The history of reform is littered with against-the-odds policy victories that died on the vine of implementation. Sometimes, the failure to operationalize a rule change derives from a focus on codification, without a sustained movement to consider what critical stakeholders and agencies will actually need to do once the rule is in place. Other times, justice policy reform debates—like many others in an increasingly divided public square—advance by way of extreme positions that are staunchly held by advocates on either side of an issue, leaving policymakers to settle on politically expedient compromises that eschew a coherent framework that would enable the policy change to work. Still other implementation challenges develop accidentally: from unintended consequences of well-intentioned reforms, or longstanding practices that developed over time and without a deliberate policy strategy. What’s missing in all three scenarios is a rigorous discussion of how the goals of any reform movement will be achieved.

Combining the Center for Justice Innovation’s deep understanding of how policy translates to operations with New York Law School’s focus on real-world legal practice, the IJPI is a forum for policymakers, advocates, and practitioners to work together to identify solutions to these kinds of implementation challenges as soon as they are apparent—while legislation is being proposed and refined, before a new rule takes effect, or even after an unexpected challenge has arisen.