The National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) is a Washington, D.C. based organization that represents a variety of local, state, and tribal governments on crime prevention and control issues.
The organization primarily works as a public policy liaison that promotes understanding of the best criminal justice practices between federal and state governments.
The NCJA believes that crime victims must be treated with fairness, respect and dignity, and have any further harm from their involvement in the justice system prevented.
Juvenile Justice practices should strengthen families, support core social institutions, provide strategic investments for proven prevention strategies, and should be able to effectively intervene when delinquency occurs.
"Because most incarcerated offenders eventually return to local communities, their failure to remain crime free often threatens public safety.
According to the NCJA there is a critical need for all public safety agencies to collect, analyze, and share information involving criminal justice data and trends.
As recommendations to the justice system, the NCJA says that "early identification and treatment, law enforcement and correctional officer training, provision of housing, adequate discharge medication amounts, and standardized assessment and diagnostic tools" are necessary for inmates who are mentally ill.[7] Policy makers, law enforcement, and mental health providers should work together to determine what practices and methods of implementation are most effective in dealing with mentally ill inmates.
The primary role of the NCJA in public policy is as a liaison between federal and state, local, and tribal government for criminal justice issues.
Expressing state, local, and tribal concerns to the federal government to prevent and reduce the harmful effects of criminal and delinquent behavior is a part of its mission statement.