An important part of learning how the criminal justice system works is learning how it works (or does not work) from the people most affected by it. Most of our projects include interviews with people who are on probation or parole or who are serving time in prison. The perspectives of people working in and affected by the criminal justice system often result in the most impactful policy recommendations.

Robina does not approach issues with pre-determined solutions. Instead, we take time to learn about how the criminal justice system works in each jurisdiction and develop unique policy solutions that can achieve meaningful change within the context of each system.

Much of Robina’s work involves research in areas that were previously taken for granted, such as how each state counts criminal history in its sentencing guidelines or the differing parole releasing policies and practices in each state. Our works brings to light the laws, policies, and practices governing these previously unexplored areas, and provides comparative analysis to better understand the impact of different policy choices on outcomes such as the size and composition of prison populations.

Our goal with every research project is to engage in meaningful research to affect policy and practice. We do not do research for research’s sake. Instead, we strive to distribute our work broadly, make the findings understandable so they can be used in practice, and engage practitioners and policymakers in dialogue about the implications of our research for building evidence-based criminal justice policies and practices.