Criminal Justice System Project Summary of Evaluation Findings: Critical Components for Successful Criminal Justice System Planning, Executive Summary

The 3-year Criminal Justice Systems Project (CJSP), begun in January 1997, was established to develop an effective system of correctional sanctions. The project was sponsored and supported by the National Institute of Corrections, the National Institute of Justice, and the Corrections Program Office. An evaluation of the CJSP was designed to assess the utility and effectiveness of the CJSP process in the demonstration sites. The evaluation includes data gathered from visits to project sites, review of project documents from each site, discussions with site coordinators and with the lead local person in each site, and analysis of a survey on collaboration. The evaluation discusses recommendations in the following phases: (1) site selection; (2) formation of the policy team; (3) start-up; (4) information gathering; (5) planning; (6) maintaining momentum; and (7) creating the capacity to implement change.