The Issue

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The U.S. criminal justice (CJ) system is unprepared to address the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation. Very few CJ agencies have taken any action to remedy–or even to acknowledge–the many ways these crises intersect and harm public safety, public health, equity, and the occupational health and safety of their personnel.

The Action Lab’s new Climate and Public Safety (CAPS) initiative was created to fill this void. Our goals are to map the intersections; build a community of practice featuring CJ leaders and personnel, policymakers, scholars, community stakeholders, and advocates; translate and disseminate the existing research base; conduct and facilitate original research; and collect and develop tools that policymakers and agency leaders can use in order to mitigate and adapt to these intertwining challenges in ways that improve public safety, public health, resilience, and thriving among CJ personnel and the communities they serve.

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