Criminal Justice

The SPARQ Solutions Catalog is an online library of scientifically tested fixes to a wide variety of social issues and conflicts.

Easily searchable and practitioner-focused, it provides a curated set of evidence-based behavioral nudges in education, health, law & justice, peace & conflict, relationships, parenting, and the environment.

Civil Society Conflict Resolution Criminal Justice Economic Development Education Environment Health Parenting Relationships

Slash Suspensions With Empathy

Teacher sitting in front of classroom full of students

Problem: School suspensions set students up to enter the school-to-prison pipeline, leading to unemployment and incarceration later in life (Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology).

Solution: Taking an empathetic, rather than punitive, approach to classroom discipline reduces suspensions and improves student-teacher relationships.

Criminal Justice, Education, Relationships

Practice Reduces Prejudice

Problem: Although Black men make up only 6% of the U.S. population, they are the victims of 40% of unarmed fatal police shootings.

Solution: Training people not to rely on Black stereotypes can save lives.

Bias, Criminal Justice

Diverse Juries Make Better Decisions

Problem: Racial disparities in the justice system disproportionately affect Black people.

Solution: Juries make better decisions when they’re racially diverse.

Bias, Civil Society, Criminal Justice

Belief in Change Reduces Bullying

Problem: Rejection by peers leads teens to act aggressively and feel down.

Solution: Teaching teens that everyone has the capacity to change decreases aggression and symptoms of depression following peer exclusion. If people can change, so too can social labels like “bully” and “loser".

^{Conflict Resolution, Criminal Justice, Education}

Seeing Diversity Lessens Discrimination

A poster of people's faces with the caption: "What makes us the same...is that we are all different."

Problem: Prejudice and discrimination make life hard for many people around the world.

Solution: Showing that other groups are made up of diverse individuals reduces prejudice and discrimination.

Bias, Conflict Resolution, Criminal Justice, Education