by the strength and direction of the evidence. The reliability and reputability of CrimeSolutions depends on the validity of the review process and the accuracy and utility of the rating in communicating the underlying scientific findings as they relate to program effectiveness. However, the process and outcome ratings have not been externally reviewed since CrimeSolutions was established in 2011. Ensuring CrimeSolutions’ utility requires independent, external review, and stakeholder feedback.

As part of a larger implementation evaluation, the Committee on Law and Justice in collaboration with NIJ is convening a public in-person and virtual seminar to obtain input on the review process and communication of outcome evidence.