Justice Innovation Lab Marks Five Years of Partnership in Charleston

Earlier this month, we returned to Charleston, South Carolina — the birthplace of their first major partnership with the Ninth Circuit Solicitor's Office (SOL9). The visit marked five years of collaboration aimed at building a fairer, more effective justice system.

The partnership has achieved significant victories, including reducing unnecessary incarceration, improving case processing efficiencies, decreasing recidivism, and saving taxpayer dollars.

Standing alongside Charleston partners, Justice Innovation Lab shared a milestone that demonstrates tangible progress: when the work began, it was taking 67 days longer to remove inadequate cases for Black arrestees than for White arrestees. Today, that disparity has been eliminated — representing measurable, lasting change with deeply human impact.

Five Years of Transformation

When the partnership began in 2020, it started with a fundamental question: How can data make justice more fair and more effective?

Five years later, the results speak for themselves. The collaboration has conducted deep-dive analyses that revealed the roots of unfair outcomes, co-designed a new case intake process that's improving justice delivery while saving taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars, and demonstrated how small targeted interventions can create large positive impacts.

"My goal has always been to make the justice system more fair and effective," said Solicitor Scarlett Wilson after the workshop. "Working with Justice Innovation Lab has helped us develop strategies geared toward better outcomes for our community."

Building Understanding Through Dialogue

During the Charleston visit, Justice Innovation Lab met with newly hired SOL9 attorneys to explore how data and systems thinking can illuminate the daily tensions prosecutors face — and how understanding those tensions can lead to better, fairer decisions.

The team also hosted an Impacted Voices session with participants from Turn90, a partner organization. Four community members shared how their experiences with the criminal legal system shaped their lives and neighborhoods, transforming data points into people and statistics into stories.

"We don't usually get the chance to see defendants as people," one prosecutor reflected afterward — a moment of recognition that underscores the importance of this work.

By the end of the workshop, attorneys were breaking into teams, identifying new challenges, and designing next-generation solutions, demonstrating how reflection leads to action.

Expanding the Impact

What began as an effort to make Charleston's justice system incrementally fairer has exceeded initial expectations. The partnership has not only changed systems but transformed mindsets, and other jurisdictions are taking notice.

This week, Justice Innovation Lab heads to Nashville, Tennessee for its first Prosecution Innovation Accelerator, bringing together six new jurisdictions ready to transform their own communities. The movement is expanding, driven by belief in a smarter, more human justice system.

The work continues to prove that innovation in the justice system can produce improved outcomes for communities and beyond.