50-State Report on Public Safety

Tools and strategies to help states reduce crime, recidivism, and costs

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The 50-State Report on Public Safety is a web-based resource that combines data analyses with practical examples to help policymakers craft impactful strategies to address their state’s specific public safety challenges. The Council of State Governments Justice Center analyzed millions of data points, and with support from the Association of State Correctional Administrators, interviewed corrections staff in all 50 states to collect new data on each state’s research capacity and supervision practices for use in this first-of-its-kind resource.

July 31, 2018 | The Council of State Governments Justice Center

Although crime rates across the country are near all-time lows, each state faces a unique combination of public safety challenges, including increasing crime rates in some communities, growing numbers of people who have mental illnesses entering county jails and state prisons, spiking opioid and other drug-related deaths, high recidivism rates, rising correctional populations and costs, pervasive barriers to employment and housing for people with criminal records, and more. These challenges may appear overwhelming, but many states are using innovative approaches to tackle them and are achieving results.

The 50-State Report on Public Safety contains:

Over 300 state-by-state data visualizations
More than 100 examples of states’ public safety innovations
3 goals, 12 strategies, and 37 action items policymakers can select from to focus on the issues most relevant to their communities.

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