Arkansas’s Justice Reinvestment Approach: Enhancing Local Mental Health Services for People in the Criminal Justice System
After using a justice reinvestment approach, Arkansas passed legislation that creates local crisis stabilization units that will allow people with mental illnesses who commit low-level offenses to receive treatment in the community rather than go to prison. Trained law enforcement officers will be able to divert people into these units, alleviating the jail backlog and reserving bed space in the state’s full prisons for those who are convicted of serious and violent offenses. This publication presents a summary of the justice reinvestment process and legislation.
Arkansas policymakers have long expressed concerns about the state’s high recidivism rate. Over the past 10 years, an…
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In April 2025, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a package of bipartisan criminal justice legislation into law,…
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Explainer: Key Findings and Options from Arkansas’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative
Arkansas policymakers have long expressed concerns about the state’s high recidivism rate. Over the past 10 years, an estimated 72 percent of prison admissions in the state involved people who were revoked from supervision, with unmet substance use and mental health challenges playing a significant role in these failures.
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Explainer: How a New Law in Arkansas Tackles Crime, Recidivism, and Community Supervision Challenges
In April 2025, Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a package of bipartisan criminal justice legislation into law, which is designed to increase public safety and improve community supervision. The legislation passed nearly unanimously.
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