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Available Now! 50-State Data on Public Safety Workbooks
Officials from every state contributed to the research effort that culminated in these workbooks, which were developed to provide a framework for discussions that took place at the 50-State Summit on Public Safety held in November 2017 in Washington, DC. -
White House Hosts Governors and Business Executives to Discuss Benefits of Hiring People Who Have Criminal Records
The White House, joined by a bipartisan pair of governors, recently led a discussion with businesses executives on the challenges and benefits of hiring people who have criminal records. -
Megan Quattlebaum Named Director of the CSG Justice Center
The Council of State Governments (CSG) recently announced that Megan Quattlebaum, research scholar in law at Yale University Law School and lecturer in law at Columbia University Law School, will be the next director of The CSG Justice Center. -
Teams from All 50 States Examine Local Criminal Justice Trends at ‘Unprecedented Gathering’
Corrections directors, state legislators, law enforcement officials and behavioral health professionals from all 50 states recently gathered at The 50-State Summit on Public Safety. -
Governors Take Action to Launch National Initiative Promoting Connections with People Closest to Correctional System
The initiative features Republican and Democratic governors and other elected officials meeting with people impacted by the correctional system. -
New FBI Crime Data Takes Search for Solutions to the State, Local Level
According to the FBI, the violent crime rate in the United States remains near half-century lows, but increased nationally between 2015 and 2016, a continuation of increases seen in last year’s report. -
Dos and Don’ts for Reducing Recidivism Among Young Adults in the Justice System
This resource presents a list of dos and don’ts that can be used to guide policy and practice changes focused on young adults in the juvenile and adult criminal justice systems. -
Capitol Hill Event Showcases Progress in Reentry and Recidivism Reduction
The National Reentry Resource Center and The Council of State Governments Justice Center recently released two briefs at an event on Capitol Hill highlighting efforts to reduce recidivism in communities throughout the country.
Available Now! 50-State Data on Public Safety Workbooks
Recent CSG Justice Center Posts
‘Stepping Up’ Findings to Drive Dauphin County Efforts to Reduce Number of People in Jail Who Have Mental Illnesses
The Dauphin County Board of Commissioners recently endorsed a comprehensive plan that provides concrete steps for the county to take to help reduce the number of people who have serious mental illnesses (SMI) in the local criminal justice system while making more efficient use of resources and increasing public safety.
Vermont and Ohio Kick Off State Forums on Public Safety
As a continuation of the 50-State Summit on Public Safety held in November 2017 in Washington, DC, multiple states have been selected by the U.S Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance to host individual state forums on public safety. Earlier this month, Vermont and Ohio became the first states to hold their forums, each of which was facilitated by staff from the CSG Justice Center.
Landmark Florida Legislation Sets New Standard for Data Collection and Transparency
Florida Governor Rick Scott signed legislation on March 30 making his state the first in the country to require all of its counties to collect data pertaining to courts, jails, policing, and prisons in a statewide system that is publicly accessible.
Changes to Georgia’s Probation System Yield Positive Early Results
As a result of justice reinvestment legislation passed in Georgia in mid-2017, 17,570 active felony probation cases were moved to unsupervised status later that year, and more active cases continue to be transitioned at a steady pace. Probation officer caseload sizes have also decreased from an average of 170 people on active probation in 2016 to an average of 130 currently.
Alabama Allocates $26.5 Million for Justice Reinvestment in FY2019
Alabama state leaders have appropriated $26.5 million in the FY2019 budget to support justice reinvestment legislation enacted in 2015. This includes $18.5 million to hire probation and parole officers and staff and expand behavioral health community-based treatment and services, as well as $8 million to support community corrections programs (CCPs). This appropriation brings Alabama’s total reinvestment between FY2016 and FY2019 to $95.6 million.
Massachusetts Governor Signs Comprehensive Criminal Justice Reform Legislation
Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker (right) recently signed two major pieces of criminal justice legislation that passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in the legislature: HB 4012 and SB 2371. Together, these bills represent the most significant changes to the state’s criminal justice system in decades.
Highlights
- President Donald J. Trump Proclaims April 2018 as Second Chance Month
- Governors Take Action to Launch National Initiative Promoting Connections with People Closest to Correctional System
- Stepping Up Celebrates Two Years of Efforts to Reduce the Number of People with Mental Illnesses in Jails
- Four Tips from Idaho for Overhauling Correctional Programming
- From Jailhouse to Coffeehouse, SCA-Funded Program Supports People in Omaha During and After Incarceration
Announcements
Apply Now: Strategies for Policing Innovation
The program provides funding for police agencies to identify and define their most pressing crime problems and institute lasting operational and organizational changes.
Apply Now: Innovative Responses to Behavior in the Community—Swift, Certain, and Fair Supervision
The program provides funding for parole and probation agencies to help prevent recidivism and reduce crime through the use of principles underpinning the Hawaii Opportunity Probation with Enforcement Program.
Apply Now: Improving Access to Overdose Treatment Program
The program provides funding for agencies to develop best practices for prescribing and co-prescribing FDA-approved overdose reversal drugs.
WEBINARS
Young Adult Justice: Emerging Research and Innovative Practices
In this webinar, representatives from the National Reentry Resource Center and the New York City Department of Probation discuss emerging research and innovative practices related to improving outcomes for young adults in the justice system. Drawing on guidance gathered at a 2017 convening of practitioners, policymakers, and researchers hosted by the CSG Justice Center and the Harvard Kennedy School, the CSG Justice Center developed Do’s and Don’ts for Reducing Recidivism Among Young Adults in the Justice System—a resource that details proven and promising practices for working with the young adult population.
The Clean Slate Model–Sealing Criminal Records through Automated Computer Queries
This webinar explores the new “Clean Slate” model of mass sealing minor conviction and non-conviction records by automated computer queries, instead of by individual petitions.
Reducing Barriers to Employment—Building Partnerships with Civil Legal Aid
This webinar explores how civil legal interventions can reduce the number of obstacles to employment facing jobseekers who have criminal records by helping them expunge or seal old records, reinstate driver’s licenses, modify child support orders, and secure certificates of rehabilitation.
Responding to the 2018 Second Chance Act Innovations in Supervision Initiative Solicitation
During this webinar, representatives from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance and the National Reentry Resource Center explain the Second Chance Act Innovations in Supervision Initiative (ISI) and application process.
Winning Grants—Implementation and Organizational Capacity
This webinar provides a general overview of how to assess organizational capacity and present an implementation plan in a grant proposal.
PUBLICATIONS
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania: A County Justice and Mental Health Systems Improvement Project
Based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis, and with the guidance of members of the county’s Criminal Justice Advisory Board and other senior county and state leaders, five key findings were identified that prompted the development of a set of strategic policy recommendations to improve outcomes for people in Dauphin County’s criminal justice system who have SMI. This report includes the key findings and policy recommendations.
Justice Reinvestment in Ohio: Second Presentation
This presentation highlights key takeaways from the 50-State Summit on Public Safety, presents findings from a law enforcement survey conducted by the CSG Justice Center, and examines the behavioral health landscape in Ohio.
The Justice Reinvestment Initiative (Fact Sheet)
Strategies tested in many states show that there are effective ways to address the challenge of containing rising corrections costs while also increasing public safety.
Leveraging the Every Student Succeeds Act to Improve Educational Services in Juvenile Justice Facilities
This policy brief provides state and local policymakers as well as education and juvenile justice leaders with information about how they can use requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act to improve education and workforce outcomes for youth in long-term juvenile justice facilities.
Justice Reinvestment in Missouri: Fifth Presentation
The fifth presentation to the Missouri State Justice Reinvestment Task Force focuses on findings and policy recommendations related to behavioral health challenges in Missouri that pertain to people in the state’s criminal justice system. The presentation also includes final policy options for the task force to consider and act upon.
JUSTICE CENTER IN THE NEWS
How Cities Can Reduce Recidivism for Young Adults
Young adults account for a disproportionately high percentage of arrests and are the most likely age group to commit violent crimes and reoffend. Meanwhile, scientific research has demonstrated that young adulthood is a distinct period of development during which significant growth and change occurs.
Mass. Legislature Sends Baker Sweeping Criminal Justice Bill
The Massachusetts Legislature recently passed the most sweeping reforms to the state’s criminal justice system in decades, a package aimed at paring the number of people caught up in the courts, helping those who have served their time stay out of jail, and giving young offenders more leeway to avoid the system altogether.
School Resource Officers Play an Important Role in School Safety
The Cumberland County sheriff’s office was given countywide responsibility 30 years ago, when then-Fayetteville Police Chief Ron Hansen suggested school duty was better suited for the sheriff’s office because schools are governed and operated by county government.
Greene, Lenoir Counties Working with Courts to Keep Kids out of Jail
Representatives signed what they called a Partnership Agreement Community Teams with Schools document that outlines strategies for addressing student misconduct.
Dallas to Be Site for Koch-Funded, Trump-Backed Study on Inmates’ Re-Entry to Society
Doug Deason, a Dallas investor and GOP megadonor, hopes the study will yield a reentry model that will one day be scalable in red and blue states, urban and rural areas across America. Improving the lives of formerly incarcerated people, he said, should be a goal on which everyone can agree.
The Double Jeopardy of Juvenile Detention
In order to provide an equal opportunity for formerly incarcerated youth to succeed, schools and the juvenile justice system should work together to ease a student’s transition back into school; specifically, a student’s home school should not be permitted to deny them the opportunity to reenroll.