This study, funded as part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems for Action research program, will assess the feasibility of implementing a community co-designed initiative that integrates health, social, public safety, and justice services under a single local government umbrella agency. The initiative focuses on improving the health, safety, and wellbeing of communities harmed by systemic racism and to reduce involvement in the criminal legal system.

Involvement with the criminal justice system increases markedly during the transition from youth to adulthood in the United States. Providing targeted services and supports to vulnerable emerging adults during this transition may be an effective way of reducing the conditions and behaviors that lead to incarceration and its adverse health effects. The research team led by Texas A&M University uses a randomized trial to test the effectiveness of the Transformative Justice (TJ) program in reducing criminal justice recidivism and improving health outcomes by coordinating health and social services for justice-involved young adults.