Equitable implementation works to address cultural, systemic, and structural norms that privilege some groups over others. For criminal justice-behavioral health initiatives, equitable implementation involves reviewing key data points and assessing the initiative for racial equity in both process and outcomes on an ongoing basis. As many Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) initiatives observed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, communities may find that their interventions work to achieve one goal (in this case, reducing jail populations) but do not advance another (reducing racial disparities). Alternatively, some programs may have begun without an explicit racial equity focus but recognize a need for one as disparities persist or emerge. And other initiatives may have started strongly with a commitment to equity, but a shifting political climate, leadership and staffing changes, or other factors can cause momentum to stall. Addressing persistent inequities in your initiative can be challenging and requires humility and flexibility to adjust strategies as needed. The work of racial equity is slow, rarely linear, and often challenging, so most initiatives will encounter stops and starts, need to amend plans and goals, or find themselves shifting strategies. Communities in it for the long haul must celebrate small wins while working steadfastly towards long-term racial equity goals.

Strategies to Consider

• Assess the initiative’s racial equity impact and recommend course corrections. Several racial equity tools that can be used at any point in an initiative’s lifecycle are available for public use. The Government Alliance on Race and Equity developed a racial equity toolkit specifically for government staff, elected officials, and other community-based organizations that is customizable for local needs.¹ Other communities have created their own racial equity tools.² Many communities engage an external evaluator to lead this work with an objective lens.

• Schedule regular informal check-ins to assess racial equity in process and outcomes. Intentionally set aside time to bring an equity lens to quality assurance across the program. Consider posing questions from this guide to cross-systems stakeholders at each checkpoint.

• Create opportunities for people with lived experience of the justice system—including program partners, participants, and steering committee members—to provide meaningful feedback on the initiative. 

• Employ humility and willingness to make changes if strategies result in persistent or increasing disparities. It’s never too late to employ strategies from the Exploratory and Planning phases.

• Develop internal guidance and regular, repeated training to increase consistency across key decision points (such as arrests, access to diversion, and sentencing).