Idaho Governor Highlights Justice Reinvestment in State of the State

In his 2015 State of the State address, Idaho Governor C.L. “Butch” Otter highlighted his administration’s progress in establishing more effective community supervision practices and reducing recidivism through implementation of the state’s Justice Reinvestment Act.

“I’m proud of the legislature, our courts and our executive agencies is [for] their unprecedented collaboration in enacting and now implementing the Justice Reinvestment Initiative or JRI.

This is an effort started two years ago by the good chairmen of our House and Senate Judiciary committees.

Last year’s overwhelming legislative support for Senate Bill 1357 and hard work during the past year by our courts, Department of Correction and Commission of Pardons and Parole has resulted in an outstanding set of administrative rules for you to consider during this session.

They spell out in detail how we can improve public safety, reduce recidivism and lower the costs associated with locking up offenders by prioritizing and refining our post-release supervision efforts with swift, certain and graduated sanctions.

I appreciate your continuing support as our Justice Reinvestment efforts move from careful planning to effective on-the-ground implementation.”

In 2013, the CSG Justice Center began working with state leaders in Idaho to address the state’s then-rapidly growing prison population using a data-driven, justice reinvestment approach to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. The Justice Reinvestment Act was passed in March 2014, and includes policies to strengthen supervision practices and programs, tailor sanctions and parole decision-making, and assess, track, and monitor recidivism-reduction strategies. These policies are projected to avert up to an estimated $288 million in correctional facility construction and operations costs between 2015 and 2019.

The CSG Justice Center continues to provide assistance in implementing Idaho’s justice reinvestment legislation.

This project was supported by Grant No. 2013-ZB-BX-K002 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.