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Groundbreaking 50-State Report on Public Safety Updated with 2017 Data
The report is a web-based resource that combines extensive data analyses, case studies and recommended strategies from all 50 states to help policymakers address their state’s specific public safety challenges. -
WATCH: Arkansas Gov. Hutchinson Meets Face to Face with Client at Newly Opened Crisis Stabilization Unit
Gov. Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas became the latest elected official to participate in Face to Face (#MeetFacetoFace), an initiative that encourages policymakers to connect with people closest to the correctional system. -
Stepping Up Initiative Expands Push for Counties to Collect Data on Number of People in Jails Who Have Mental Illnesses
The Stepping Up initiative recently launched a national effort to help counties collect accurate, accessible data on the number of people entering their jails who have mental illnesses. -
For the Record: Candid Conversations about Criminal Record Clearance—Episode 2, Esta Bigler
The director of the Cornell University Industrial and Labor Relations School's Labor and Employment Law program discusses her work regarding record clearance as a lawyer. -
10-Year Anniversary of the Second Chance Act Celebrated on Capitol Hill
As policymakers continue to focus on the importance of safe and successful reentry among people leaving prisons and jails, a group of national leaders paused recently to reflect on the impact of the Second Chance Act.
Groundbreaking 50-State Report on Public Safety Updated with 2017 Data
Recent CSG Justice Center Posts
Pennsylvania Launches First-in-Nation Stepping Up Technical Assistance Center Focused on Helping Counties Reduce Number of People in Jail with Mental Illnesses
Secretaries of Pennsylvania’s Department of Health, Department of Corrections, and others launched a first-of-its-kind resource center on Oct. 15 in Philadelphia focused on helping counties reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jail through research-driven approaches.
Victim Advocates from Five States Gather to Develop Strategies to Improve Restitution Outcomes and Help Victims Recover Financially
At the meeting, staff from the CSG Justice Center and Hawaii’s Crime Victim Compensation Commission explored with participants how Hawaii has used five elements—policy, data, agency leadership and workforce, and interagency coordination—to create an effective model for improving the management of victim restitution.
Illinois and Montana Hold State Forums on Public Safety
Illinois and Montana are the latest in a number of states to convene state forums on public safety to continue the conversations begun at the 50-State Summit on Public Safety that took place in November 2017 in Washington, DC.
Vermont’s Statewide Recidivism Reduction Strategy: Highlights and Progress
Following four principles of corrections system improvement—organizational development, use of risk and needs assessments, quality improvement, and data collection and management—states like Vermont participate in SRR in an effort to reduce the likelihood of recidivism for every person under correctional supervision.
Groundbreaking 50-State Report on Public Safety Updated with 2017 Data
The CSG Justice Center has released an updated version of the 50-State Report on Public Safety that includes 2017 crime and arrest data. The report is a web-based resource that combines extensive data analyses, case studies and recommended strategies from all 50 states to help policymakers address their state’s specific public safety challenges.
North Dakota Explores Expanding Alternatives to Incarceration and Behavioral Health Services for People in the Criminal Justice System
At a recent North Dakota Justice Reinvestment Oversight Committee meeting, CSG Justice Center staff highlighted recent decreases in prison admissions that resulted from alcohol and drug offenses and probation revocations. These declines seem to be the cause of a 6.5-percent drop in the state’s total prison population in FY2018, which exceeded expectations, and have reinforced the state’s efforts to increase behavioral health services for people in the criminal justice system.
Highlights
- North Dakota Explores Expanding Alternatives to Incarceration and Behavioral Health Services for People in the Criminal Justice System
- Reentry Essentials: Reducing Recidivism and Improving Other Outcomes for Youth and Young Adults
- Colorado Launches Comprehensive Review of Juvenile Justice System
- Outagamie Mental Health Court Celebrates Six Years of Cross-System Collaboration Benefitting Participants, Community
- From Jailhouse to Coffeehouse, SCA-Funded Program Supports People in Omaha During and After Incarceration
Announcements
Apply Now: 2019–21 Juvenile Justice Youth Advisory Council
The Annie E. Casey Foundation is seeking applications from emerging youth justice leaders, ages 18–25, around the country to support and contribute to a national juvenile justice reform movement.
Apply Now: Youth in Custody Practice Model Initiative
The Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, in partnership with the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators, is now accepting applications for its 2019 cohort of Youth in Custody Practice Model sites.
Register for Webinar: Increasing the Number of People with Mental Illnesses Connected to Treatment
Join the national Stepping Up partners for the third webinar in the four key measures webinar series, where a national expert joins representatives from Calaveras County, California, and Johnson County, Kansas, to describe strategies for increasing connection to treatment in jails and in the community for people who have mental illnesses; they will also outline data points to collect, analyze, and track over time.
WEBINARS
Technology and Criminal Record Clearance
This webinar explores how technology has influenced criminal record clearance processes and improved service delivery around the country.
Effectively Engaging the Community in Juvenile Record Clearance
The presenters of this webinar discuss overcoming the challenges to effective community engagement and explore ways to increase the number of juvenile record clearances.
Addressing Barriers to Occupational Licensing for People Who Have Criminal Records
This webinar discusses some of the barriers to occupational licensing that people who have criminal records face, and presenters share best practices and policy options for policymakers to help address these barriers.
Best Practices for Successful Reentry for People with an Opioid Addiction
This webinar includes information on planning and coordination, behavioral health treatment, cognitive interventions, and community supervision practices as well as community resources such as housing and recovery support services.
Best and Promising Practices in Integrating Reentry and Employment Interventions
This webinar is based on lessons learned from integrating reentry and employment interventions to help people returning home after incarceration find and keep employment. The presentation is especially useful for corrections, reentry, and workforce development administrators and practitioners that are interested in maximizing scarce resources and improving recidivism and employment outcomes.
PUBLICATIONS
Justice Reinvestment in Wyoming: Second Presentation
The second presentation to the Wyoming Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee provides findings and policy recommendations related to reducing recidivism among people convicted of nonviolent offenses, connecting victims to services, improving supervision and programming, and overcoming barriers for people in the criminal justice system who have behavioral health needs.
In Focus: Implementing Mental Health Screening and Assessment
This brief is designed to help counties identify the number of people booked into jails who have serious mental illnesses (SMI) and to better connect these individuals to treatment. Determining the number of people who have SMI in jails allows counties to develop or refine strategic plans that will have the greatest impact on addressing this population’s needs.
Financial Support for Victims of Crime: A Quick Guide for Corrections and Community Supervision Officers
This brief outlines the role that corrections, probation, and parole officers can play in informing victims of the supports to which they are entitled and how they can pursue restitution, compensation, or other means of financial support.
Strengthening Correctional Culture: Eight Ways Corrections Leaders Can Support Their Staff to Reduce Recidivism
This brief highlights eight ways corrections leaders can set their staff up for success in implementing approaches that have been shown to reduce recidivism, including examples of how grantees of the Second Chance Act Statewide Adult Recidivism Reduction Program have applied these strategies in practice.
Stepping Up County Self-Assessment
The Stepping Up County Self-Assessment is designed to assist counties interested in evaluating the status of their current efforts to reduce the prevalence of people who have mental illnesses in jails.
JUSTICE CENTER IN THE NEWS
Opinion: And Justice for All—What Works at the Interface of Mental Health and Criminal Justice
“We have good science,” Fred Osher, M.D., a retired health systems and services policy director for the Council of State Governments Justice Center, told us. “We have policies that are associated with a reduction of people with mental illnesses in the justice system. But we haven’t put it together and sustained it over time.”
Pa. Launches Center to Help Counties Reduce Prison Population with Mental Illness
The center is a step toward solving a problem that has long plagued the criminal justice system, said John Wetzel, secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections. “The notion that we’re delivering behavioral health services and mental health services in the criminal justice system more than any other system is a national embarrassment,” he said.
Legislators Consider Justice Reinvestment Suggestions
SHERIDAN – More than half of prison admissions in 2017 were from probation and parole revocations, resulting in an estimated cost of $30 million per year for people incarcerated from supervision.
Criminal Justice Reform Solutions Await Lawmaker Action
Outside experts from the Council of State Governments presented lawmakers last week with targeted solutions to stem Wyoming’s ever-deepening prison crisis: Invest in substance abuse and mental health treatment for offenders and retool probation and parole programs.
County Officials Express Concerns about Judiciary Bills
A few measures proposed during the Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee meeting in Laramie drew some scrutiny from Albany County’s elected officials.
Study Looks at Ways to Cut Corrections Costs
Wyoming’s prisons are full, and inmate populations are on pace to continue to swell by 9 percent, increasing costs for the state by an estimated tens of millions of dollars by 2023.