Safe and Secure and Humane: Opportunities for the Future of Justice System Reform

Salzburg Global Seminar launched the Global Innovations on Youth Violence, Safety and Justice initiative on the premise that serial failures to redress social, legal, and economic injustice and structural racism underpin violence and disproportionally shape politics, policing, and judicial systems around the world. Yet bold reforms in different jurisdictions suggest that cross-cutting interventions can be cost-effective and foster more humane, inclusive, and healthier societies.

What can we learn, share, and take to scale for long-term results? Where the justice system has not provided safety and security, what sort of reform would be necessary to achieve this?

Throughout 2021, five interlocking working groups (meeting virtually, due to the pandemic) have provided rich discussions (summarized in this report). We have looked for points of intervention and big, potentially transformative ideas that could help shape the future of criminal justice systems. This in-person program will allow Fellows to meet each other for the first time, to allow cross-group synergies and to share experiences and insights. Sharing experiences across borders opens examples of systemic changes that might be adapted in other contexts. We will look in particular for opportunities for further action and next steps on the ground.

Date

May 14 - May 19, 2022

Session no.

S763-01

Location

Schloss Leopoldskron, Salzburg, Austria

Contact

Charles Ehrlich

Director, Peace and Justice

Nabil Saad

Davidson Impact Fellow

Content overview

Format Participants Staff Partners

Format

The in-person program will be highly interactive and structured around a mix of thought-provoking presentations, curated conversations, informal interactions, knowledge exchange, and practical group work. The process seeks to combine theory, policy, and practice across sectoral silos, opening up new perspectives and opportunities. Participants will also work intensively in focus groups, allowing for in-depth group work on key issues.

This meeting is primarily intended for Fellows who were active in the 2021 working groups.

In addition, we welcome policy leaders and innovators to get in touch and join us as we expand the initiative’s reach and impact this year and in the future. We would in particular seek those public officials who are in instrumental positions to implement reforms and who are seeking ideas that could be adapted for their own jurisdictions.

Through this initiative, Salzburg Global Seminar seeks to bring together a diverse, cross-sector, international, inter-generational cohort of participants including:

Community representatives and activists
Educators
Social entrepreneurs and activists
Public health leaders
Artists and cultural creators
Public officials and policymakers
Judges and prosecutors
Public safety personnel including police, prison governors, and probation officers
Formerly incarcerated persons
Academics and researchers
Media/communications innovators

Participation will be inclusive and non-transactional, using an iterative process that can engage thought leaders, practitioners, people with experience of incarceration, victims, and others with unique perspectives who are identified as the initiative evolves. We actively seek to include members of communities facing racial, ethnic, economic, and other forms of structural injustice.