Justice Policy Institute

The Justice Policy Institute is a non-profit communications, research and public policy organization that promotes sensible policy reforms in the juvenile and criminal justice systems that provides, as the primary strategic communications organization for Models for Change, a variety of communications-related services to Models for Change grantees to help secure and sustain change, broadly diffuse learning and innovations, and promote interest in juvenile justice reform nationally. It will use this grant to continue to maintain and enhance the Models for Change initiative website, communicate about the activities of the initiative’s partners, and produce newsletters and publications that support initiative goals.

The Justice Policy Institute - an independent research, public policy, and communications organization promoting policy reforms in juvenile and criminal justice - is the Models for Change initiative’s primary strategic communications organization, providing communications-related services to initiative partners to help secure and sustain change, broadly diffuse learning and innovations, and promote interest in juvenile justice reform nationally. It will use this grant to continue to maintain and enhance the Models for Change website archiving the initiative’s learning and achievements; and work with the Models for Change Resource Center Partnership to use strategic communications and social media to promote nationwide juvenile justice reform.

The Justice Policy Institute—an independent research, public policy, and communications organization dedicated to reducing society’s reliance on incarceration and promoting sensible policy reforms in the juvenile and criminal justice systems—is the primary strategic communications organization in Models for Change, providing a variety of communications-related services in support of grantee efforts to secure and sustain change, broadly diffuse learning and innovations, and promote interest in juvenile justice reform nationally. It will use this grant to continue to maintain and enhance the Models for Change website, provide strategic communications assistance to grantee partners, and produce newsletters and publications in support of initiative goals.

The Cooler Bandits is a documentary film about incarceration, reentry, and sentencing policies. It is the story of four friends who were given decades-long prison sentences for a string of robberies in 1991. The film picks up their story as three of the four men are released on parole after serving twenty years. It shows them trying to build a new life in a changed world that they must navigate as felons. The Cooler Bandits is produced and directed by Julie Janata and John Lucas, and executive produced by the Justice Policy Institute.

The Justice Policy Institute, an independent research, public policy, and communications organization dedicated to reducing incarceration and promoting juvenile and criminal justice policy reforms, provides communications-related services for the Models for Change initiative as part of its National Resource Bank. It will use this grant to continue to provide strategic communications assistance to the initiative’s partners, maintain and enhance the initiative’s website, and produce publications to support initiative goals, to help educate political leaders and the public about Models for Change, promote broader interest in juvenile justice reform, and diffuse the initiative’s innovations to other states and localities.