Early into the COVID-19 pandemic, Miller & Blumstein (2020) outlined a theoretical research program (TRP) oriented around themes of contagion control and containment, legal amnesty, system leniency, nonenforcement, and tele-justice. Here, two and a half years later, these lingering themes are revisited to advocate for empirical research informing criminal justice system reform. The pandemic created rare natural experiment research conditions that enable unique and potentially valuable insights on necessitated innovations that may indicate future justice practices and policies. Given the sweeping effects of the shutdown, examples are numerous ranging from staffing analyses to estimate agencies’ personnel needs to ensure that basic public safety functions can be met after early retirements and resignations from virus risk and anti-police sentiment, the use of virtual communication in various legal proceedings at arrest, incarceration, and release junctures, and, especially, the risks versus benefits of early release. In addition to better identifying who should be jailed pre-trial, prioritization of calls for service, triaging of court cases, and hygiene and sanitation issues within facilities are other important examples central to a COVID and crime TRP. Attending research could demonstrate the utility of normative operations and identify shortfalls to be addressed during anomic conditions prior to another shutdown or similar event and present, through comparison of innovative and traditional derived outcomes, system reform and improvement opportunities. By seizing upon rare data made possible by natural experimental COVID generated conditions, researchers can meaningfully investigate the ongoing applicability of justice system adaptations mandated by the pandemic in terms of effectiveness and efficiency toward the interrelated goals of evidence-based practice discovery and justice reform.

在 COVID-19 大流行初期，Miller 和 Blumstein（2020 年）概述了一个围绕传染控制和遏制、法律特赦、系统宽大处理、非执法和远程司法等主题的理论研究计划 (TRP)。两年半后，这里重新审视了这些挥之不去的主题，以倡导为刑事司法系统改革提供信息的实证研究。大流行创造了罕见的自然实验研究条件，使人们能够对可能指示未来司法实践和政策的必要创新产生独特且具有潜在价值的见解。鉴于关闭的广泛影响，例子很多，从人员配置分析到估计机构的人员需求，以确保在提前退休和因病毒风险和反警察情绪而辞职后能够满足基本的公共安全职能，在逮捕、监禁的各种法律程序中使用虚拟通信和发布时间点，尤其是提前发布的风险与收益。除了更好地确定谁应该在审前入狱外，服务呼叫的优先顺序、法庭案件的分类以及设施内的卫生和卫生问题是 COVID 和犯罪 TRP 的其他重要示例。参加研究可以证明规范操作的效用，并确定在另一次关闭或类似事件之前的失常情况下要解决的不足，并提出，通过比较创新和传统衍生成果、系统改革和改进机会。通过利用自然实验 COVID 产生的条件所提供的稀有数据，研究人员可以有意义地调查大流行病要求的司法系统适应在有效性和效率方面对循证实践发现和司法改革的相互关联目标的持续适用性。