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Communities Celebrate Successful Reentry During Second Chance Month
Policymakers, corrections officials, practitioners, and other leaders plan to commemorate Second Chance Month—celebrated throughout April—with a host of activities highlighting efforts to support people transitioning from prison or jail back into the community. -
Police-Mental Health Collaborations: A Framework for Implementing Effective Law Enforcement Responses for People Who Have Mental Health Needs
The framework is intended to help jurisdictions advance comprehensive, agency-wide responses to people who have mental illnesses. -
National Reentry Resource Center Launches Clean Slate Clearinghouse
The online resource provides information, including interactive maps, on juvenile and adult record clearance in all states and U.S. territories. -
Self-Assessment for Employment-Focused Reentry Programs
This self-assessment from the National Reentry Resource Center helps programs gauge their capacity to provide integrated reentry and employment interventions, including work readiness, to people with varying risks and needs. -
In Focus: Collecting and Analyzing Baseline Data
This brief focuses on how counties can collect and analyze baseline data on the prevalence of people in their jails who have serious mental illnesses.
Communities Celebrate Successful Reentry During Second Chance Month
Recent CSG Justice Center Posts
Second Chance Month Q&A: Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson
For people who have been convicted of a crime, a second chance can mean greater opportunity for a productive life. As governor, I’ve made a priority of exploring ways that we give the people inside our prisons and jails a bona fide second chance by preparing them for life before they leave prison.
New Mexico Justice Reinvestment Victims Legislation Signed into Law
Under the new law, eligibility for victim compensation will be expanded to include victims who confide in a licensed medical or mental health care provider (including a tribal care provider) about the crime. Before, eligibility was limited only to victims who reported the crime to law enforcement within 30 days.
Second Chance Month Q&A: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine
“Every citizen in the state benefits when a person comes out of prison as a healthy and productive member of society. The truth is this: the vast majority of people who are currently incarcerated in our state will be released back to their community at some point.”
Second Chance Month Q&A: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum
“People released from the criminal justice system become our neighbors when they reenter our communities, and it’s in everyone’s best interest that they are well-positioned to become productive members of the community with dignity and opportunities to succeed.”
National Reentry Resource Center Launches Clean Slate Clearinghouse
Recently, the National Reentry Resource Center, with funding support from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, launched the Clean Slate Clearinghouse, which helps support juvenile and adult criminal record clearance.
Second Chance Month Q&A: Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo
“We all benefit when individuals leaving prison have a place to live, a chance at higher education, and a good job. Studies show that having a clear pathway to reenter society reduces recidivism. It’s good for all our citizens—and our taxpayers—if people leaving incarceration become productive members of society.”
Highlights
- [Apply Now] Second Chance Act Comprehensive Community-based Adult Reentry Program
- White House Proclamation on Second Chance Month, 2019
- North Dakota Explores Expanding Alternatives to Incarceration and Behavioral Health Services for People in the Criminal Justice System
- Second Chance Act Spotlight: Darius Dennis, Norfolk, Virginia
- WATCH: Arkansas Gov. Hutchinson Meets Face to Face with Client at Newly Opened Crisis Stabilization Unit
Announcements
![[Apply Now] Evaluation of Services for Victims of Crime](https://csgjusticecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/NIJSquare-e1526326752350.png)
[Apply Now] Evaluation of Services for Victims of Crime
The grant provides funding for formative evaluations and evaluability assessments of a diverse array of victims of crime service programs.
[Apply Now] Research into Desistance from Crime Program
Applicants are encouraged to submit proposals for innovative approaches to advance the field’s conceptualization of desistance, novel ways of understanding the processes underlying desistance from crime, and integrating desistance into criminal justice practice and policy.
WEBINARS
2018 JMHCP Category 1 Grantee Orientation
In this webinar, CSG Justice Center staff explain the training and technical assistance opportunities and resources available to FY18 JMHCP grantees.
2018 JMHCP Grantee Orientation
In this webinar, CSG Justice Center staff explain the training and technical assistance opportunities and resources available to grantees, and staff from the Bureau of Justice Assistance provide an overview of the post-award grant management requirements.
Enhancing Program Success and Sustainability for Women in the Justice System: Targeting System Change Strategies
Featuring Becki Ney of the National Resource Center on Justice-Involved Women, this webinar covers system-level strategies to maximize outcomes for women in the criminal justice system and ensure the sustainability of gender-responsive services.
2018 Second Chance Act Orientation for Adult Reentry and Employment Strategic Planning Grant Program
During this webinar, recipients of 2018 Second Chance Act (SCA) Adult Reentry and Employment Strategic Planning grants received information on the requirements and deliverables of the program. Specifically, grantees learned how they will develop a strategic plan that is comprehensive, collaborative, and multisystemic in its approach to increase economic mobility and reduce recidivism for people returning to the community from incarceration.
2018 Second Chance Act Orientation for the Community-Based Adult Reentry Program: Category 2
During this webinar, grantees received information about the grant program, including steps for getting the program started, submission of the Planning and Implementation Guide, and Bureau of Justice Assistance expectations.
PUBLICATIONS
Police-Mental Health Collaborations: A Framework for Implementing Effective Law Enforcement Responses for People Who Have Mental Health Needs
The framework is intended to help jurisdictions advance comprehensive, agency-wide responses to people who have mental illnesses. These responses feature cross-system collaborations between the criminal justice and behavioral health systems.
Justice Reinvestment Initiative: How States Use Data to Design Innovative Strategies to Reduce Crime, Recidivism, and Costs
State policymakers are grappling with upticks in violent crime, the opioid epidemic, people who have mental illnesses in the justice system, high rates of recidivism, and the high cost of corrections, all while trying to improve services for victims and increase opportunities for people returning to communities from jail and prison. To tackle these issues, more than 25 states have partnered with the CSG Justice Center to use a justice reinvestment approach.
Behavioral Health Justice Reinvestment in Oregon: Fourth Presentation
The fourth and final presentation to Oregon’s Behavioral Health Justice Reinvestment Steering Committee provides an overview of the project’s Medicaid and State Hospital analysis results from a criminal justice and health data match.
Justice Reinvestment in New Mexico: Second Presentation
The second presentation to the New Mexico Justice Reinvestment Working Group summarizes findings and policy options related to reducing crime and supporting victims of crime, community supervision, and reincarceration rates.
In Focus: Collecting and Analyzing Baseline Data
This brief focuses on how counties can collect and analyze baseline data on the prevalence of people in their jails who have serious mental illnesses.
JUSTICE CENTER IN THE NEWS
[Opinion] Colorado’s Youth Deserve a Better Juvenile Justice System
Colorado has made remarkable improvements to its juvenile justice system resulting in safer communities and fewer youth unnecessarily incarcerated. Due to bipartisan policy solutions, juvenile arrests declined 18 percent and filings to juvenile district court decreased 9 percent between 2012 and 2016; new commitments to the Division of Youth Services have decreased 22 percent since 2013.
DA Seeks to Reduce Probation in Many Cases
Pointing to the punitive nature of parole and supervision in Philadelphia and across the state, District Attorney Larry Krasner has announced his office’s new policy of working with judges to reduce parole and supervision in both felonies and misdemeanors.
Nebraska Prison Population Hits New High; ‘I Hope It’s an Anomaly,’ Corrections Chief Says
Here’s a record Nebraska leaders didn’t want to set: a new high for prison overcrowding.
Wyoming Legislature Tackles Criminal Justice Reinvestment
The Wyoming Legislature passed a slate of bills aimed at tackling criminal justice reinvestment in Wyoming. Based on recommendations from the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, formed after a nearly year-long study, the bills offer science-based solutions to the pressures on the state’s prison system.
County Joins National Initiative to Reduce Jail Bookings, Connect Mentally Ill Inmates to Help
Since joining Stepping Up in 2016, Dakota County has made multiple key changes, said Angela Lockhart, the county’s integrated service delivery coordinator. About 15 other Minnesota counties are also part of the program, including Ramsey, Carver, Scott, and Hennepin.
County ‘Stepping Up’ to Help the Mentally Ill
On Monday, Cleveland County became one of a handful of Oklahoma counties to pass a Stepping Up resolution to commit to reducing the number of people with mental illness in jail. According to the Stepping Up website, Cleveland County may be only the third in the state to adopt this resolution, with the other two being Grant and Tulsa counties.