Past States

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 reduce recidivism.

Alabama

CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance beginning in 2014, which resulted in legislation designed to strengthen community-based supervision and treatment; prioritize prison space for people convicted of violent offenses and those who are most likely to reoffend; provide supervision to every person released from prison; and improve notification to victims regarding releases from prison.

 

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Arizona

From 2006 to 2008, CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance that resulted in legislation that established performance-incentive funding for county-run probation departments to reduce crime and violations rather than revoke people on probation to state custody and developed an earned-time policy to incentivize success on probation and focus supervision on people who are at a high risk of reoffending.

 

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Connecticut

In 2004, Connecticut became the first state in the country to enact JRI legislation after working with the CSG Justice Center. The legislation focused on establishing programs to reduce the number of people on probation or parole who were incarcerated due to technical violations, requiring parole hearings to be held in a timely manner, and requiring the state to develop a comprehensive reentry strategy to promote successful transition from incarceration to the community.

 

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Georgia

In 2016, CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance to address criminal justice challenges. Resulting legislation aimed to reduce lengthy probation terms and large probation caseloads, improve both the effect and cost-effectiveness of responses to probation and parole violations, and improve the handling of legal financial obligations for people on felony probation.

 

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Hawaii

From 2011 to 2012, the CSG Justice Center worked with Hawaii’s state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. Signed into law in 2012, Hawaii’s Justice Reinvestment legislation required timely risk assessments of pretrial defendants; focused probation and parole resources on individuals most likely to reoffend; and increased the amount that people pay toward victim restitution and ensured institutions have the mechanisms in place to collect, track, and disperse these funds effectively.

 

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Idaho

From 2013 to 2014, the CSG Justice Center worked with Idaho state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce spending on corrections and increase public safety. State policymakers enacted Justice Reinvestment legislation in 2014 that strengthened supervision practices and programs designed to reduce recidivism; tailored sanctions for supervision violations, provided recidivism information at sentencing, and structured parole to make more productive use of prison space and increase the number of people released to parole supervision; and assessed, tracked, and ensured the impact of recidivism-reduction strategies.

 

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Indiana

In 2010 and 2011, the CSG Justice Center worked with Indiana state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. The resulting Justice Reinvestment policy framework included policies to shift from a one-size-fits-all sentencing policy for theft and drug offenses to a more graduated approach; strengthen community supervision by focusing resources on people at a high risk of reoffending and enabling probation officers to use swift and certain sanctions; and increase availability of substance use treatment in the community and availability of cognitive behavioral therapy in prison.

 

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Iowa

CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance beginning in 2021, which resulted in legislative and administrative recommendations designed to further strengthen the state’s community supervision system and ensure that officers have the necessary tools to effectively supervise individuals in the community.

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Kansas

CSG Justice Center staff began providing intensive technical assistance in 2020 that resulted in Justice Reinvestment legislation enacted in May 2021 that focuses on diverting people convicted of drug offenses and improving supervision by strengthening evidence-based practices.

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Maine

In 2019, Maine faced a number of pressing public safety challenges. Staff from the CSG Justice Center provided intensive technical assistance by collecting and analyzing data and helping develop appropriate policy options to contain corrections spending and increase public safety.

 

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Massachusetts

In 2015, CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance that helped lead to criminal justice reform. In the spring of 2018, the legislature passed two major pieces of criminal justice legislation One of them stemmed directly from the Justice Reinvestment effort and expands earned-time credits for people who complete recidivism-reduction programming and treatment in prison and gives judges more pretrial alternatives to incarceration.

 

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Michigan

From 2013 to 2014, the CSG Justice Center worked with Michigan state leaders to study the state’s felony sentencing system to determine its impacts on public safety, recidivism trends, and state and local spending.

 

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Missouri

CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance beginning in 2017 that resulted in comprehensive Justice Reinvestment legislation that aims to provide resources to local law enforcement to help reduce violent crime, increase community-based treatment for people in the criminal justice system who have substance addictions and mental illnesses, and increase support for victims, among other measures.

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Montana

In 2015, CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance that helped lead to a package of legislation that limits the period of incarceration for people sanctioned for low-level violations of the terms of their supervision, prioritizes supervision resources for people who are most likely to reoffend, and helps counties reduce jail populations.

 

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Nebraska

From 2014 to 2015, CSG Justice Center experts provided intensive technical assistance. As a result of this process, state policymakers enacted Justice Reinvestment legislation in May 2015. Among other provisions, the law requires the use of probation rather than incarceration for most people convicted of nonviolent, low-level offenses; ensures post-release supervision for most people upon release from prison; supports victims through improved restitution collection; and strengthens parole supervision to reduce recidivism.

 

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Nevada

From 2007 to 2008, the CSG Justice Center worked with Nevada state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. Signed into law in 2007, Nevada’s Justice Reinvestment legislation increased incentives for people in prison who successfully complete vocational, educational, and substance use treatment programs prior to release; increased incentives for people on probation and parole supervision to comply with supervision; and expanded eligibility for alternatives to incarceration.

 

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New Hampshire

From 2009 to 2010, the CSG Justice Center worked with New Hampshire state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. Signed into law in 2010, the Justice Reinvestment Act focused supervision and resources on people on probation who are at a high risk of reoffending; enabled probation officers to employ short jail sanctions for minor probation violations, when permitted by judges at sentencing; established a 7-day intermediate sanction in a halfway house for people who violate parole conditions; and imposed a 90-day period in prison for people whose parole is revoked for committing technical violations of their supervision.

 

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New Mexico

CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance in 2018 and assisted in the development of policy options that were designed to increase public safety, reduce recidivism, and contain the cost of corrections in the state. Legislation was signed into law in 2019 ensuring that victims of crime have more avenues by which to receive support.

 

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North Carolina

From 2010 to 2011, CSG Justice Center staff worked with North Carolina state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. Legislation signed into law in 2011 required mandatory supervision for everyone convicted of felonies upon release from prison; empowered probation officers to use swift and certain jail sanctions in response to violations of conditions of supervision; increased sentences for people convicted of repeat breaking-and-entering offenses; and provided substance use treatment, cognitive behavioral services, and other evidence-based programming to people on supervision who have the greatest need for treatment and are at the highest risk of reoffending.

 

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North Dakota

In 2017, CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance that led to legislation designed to curb prison population growth by reducing the number of people in prison who have committed lower-level felony offenses and who have violated the conditions of their supervision by placing them on probation and limiting length of stay.

 

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Ohio

In 2017, CSG Justice Center staff conducted a comprehensive analysis of data and helped develop policy options to improve access to effective behavioral health supports and services for people in the justice system; reduce crime; and adopt more cost-effective sentencing, corrections, and supervision policies.

 

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Oklahoma

From 2011 to 2012, CSG Justice Center provided intensive technical assistance. Signed into law in 2012, Oklahoma’s Justice Reinvestment legislation established a new state-funded grant program to assist local law enforcement agencies in implementing data-driven strategies to reduce violent crime; instituted a pre-sentence risk and needs screening process to help guide sentencing decisions related to treatment and supervision; mandated supervision for all adults released from prison; and created more cost-efficient and meaningful responses to supervision violations.

 

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Oregon

In 2018, the CSG Justice Center provided intensive technical assistance that led to the development of a grant program to support counties and Tribal Nations in developing stronger community-based continuums of care to improve health and criminal justice outcomes and to reduce financial and public safety impacts for people cycling in and out of Oregon’s jails and hospitals. This grant program—Improving People’s Access to Community-Based Treatment, Supports, and Services (IMPACTS)—is reflected in SB 973, which was signed into law in July 2019.

 

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Pennsylvania

CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance in two rounds of JRI, the second of which resulted in new legislation signed into law in 2019 that aimed to eliminate delays in releasing people with short sentences from prison and streamline the process used to direct people into drug treatment.

 

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Rhode Island

In 2015, CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance that resulted in a package of legislation passed in 2017 that ensures that judicial decisions and supervision practices will be informed by risk and needs assessments, benefits for victims of crime will be expanded, the superior court will have the opportunity to create a diversion program, and there will be more structured sentencing for certain crimes.

 

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Texas

In 2006 and 2007, the CSG Justice Center worked with Texas state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. Justice Reinvestment policies were adopted in the 2008–2009 biennial budget. The framework included several policies designed to increase treatment capacity in the prison system for substance use disorder treatment and mental health treatment and expand diversion options in the probation and parole system for technical violations of supervision, transitional treatment, and substance use disorder treatment.

 

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Vermont

In 2019, the CSG Justice Center provided intensive technical assistance that led to a bipartisan criminal justice bill in July 2020—S.338—aimed at reducing Vermont’s high recidivism rates by restructuring the state’s approach to community supervision, while also launching a focused effort to examine racial disparities in sentencing and in Vermont’s prisons. S.338 created a system of presumptive parole, streamlined the furlough system, and required reporting related to demographics and sentencing, among other measures.

 

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Washington

In 2014, the CSG Justice Center worked with state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce spending on corrections and increase public safety. Among other things, Washington’s Justice Reinvestment Policy Framework proposed adopting a new sentencing grid for felony property offenses that mandates a period of supervision and, if needed, treatment for people convicted of less serious property offenses; funding local law enforcement efforts to deter property crime; creating a fund to provide financial assistance to victims of property crime; and incentivizing counties to improve pretrial practices.

 

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West Virginia

From 2012 to 2013, the CSG Justice Center worked with state leaders in West Virginia to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. In 2013, West Virginia enacted Justice Reinvestment legislation, which included policies designed to ensure that supervision practices focus on individuals most likely to reoffend and respond to probation and parole violations with swift, certain, and more cost-effective sanctions; reduce parole hearing delays and mandate that people convicted of violent offenses receive one year of supervision upon release from prison; and require the use of a pretrial screening instrument in jails that predicts risk of flight and risk of reoffending.

 

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Wisconsin

In 2008 and 2009, the CSG Justice Center worked with Wisconsin state leaders to develop data-driven policy options designed to reduce corrections spending and increase public safety. Several Justice Reinvestment policies were adopted by the legislature in 2009 through the state’s budget appropriations bill, which created a “risk reduction” sentencing option to encourage individuals to complete programs in prison that are designed to reduce the likelihood of reoffending and reinvested $10 million over two years to expand community-based recidivism-reduction programs.

 

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Wyoming

CSG Justice Center staff provided intensive technical assistance beginning in 2018 that resulted in legislation that provides additional tools to support judges as they determine probation terms and sentence lengths; increases support for victims of crime; holds people on probation and parole accountable with swift, certain, and proportional sanctions; and focuses probation resources on people during the time when they are most likely to fail on supervision. In early 2020, the state legislature passed additional legislation to strengthen behavioral health treatment and programming for people in the criminal justice system with evidence-based practices and robust quality assurance measures.

 

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