Justice agencies are increasingly expected—by policy, legislation, and public accountability—to use evidence-based practices. Yet research is often dense, technical, and difficult to interpret, leaving practitioners unsure what applies to their population, setting, or constraints. As a result, valuable evidence remains inaccessible, misunderstood, or unused. 

Without support to interpret and contextualize research, agencies risk adopting practices that don’t fit their environment or overlooking promising approaches altogether. Translating research into practice ensures that evidence informs real decisions, guides innovation responsibly, and supports targeted strategies grounded in both data and lived reality. 

We help justice agencies make sense of the research landscape and determine what evidence is relevant to their goals, populations, and constraints. This includes identifying what evidence-based practices exist, which groups they were designed to serve, what outcomes they demonstrate, and what implementation requires in real-world settings. 

We also support the ability to understand and evaluate research, helping agencies critically evaluate the strength and limitations of evidence, understand when findings should be interpreted cautiously, and recognize where gaps remain. In some cases, our role is not to push implementation, but to help agencies make informed decisions about whether and how research should guide their next steps. Across this work, we ensure evidence is used thoughtfully, responsibly, and in ways that align with local context, equity goals, and system realities.