Report
Community Engagement Crime January 9, 2025
Shaping local narratives through persuasion testing and digital ads
Public sentiment around crime and safety can pivot on a dime. The issues are deeply personal and emotional, making them highly prone to weaponization. People become particularly susceptible to fearmongering when communities experience or even perceive increases in crime rates or a decline in their quality of life. As a result, efforts to change local criminal justice systems—from alternatives to policing, diversion programs, and bail reform to reentry programs, housing solutions, and mental health services—often operate on the back foot.
This dynamic emerged in full force in the post-pandemic era, including during the 2022 and 2024 election cycles. A narrative of diminishing public safety took hold in cities and counties across the country, blaming criminal justice reform broadly—along with the elected officials connected to it—for increases in crime, violence, and disorder, whether real or perceived.
In response, extensive public opinion and message research has emerged from leaders in the justice field to counter “tough-oncrime” rhetoric, talk affirmatively about safety, and foster ongoing support for criminal justice reforms. This playbook offers a practical tool to translate available research into narrative execution at the local level. It is intended to inform local action where too many efforts to protect or advance changes to criminal justice systems and related noncarceral outcomes have been delayed or altogether lost.
