Our Work

Discover how we're building better justice for D.C.

For over 40 years, CCE has led a variety of projects to improve the D.C. courts, as well as our civil, criminal, and youth justice systems. Learn more about how we do our work.

Our Strategies

Convene

CCE convenes diverse stakeholders to address the District’s most pressing justice issues and seek consensus.

Evaluate

CCE evaluates laws and policies through research to make data-driven recommendations for reform.

Advocate

CCE fights for legal reforms, new policies, system improvements, and more to advance equitable change.

Educate

CCE educates and empowers community members whose lives are impacted by the legal system.

The Need

In D.C., 1 in 7adults have a criminal record, and 1 in 22 people are under some form of correctional supervision on any given day.

While Black people make up 47% of D.C.’s population, they are 86% of the people arrested, 90% of those jailed, and 95% of those in prison.

Students of color in D.C. Public Schools are nearly 15 times more likely to be disciplined than white students.

In 2017, 97% of litigants in small estates matters lacked counsel and the majority of those were people of color.

Our Tactics

CCE has ambitious goals and a wide range of issue areas. To advance progress in so many areas, we utilize a wide range of programmatic tools including: