Two counties in Wisconsin, Eau Claire and Milwaukee, along with Mesa County, Colorado will be proceeding to the implementation phase of  NIC’s Evidence Based Decision Making Program.  The purpose of this program, since initiation in June of 2008, is to equip criminal justice policymakers in local communities with the information, processes, and tools that will result in measurable reductions of pretrial misconduct and post-conviction reoffending.

Selected from a pool of seven seed site candidates in Phase II, the three grantees will be working from the framework outlined in “A Framework for Evidence-Based Decision Making in Local Criminal Justice System (“the Framework”).  In phase III the selected sites will fully implement the Framework and participate in a long-term process and outcome evaluation to measure the impact the implementation of the principles of the framework had on the reduction in community harm.

Being a member of the Phase III program is seen as an opportunity to make a difference.  Quoting Eau Claire County Judge Michael Schumacher from the SuperiorTelegram online.  “It’s huge,” he says, “It (the Program) is a systematic change from the point of arrest through charging, court appearances, through probation and parole and incarceration or prison or otherwise, from one point to another.”

For more information, visit www.nicic.gov/EBDM.