About

The Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management seeks to promote sound policy and effective management in the pursuit of safety for all individuals, families, and communities, and in the administration of justice, rooted in principles of proportionality, parsimony, citizenship, and social and racial equity.

We do this through action research, course instruction, and curriculum development, and by maintaining long-lasting partnerships with practitioners, community members, activists, and other scholars. We organize Executive Sessions—intensive conversations among leading practitioners and scholars in a specific field that span several years, punctuated by research, practical experimentation, and collaborative publications.

Tour our site to learn more about us—our people, our current work encompassing all aspects of safety and justice—as well as how to connect with us.

Prospective Students

  • The PCJ is a research program, not a degree program
  • View the degree programs offered at HKS
  • If you wish to pursue a degree or joint degree from HKS, please visit the admissions page

History

Established in 1980 by the Daniel and Florence V. Guggenheim Foundation, the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management has had a continuing commitment to include practitioners in its work to:

  • Devise situations in which the researchers learn from the practitioners and the practitioners learn from both the researchers and each other;
  • Synthesize and extract the best ideas;
  • Work to put these ideas into good currency

Integrating theory with practice and academicians with practitioners—through research, Executive Sessions, teaching, writing, and publishing—the Program in Criminal Justice has attempted to challenge conventional wisdom in various domains of criminal justice policy.

The Program in Criminal Justice takes a sector-wide view of criminal justice, focusing on the policies and management of multiple institutions whose work contributes to safety and justice, rather than specializing in issues of policing, courts, or corrections. By examining multiple institutions at once, the program takes a broad view of several issues that affect the entire justice and safety sector, such as racial disparities, transparency, legitimacy, and protection of human rights.