The privatized prison system is largely skewed against inmates, as most are funded based on the number of individuals incarcerated, creating a disincentive to invest in the rehabilitation and comprehensive treatment o...

In Nueces County, military style boot camp was the norm for troubled juveniles, who were forced to complete drills with instructors. Replacing this antiquated method with therapeutic support and yoga relaxation techni...

Judge Inna Klein and probation officers from The Community Supervision and Corrections Department are bringing domestic violence reform to Nueces County. By taking more aggressive approaches toward supervision and acc...

Opioid addiction runs rampant in the United States. However, researchers are becoming more convinced that cannabis can help prevent opioid abuse from even happening. In states where cannabis is legal the rate of opioi...

In many parts of the United States, people struggle with economic mobility and achieving the American Dream. Salt Lake City’s rate of economic mobility is at the highest in the country. An investigative journalist exp...

Richmond, California has one of the nation’s highest gun violence rates, so Operation Peacemaker Fellowship tracks and identifies individuals at risk of committing violent acts or becoming a victim of violence. The Fe...

Young black Jacksonians are afraid to call the police in self defence for fear they will be accused of gang violence and arrested instead of protected. Various programs are using research of violence and recidivism to...

In Texas, Mass-Incarceration is becoming a surprising hub of bi-partisan reform. By finding common ground, and brainstorming new solutions and alternatives to mass incarceration, the state has seen a drop in incarcera...

For women in traditional rehab centres, choosing treatment means leaving their children behind. Family House NOW (New Options for Women), is a residential treatment center in Philadelphia that allows women to live wit...

Three Part Series, "America Beyond Detention": For decades, immigrant advocates have argued that the federal government should increase the use of residential shelters - like Casa Marianella in Austin - as an alternat...

America is facing an epidemic of overdose deaths from opioids. Giving users a supervised place and clean needles increases use of treatment and saves lives, though it is a controversial response.

Research has shown that criminal activity is often a result of a person with a mental illness falling into substance abuse and jail time does nothing to help a person’s illness. To lower the number of people with a m...

As the US attempts to recover and learn from an opioid epidemic, often rehab or detox are the only solutions discussed when research says medication-assisted treatment is by far the most effective. Henry J. Austin Hea...

Chicago plans to open a community court for young adult offenders that focuses on rehabilitative services and community support, giving them a chance to make reparations to victims and avoid a criminal record that ca...

The approach of some state detention directors to juvenile justice has evolved at Henley-Young Juvenile Justice Center. Research shows that traditional detention is simply not working as a deterrent to youth crime—and...

To confront substance abuse problems, nine month programs have been developed that focus on mental health and addiction. They have the lowest rates of recidivism and help drug offenders learn to live a sober and produ...

Opioid addiction has increased throughout the United States. A clinic in San Francisco has been offering an opioid replacement drug called buphrenorphine to help wean addicts away from opioids. The clinic’s success at...

The US incarcerates 8x as many women as it did in 1980, and two-thirds of women in state prisons are there for nonviolent offenses. A program in Tulsa, Women in Recovery, is working with women (and their children) to ...

Across the country, hospitals are embracing intensive intervention programs to help victims of violence — including those who have criminal histories — after they have been brought in for treatment of injuries. Such p...

If juveniles in the Hinds County youth-court system, whose families tend to have limited resources, cannot get sustained, meaningful help at the center, they do not have many other options. But, thanks to a lawsuit on...

Restorative justice, a process that originated in New Zealand, aims to repair damaged relationships rather than merely meting out punishment. It can be far more demanding than a traditional route through court, but fo...

In the U.S., some people who are convicted as minors can spend their whole lives in prison. German prisons offer a solution: shorter sentences and a focus on reducing crime once people reenter society.

Germany's system of shorter sentences for minors and correctional officer training focused on rehabilitating prisoners could become a model for juvenile detention in the U.S., where guards are currently trained in fir...