A Community Education Partnership

Bridging the Gaps

  A Self-Directed Literature Review

Coordinating the Criminal Justice System: 

A Guide to Improve the Effective Administration of Justice

Leslie J. Smith

Though the book reflects its original publication era, the foundational principles remain relevant and integral to contemporary criminal justice practices in the 21st century. It was designed to help students, educators, system executives, and government officials understand how a justice system should function through coordinated, interdependent components.

The U.S. criminal justice system is fragmented, as it addresses criminal behavior through various separate and uncoordinated processes. I believe that the effectiveness of the criminal justice system should be assessed collectively across all its components, rather than in isolation. Constitutional independence among the legislative, judicial, and executive branches should never be used to justify fragmented planning or poor outcomes. Effective justice requires shared principles and active participation from the community, law enforcement, the judiciary, prosecution, corrections, victims, treatment providers, and educators. Many states have already demonstrated the value of such collaboration.

This guide offers a clear, step‑by‑step framework for building coordinated local justice processes—especially useful for new criminal justice coordinators and planners—and helps bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary approaches to criminal justice planning.

Leslie J. Smith

🢒Electronic Book Addendum

Section II 

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Notable  Quotes and References 

“It needs more technical resources. It needs more coordination among its many parts. It needs more public support. It needs the help of community programs.”  Addressing the necessary improvements needed within the American criminal justice system,  The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society, 1967

“You cannot police a community that you do not know.” Charles Ramsey — Former Commissioner, Philadelphia PD; Former Chief, D.C. Metro PD; Co‑Chair, President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing

"The great irony of the past 50 years of U.S. criminal justice policy is that we could not have intentionally designed and built a better recidivism machine than the one we have." W.R. Kelly Ph.D

"We must try to bridge the gap between skepticism about rehabilitation and improper refusal to acknowledge that the more than two million inmates in the United States are human beings whose minds and spirits we must try to reach." Justice Anthony Kennedy 

“Save Jail Space for the Dangerous." - Governor Chris Christie.

"By targeting the most serious offenses, prosecuting the most dangerous criminals, directing assistance to crime ‘hot spots,’ and pursuing new ways to promote public safety, deterrence, efficiency, and fairness – we can become both smarter and tougher on crime.” Attorney General Eric Holder

“Gang violence is connected to bullying is connected to school violence is connected to intimate partner violence is connected to child abuse is connected to elder abuse. It’s all connected.” Deborah Prothrow-Stith, MD, Harvard School of Public Health

“The cradle‑to‑prison pipeline is one of the greatest threats to American democracy.” Marian Wright Edelman LL.B., Yale Law School Founder, Children’s Defense Fund

"The criminal justice system in a social justice society would look very different from the current system." Marsha Weissman, Ph.D., and Founding Director, Center for Community Alternatives

"Decaying cities, declining economies, and mounting social troubles travel together. The combination is not coincidental.” Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities 

"Neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.” C. Wright Mills, Ph.D. University of Wisconsin 

Do we care and don’t know, or know and don’t care?” Sheriff Tom Dart of Cook County, Illinois: Referring to the collapse of the community mental health infrastructure

 "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prison." Fyodor Dostoevsky, Author, Journalist & Public Intellectual

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🢒Council on Criminal Justice

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 A Community Education Partnership 

This blog promotes collaborative, self-directed learning among community members, justice system practitioners, and educators dedicated to constitutional policing, public safety, and community-centered reform. Each resource is designed to enhance the collective understanding of the criminal justice system, foster informed public dialogue, and develop practical skills for evidence-based, community-driven change.

New Criminal Justice Values Cost Less Than Building Jails and Produce  Better Results

Leslie J. Smith

Criminal Justice System Solutions

Ljssmith100@gmail.com:

 817.994.8851