Council on Criminal Justice: The State of Crime and Justice – Year-End Insights

In 2025, U.S. criminal justice policy shifted considerably under President Trump, marked by expanded federal authority, Department of Justice restructuring, grant cancellations, and the deployment of the National Guard. Some states followed his enforcement-oriented approach while others stuck to their longstanding efforts to reduce incarceration and reform bail practices. 

Meanwhile, the rate of reported violent crime, which spiked during the first years of the pandemic and began dropping in 2022, continued to fall through the first three quarters of the year and sparked deep disagreements about the reasons for the reduction. These actions and discussions have made 2025 a year of major political and structural change. 

Join leaders from the Council on Criminal Justice Centering Justice project and other experts for a discussion on what the criminal justice field faced in 2025 and what we might expect in 2026. 

Centering Justice 

Centering Justice engages a diverse range of the nation’s top thinkers and doers in an ongoing, ideologically vibrant conversation about criminal justice policy. The initiative strives to bring light rather than heat to the most vexing criminal justice issues of our time. It is led by two senior CCJ staff members who are among the most widely recognized and respected voices on the right and left of the criminal justice conversation, Marc Levin and Khalil Cumberbatch. To learn more about Centering Justice, please visit: https://counciloncj.org/centering-justice/ 
 
To join the Centering Justice email list, please visit: http://eepurl.com/iHtQ7Q 
 
Council on Criminal Justice 
The Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) is a nonpartisan think tank and invitational membership organization that advances understanding of the criminal justice policy choices facing the nation and builds consensus for solutions that enhance safety and justice for all.