Skip to content

Support for North Carolina Communities

The Justice Systems Research Team at the UNC School of Government partners with stakeholders across the criminal justice system to help communities identify and understand challenges, explore potential solutions, and evaluate policy and practice through applied research. Formerly known as the Criminal Justice Innovation Lab, our team continues to fulfill the School of Government’s mission under a new name.

We don’t change the system.
You do.

In partnership with School of Government faculty, we provide support tailored to local needs. Our nonpartisan, nonadvocacy approach focuses on delivering clear, actionable data and analysis to help leaders make informed decisions that strengthen their communities.

We provide technical assistance, evaluation support, and data analysis in the following areas:

  • Case management
  • Indigent Defense
  • Pretrial Systems
  • Policing & Responding
  • Re-Entry

Interested in a partnership? Reach out!

Drive policy
using data

Whether you need to take in the big picture or drill down to a specific offense in a specific county, the Lab provides volumes of real world research and empirical data to help identify problems, innovate solutions, and measure results.

Here are just a few of the surprising numbers our research, data analyses, and projects uncover: 

infographic illustrating that the #1 reason for jail admission in examined NC counties is failure to appear on misdemeanor.
8 out of 10 incidents pick up no new pretrial criminal charges.
82% of 2021 NC criminal charges were for non-violent misdemeanors.

Explore criminal justice metrics

Our interactive Measuring Justice Dashboard lets you explore numerous North Carolina metrics with simple, clear visualizations. 

Compare charging rates by county. Parse pretrial failures by age, race, or incident type. Choose a specific year or a long timeline to identify positive patterns and uncover areas that may need attention. 

Explore our Measuring Justice Dashboard to uncover patterns, evaluate your county, and drill down on specific areas.

Find your focus

Drawing from our extensive toolbox—reports, projects, research, data dashboards, and more—you can innovate, implement, and evaluate policies in these five focus areas:

Pretrial

Helping stakeholders improve pretrial systems

Case Management

Exploring why justice delayed leads to justice denied

Policing & Responding

Keeping communities safe with evidence-based solutions

Scope & Impact

Understanding the scope and impact of our criminal justice system

Re-Entry

Stopping the cycle of re-entry and repeat

Indigent Defense

Honoring constitutional obligations

To explore our work in other focus areas, visit our Resource Library

Up now

Supporting & Evaluating Implementation of a Holistic Defense Model in North Carolina – Final Report
Report
Court Appearance Toolbox

Website
Alternative Responder Programs

Collection
Supporting Criminal Justice Reform
Article

In the news

North Carolina Defenders Explore Bringing Social Workers on Staff

News
Chapel Hill & Orange County Launch ‘Holistic’ Crisis Response Team

News
New Funding from the Kenan Charitable Trust Supports Criminal Justice Innovation Lab’s Work

News
Citing Lab Data—Story About Reducing Arrests through Citations

News

Stay in the loop

Twitter
LinkedIn

“Research, scholarship, and data will help local leaders keep communities safe while honoring the dignity of each person touched by the justice system. We are excited to continue to support UNC’s Criminal Justice Innovation Lab in its mission to help improve public safety and strengthen communities.”

Ryan Stowers, Executive Director, Charles Koch Foundation