- Third Presentation to the Maine Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Supervision, Incarceration and Management of Prisoners This presentation highlights additional information related to the Justice Reinvestment Initiative.
Maine
Maine Initiatives
In partnership with Maine state leaders, the CSG Justice Center is working on several key criminal justice initiatives to increase public safety, including Stepping Up and Justice Reinvestment.

The latest COVID-19 developments and resources for governments officials.
Read More
Justice Reinvestment is a data-driven approach to improve public safety, reduce corrections…
Read MoreJustice Reinvestment in Maine
In summer 2019, the CSG Justice Center embarked on a Justice Reinvestment approach in Maine to help state leaders identify and address the most pressing criminal justice system challenges.
Overview
Maine faces a number of pressing public safety challenges. Like other northeastern states, Maine has been hit hard by the opioid crisis, with an opioid overdose death rate that is among the highest in the nation. The opioid crisis has created substantial operational and resource challenges for both local and state justice and behavioral health systems in the state, exacerbating existing stress on those systems. Further, despite having the nation’s second-lowest incarceration rate and a steady decline in overall reported crime, Maine’s prison population has increased in recent years, particularly for women. Probation revocations account for more than 40 percent of prison admissions in Maine, which many state leaders attribute to a lack of community-based programming and resources for people with mental illnesses and substance addictions.
In the summer of 2019, Maine leaders requested and received support from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and The Pew Charitable Trusts (Pew) to utilize a Justice Reinvestment approach to address these challenges. Staff from The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center will provide intensive technical assistance by collecting and analyzing data and helping develop appropriate policy options to contain corrections spending and increase public safety.
The Justice Reinvestment effort will be guided by the newly revived interbranch Commission on the Sentencing, Supervision, Incarceration and Management of Offenders. In the coming months, the commission will analyze findings and develop policy options for the legislature’s consideration in early 2020.
- Justice Reinvestment in Maine: Overview (December 16, 2019): This overview outlines a number of criminal justice challenges in Maine, including high opioid overdose death rates and a growing prison population, and provides a summary of the stages of the Justice Reinvestment process.
Presentations
- First Presentation to the Maine Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Supervision, Incarceration and Management of Prisonerspresentation introduces the Justice Reinvestment process and examines criminal justice and behavioral health trends and challenges in Maine.
- Second Presentation to the Maine Commission to Improve the Sentencing, Supervision, Incarceration and Management of Prisoners This presentation focuses on data analyses of arrests, criminal history, and criminal case filings as well as probation policy and practice assessment in Maine.

We break down how governors across the country talked about criminal justice…
Read More
The conference, which was hosted by United States attorneys of the six…
Read More
Highlighting the role of police departments in advancing these approaches, BJA announced…
Read More
“It’s about showing up and having people’s back … and I believe…
Read More
County leaders and local policymakers representing 50 jurisdictions in 37 states are…
Read More
31 Days, 31 Stories, a series released during National Mental Health Awareness…
Read MoreAfter months of delays and negotiations, Congress recently approved a $1.5 trillion omnibus spending package for Fiscal Year…
Read MoreDespite an overall drop in crime in recent years, domestic violence remains a prevalent health and safety issue…
Read MoreOn June 2, 2022, the Iowa Oversight Committee on Justice Reinvestment met for the second time to review…
Read More
After months of delays and negotiations, Congress recently approved a $1.5 trillion…
Read More
Despite an overall drop in crime in recent years, domestic violence remains a prevalent health and safety issue in Rhode Island.
Read More
On June 2, 2022, the Iowa Oversight Committee on Justice Reinvestment met for the second time to review the results of a comprehensive assessment of the state’s community-based corrections (CBC) system conducted by the CSG Justice Center.
Read More
In 2019, more than half of all prison admissions in Wyoming were…
Read More
In Vermont, Black people are six times more likely than White people…
Read More