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 [...]
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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: Oklahoma
State leaders announce kickoff of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative in Oklahoma. -
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
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.
Kansas: Second Working Group Meeting Presentation
To download a PDF of this PowerPoint presentation, click here.
Recent Headlines
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
The 2013 Legislative Session
By Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin Coal Valley News For the past 60 days, the dedicated men and women elected to represent the people of West Virginia in our legislature have worked with me and my administration to pass meaningful legislation. [...]
More halfway houses will reduce crime by parolees
Re “Parolees are not the biggest crime threat” (Editorials, Jan. 28): Former Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel did yeoman’s work in his contribution to the study of parolee-related crime. Sadly, Sacramento has long been an outlier in terms of parolee [...]
Finding better outcomes
Several San Bernardino County law enforcement agencies, including the Redlands Police Department, deserve special thanks for recently participating in an important study. The Council of State Governments Justice Center studied years of arrest records and found people on probation and [...]
Our Funders and Partners
Justice reinvestment is supported by federal, state/local, and private funds.