Never before has there been more evidence validating community-based alternatives to incarceration, more effective treatments for substance use and mental health disorders, and more social and political will for change. The Center for Advancing Justice turns that will into action and results.
INTERNATIONAL WORK
Substance use and mental health disorders pose major challenges for legal and health systems around the world. The Center for Advancing Justice helps countries and territories implement evidence-based legal and health system improvements that address these underlying causes of crime, reduce reoffending, and strengthen communities.
IN THE UNITED STATES
The Center for Advancing Justice brings together unique partnerships to advance justice reform innovation and publishes a peer-reviewed scholarly journal that provides justice and public health professionals, policymakers, academics, scholars and researchers a forum to share evidence-based and promising practices on pressing issues facing the justice system today.
Did you know?
People with a substance use disorder in the U.S. are more likely to be jailed than treated.
Over 50% of the prison population (1.5m people) has a substance use disorder.
More than 400,000 people with a mental health disorder are currently behind bars in the U.S.
Without treatment, these individuals will continue the cycles of addiction, crime and arrest.
Progress is being made, but there remains a profound gap between what is known and what is being done. Advancing Justice was created to fill this gap. The most serious issues facing justice systems around the world are rooted in the identification, assessment and treatment of individuals with substance use and mental health disorders. Advancing Justice targets these issues by building broad coalitions, developing actionable solutions based on science, and putting policy into practice to create meaningful, lasting change.
You are the ones who are leading our nation by example in this better way. That’s why I could not be more excited that this field, led by NADCP, will be tackling these life-or-death issues on a larger scale through the Advancing Justice initiative.
The Center for Advancing Justice in action