Justice Systems

AIR, through our work in justice, believes that evidence-based and practice-informed solutions can address root causes of harm and promote safer communities where all community members can thrive. Our work spans the justice continuum—from prevention to intervention and reentry—and embeds community-based, restorative, developmentally appropriate, and culturally responsive approaches.

Our Work

AIR’s justice experts bring decades of interdisciplinary experience in the social and behavioral sciences both conducting rigorous mixed-methods and participatory research and evaluation, while promoting evidence-based solutions. Through our evidence-based technical assistance, we support partners to build capacity to transform policies and systems. We partner with federal, state, and local government agencies, community-based nonprofit and law enforcement organizations, and foundations.

AIR's Work at the Local, State, and Federal Levels

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Key Work

Youth Reentry Technical Assistance Center (YRTAC)

Thousands of youth return to communities from detention, state secure care facilities, and adult prisons each year in our country. The reentry outcomes can be as varied as the the youth themselves. The Youth Reentry Training and Technical Assistance Center (YRTAC), administered by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), supports capacity building efforts among 50+ Second Chance Act Reentry grantees. YRTAC develops peer-to-peer learning activities and delivers events that focus on trauma-informed care, pre-release programming and skill development, post-release aftercare programming, community engagement, positive youth development, recidivism reduction strategies, family engagement, and public safety.

Police Use of Force: Barriers and Effective Solutions to Reform

AIR is working to better understand the fast-changing landscape on effective police use-of-force interventions, as well as to codify the broadly conceived barriers and solutions to systemic abatement of inappropriate use of force disproportionately affecting low-income Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities. AIR reviewed the existing quantitative literature on the impact of use of force interventions, legal research concerning limitations of existing policy and how they may be addressed, and policy briefs published by community and national organizations working to reimagine traditional approaches to public safety.
Read the resulting brief.

Evaluation of the Neighborhood Opportunity and Accountability Board (NOAB)

Restorative diversion programs promote accountability by engaging community members to holistically increase community safety. Through the generous funding of the AIR Equity Initiative, AIR is evaluating a point-of-arrest restorative diversion program—The National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform’s NOAB in Richmond and Oakland, California. AIR will implement Youth Participatory Action Research and collaborate with young people with lived experience in the justice system. Together, we will disseminate findings that inform community-based diversion programs about strategies to best engage youth and their communities to implement contextually relevant and restorative solutions.

Justice Equity Fellowship

People who were previously incarcerated have disproportionately been excluded from education and workforce opportunities upon their release from incarceration. Funded by the AIR Equity Initiative, AIR is developing a 12-month part-time Justice Equity Fellowship for individuals directly impacted by the justice system. The Fellowship aims to advance employment opportunities in research and technical assistance positions, in addition to advancing AIR’s organizational learning and development to create a more inclusive workforce.
Contact us for more information.

National Reentry Resource Center (NRRC)

The National Reentry Resource Center (operated by AIR from 2019-2023) supports the provision of a comprehensive response to the adults and juveniles who leave prisons, jails and juvenile residential facilities and return to their communities with support from the Second Chance Act. AIR’s approach with NRRC aimed to go beyond fulfilling the technical requirement of maintaining a website and providing links to SCA grantees. Through the Corrections and Community Engagement Technical Assistance Center (CCETAC), AIR provided technical assistance to grantees using the tools and resources of the NRRC and facilitates a community of practice that shares and replicates best, evidence-based practices for reentry.