Enhancing Kentucky’s Criminal Justice System

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By JohnPosted In: Charity ActivityTagged: , , ,

LMPDJoining with the Louisville Metro Government, the Laura and John Arnold Foundation recently designed tools and piloted innovations and test systems reforms.  It was hoped that this would make the criminal justice system more efficient and cost-effective while increasing public safety.  Initially data was assembled from system agencies and then analyzed in an attempt to “identify potential pre-trial interventions for implementation.”  To make it more efficient pre-trial programs are being run.

One way of better sharing information through agencies and partners is through the development of technology applications.  It is hoped that this will decrease processing times.  A court notification system might be set up to remind defendants of court dates.  If they are not appearing in court, workloads could be decreased. It is hoped that once the pilot is finished, the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) will have be able to access the data analysis, gaining a better understanding of all operations.  In addition, law enforcement initiatives could be targeted; changes to policy could be identified and training in general could be enhanced.

Indeed, it is believed that such analytics, data and technology can be used to enhance all parts of the criminal justice system. Already throughout the country police departments have been setting up similar activities which have significantly helped law enforcement officers more efficiently deal with crime.  There is much more to be done, but this integrated approach set out by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, is a good start.  It has been suggested that the improvements encountered in Louisville can serve as templates for changes throughout the US, such as decreasing the problem of overcrowding in prisons; testing electronic monitoring supervision; studying court processing teams and more.

Interactive Database of Laws

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The first ever interactive database of pretrial justice based laws for all 50 states is being put together by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation (LJAF).  In recent news, the third phase (of this four-part project) has been completed.  The subjects covered are pretrial detention and diversion.  Materials assembled complement the ones that have already been released to date that provide summaries of statutes on related topics including: release conditions, pretrial risk assessments and more.

According to Vice President of Criminal Justice at LJAF, Anne Milgram, “using the resources developed through this project, states can learn from one another as legislators focus on these vital issues.”   While the LJAF funded the project, it was implemented by the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL). To date, research has shown that many states have been attempting to reduce pretrial detention and offer alternatives to detention where possible.

It is hoped that the project will ultimately help jurisdictions find ways to improve pretrial justice.  Using the resources will give lawmakers and criminal justice practitioners access to the current legal framework while providing reform opportunities.

The Giving Library

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By JohnPosted In: Charity in BusinessTagged: , ,

library-1In August 2012, together with his wife Linda, John Arnold launched The Giving Library.  This $4m project is a collection of videos featuring the works of 250 charities.  The idea is that philanthropists can use the data from the Library to facilitate learning what they need to know about the nonprofits.  The Giving Library was launched because when Linda and John Arnold started their philanthropic journey, they found it challenging to figure out which nonprofits were most worthy and in need of support.  Spending so much time on searches and meeting with executive directors is not necessarily the most efficient use of everyone’s time so once they had done it, they developed this resource to save others’ time.

Until the Giving Library was established, most philanthropists were only able to access details from a few worthy organizations.  Thus foundation executive directors had to spend way too much time on fundraising.  As Laura Arnold explained, “we saw a need to create more efficiency in the system to have a more organized vision of receiving and processing information on nonprofits.” John added, “we started to do our own research, trying to go to websites to read about nonprofits. We realized we got much more insight by speaking to the founder. If you have significant resources, it’s worth their time to sit down and meet a particular funder but that’s not always practical for the majority of funder or nonprofits.”

The Arnolds thus took it upon themselves to film the work of worthy organizations and made the short documentaries Internet accessible so that these people could tell their stories and reach a much larger audience. They also sent letters to nonprofits – any organization that they had received confirmation was a legitimate nonprofit.  They then began working with some of these places to help them improve their scripts.  This is an ongoing project which has already helped save a lot of time of many willing philanthropists.