Background In early 2013, Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter, Chief Justice Roger Burdick, Senate President Pro Tempore Brent Hill, and House Speaker Scott Bedke requested support from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance [...]
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Work in the States: Pennsylvania
Governor Tom Corbett signs Pennsylvania’s Justice Reinvestment Bill on October 25. -
Work in the States: Ohio
Governor John Kasich sign's Ohio's Justice Reinvestment bill into law on June 29. -
Work in the States: Hawaii
Governor Abercrombie addresses the initial meeting of the state's Justice Reinvestment working group. -
National Summit & Report
The summit and report on justice reinvestment that addresses recidivism, crime and correction spending.
Work in the States: Pennsylvania
Governor Tom Corbett signs Pennsylvania’s Justice Reinvestment Bill on October 25.
Justice reinvestment is a data-driven approach to improve public safety, reduce corrections and related criminal justice spending, and reinvest savings in strategies that can decrease crime and strengthen neighborhoods. The purpose of justice reinvestment is to manage and allocate criminal justice populations more cost-effectively, generating savings that can be reinvested in evidence-based strategies that increase public safety while holding offenders accountable. States and localities engaging in justice reinvestment collect and analyze data on drivers of criminal justice populations and costs, identify and implement changes to increase efficiencies, and measure both the fiscal and public safety impacts of those changes. This section is intended for state policymakers, criminal justice practitioners, and other stakeholders responsible for determining corrections and sentencing policies.
The justice reinvestment project is in the process of identifying other states to add to the select number of jurisdictions receiving technical assistance to pursue justice reinvestment strategies.
Publications
Lessons from the States: Reducing Recidivism and Curbing Corrections Costs Through Justice Reinvestment
Over the past 20 years, state spending on corrections has skyrocketed—from $12 billion in 1988 to more than $52 billion in 2011.1 Declining state revenues and other fiscal factors are putting a serious strain on many states’ criminal justice systems, often [...]
Kansas: Third Working Group Meeting Presentation
Justice Reinvestment in Oklahoma: Strengthening Supervision and Reinvesting in Efforts to Reduce Violent Crime
To download a PDF of this publication, click here.
Justice Reinvestment in Hawaii: Improving Public Safety by Expanding Treatment Programs and Strengthening Victim Services
To download a PDF of this publication, click here.
Recent Headlines
Improving Public Safety, A Column by Governor Tomblin
Coal Valley News For eight years, in Hancock, Brooke and Ohio counties, a change has been underway. It’s a change that has successfully taken root, turned lives around, and improved communities while fighting substance abuse and the crimes associated with [...]
Governor Tomblin Praises Achievements Of Established Drug Court
WELLSBURG, W.Va. – On a visit to recognize the first adult drug court in West Virginia, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin ceremonially signed Senate Bill 371, the Justice Reinvestment legislation, which is designed to increase public safety and improve the effectiveness of West Virginia’s criminal justice system by expanding the use of these types of drug courts throughout the state, among other changes.
Governor Brownback Signs Justice Reinvestment Legislation
TOPEKA, Kan.–Kansas Governor Sam Brownback today held a ceremonial signing for HB 2170, a bill that makes significant modifications to the state’s probation and post-release supervision policies with the goal of improving public safety while keeping corrections costs in check. The legislation stems from recommendations made by a bipartisan, inter-branch working group of Kansans over the past year.
Lessons from the States: Reducing Recidivism and Curbing Corrections Costs Through Justice Reinvestment
The Corrections Connection Over the past 20 years, state spending on corrections has skyrocketed—from $12 billion in 1988 to more than [1] $52 billion in 2011. Declining state revenues and other fiscal factors are putting a serious strain on many [...]
‘Throwing them in jail isn’t enough’
For too long, Pennsylvania relied on the old-fashioned notion that punishing lawbreakers by sending them to the state prison system would deter them from committing crimes when they were freed. But a recent study makes it clear the focus can no longer just be on punishment, but on how to best help prisoners and former inmates turn their lives around
Our Funders and Partners
Justice reinvestment is supported by federal, state/local, and private funds.