Regional Priorities

During the 2008 National Forum conference attendees from each region met to discuss what they believed were the most pressing issues, concerns and priorities they faced as criminal justice decision-makers and practitioners. NCJA and others use the priorities developed in these sessions to guide their work throughout the course of the year. View a paper detailing the work NCJA did based upon the 2007 priorities.

Following is a list of the top three issues each region identified for 2008. In addition, NCJA has created a paper exploring these priorities in greater detail. To view this paper, click here.

Northeast

1. Culture of urban violent crime (guns, younger shooters, the stop snitching movement, etc.)

2. Reentry, including community-based wraparound services

3. General crime prevention

South

1. Criminal justice strategic planning

2. Offender reentry

3. Gangs

Midwest

1. Funding

2. Development and evaluation of evidence based policy that emphasizes best practices

3. Gangs and gun violence

West

1. Decreasing federal funding

2. Information sharing (NDex, inaccurate records, quality, etc.)

3. Recidvisim and reentry issues