The Justice Policy Project is a research initiative housed at the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy at Dartmouth College. The Project engages faculty and students in collecting, analyzing, and sharing knowledge about the justice system, public policy, and legal institutions. We aim to produce rigorous, empirically grounded research that advances understanding of how legal institutions serve the public while fostering experiential learning and research impact alike.

The Project builds upon a long tradition of research about and in partnership with the judiciary at Dartmouth. We invite you to review past Dartmouth work on pertinent legal topics in New Hampshire, Vermont, and states throughout the country.

The Project is committed to research that is independent, nonpartisan, and conducted in accordance with the highest standards of academic integrity and human subjects protection.

The Federal Court Programs Study

This study is one of the first systematic efforts to understand how and where particular court programs (i.e., problem-solving courts and pretrial diversion programs) emerge across the federal judiciary, and to understand the institutional factors that shape their development.

Understanding how federal courts work requires hearing directly from the individuals involved with them. Throughout the study, stakeholders including judges, U.S. Attorneys, Federal Defenders, U.S. Pretrial and Probation Services, and non-profit organizations will be engaged.

The study is conducted by Dr. Elizabeth G. Pfeffer, Principal Investigator, with Postgraduate Policy Fellow JJ Dega, Co-Investigator. It has been reviewed and approved by the Dartmouth College Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects (STUDY00033807).

Court Survey

The study’s main survey—launching in 2026—invites participation from all federal district court and magistrate judges across the 94 U.S. federal districts.

Federal judges occupy a unique vantage point in the U.S. legal system. Judges often simultaneously oversee program operations, agency relationships, and case outcomes, making their perspectives on court programs institutionally comprehensive. This survey gives judges across the U.S. an opportunity to share those perspectives.

If you are a federal judge who has received a survey invitation and have questions about the study, please visit the Study FAQ page or contact the research team at Justice.Policy.Project@dartmouth.edu.

If you are a federal judge and would like to participate in an interview, please use the form below.

Additional Interviews and Engagement

If you work in the offices of the U.S. Attorneys, Federal Defenders, or U.S. Pretrial and Probation Services, or work in a related field, and would like to participate in the project, please use the form below. 

You may also consult our Study FAQ page about interviews.