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Criminal Justice Support for New State Administrations

Improving Your Criminal Justice System: Support for Newly-Elected State Administrations

In 2019, 22 new governors took office amid tremendous momentum to improve state criminal justice systems across the country. Many of them outlined ambitious goals to facilitate successful reentry from prison and help reduce recidivism, minimize costs, and foster safe communities.

Recognizing governors must tackle many competing priorities, The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center), the Association of State Correctional Administrators (ASCA), and the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) have partnered to offer rapid, on-demand support to you and your team to help assess your state’s criminal and juvenile justice systems and create a concrete plan to achieve largescale criminal justice reform. This support will enable states to build on past achievements, identify best practices and innovative approaches to address ongoing challenges, and lead new endeavors with messages that will resonate at local, state, and national levels.

Our support will include the following:

• Review of your state’s criminal justice system: An overview packet will be sent to the 22 states with newly elected administrations to provide a snapshot of each state’s data trends within a national context and materials designed to facilitate important criminal justice discussions.

• Expert assessment of your state: Through a competitive request for information process, four states will be selected for intensive, on-site assessments customized to the governor’s criminal and juvenile justice goals. Our criminal justice experts will analyze state systems, policies, and data; support the development of reform strategies; and identify ways to break down barriers to public safety, focusing on the following domains: o Broad criminal justice system trends: Project partners will analyze recent trends and projections in your state related to crime, arrests, courts, jails, prison populations, probation, and parole, providing a birds-eye view of where the state’s criminal and juvenile justice systems are likely headed absent major policy changes. o Reentry and recidivism reduction: Project partners will share best practices in reducing recidivism, highlight approaches that key local jurisdictions are using to successfully overcome reentry barriers, and flag areas where your state can make a greater impact using innovative practices to reduce people’s risk of reoffending after they are released from incarceration. o Behavioral health in the justice system: Project partners will help you consider customized ways to reduce the prevalence of people with behavioral health conditions, including mental illnesses and substance use disorders, within your criminal and juvenile justice systems. o Paths to successful employment: Project partners will analyze current employment outcomes for people with criminal records and on community supervision and recommend strategies to increase stability for these people and positively impact their long-term outcomes. o Coordination and alignment of state and federal resources with evidencebased approaches: Project partners will assess your state’s current criminal and

juvenile justice budget allocation and provide guidance on how to leverage federal funding opportunities and assistance to supplement and bolster state dollars and support a range of research-based programs and policies.

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States selected for this assessment will receive four in-state visits from national criminal justice experts; an internal report that presents immediate, short- and long-term policy options and process changes that will improve the criminal justice system during the governor’s term in office; a facilitated workshop to discuss findings and recommendations; and assistance developing a communications strategy. State teams will include the governor’s criminal justice policy advisor, corrections director, criminal justice state administering agency (SAA), and others as appropriate. The application to receive an assessment is attached and due on Thursday, May 16, 2019.

Opportunities to learn with your colleagues: o May 21–22, 2019: In partnership with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), NGA Center and NCJA will host the 2019 annual Institute for State Criminal Justice and Public Safety Executives in Seattle, WA. Governors’ criminal justice policy advisors and state administering agency executives from all 50 states are invited to discuss key criminal justice and public safety issues, share successes and challenges, and highlight best practices. o September 18, 2019: In conjunction with the annual Forum on Criminal Justice (September 15–18 in Arlington, VA), project partners will host the Leading State Corrections and Criminal Justice Reform summit, which will focus on key issues related to criminal justice reform and statewide strategic planning for newly elected administrations. States will have the opportunity to send teams to this day-long event that will build on the forum topics of programs, research, and technologies that help justice practitioners and decision-makers in states, local communities, and tribal nations address pressing public safety issues. All states with newly elected administrations are invited to send teams; 10 teams will receive project funding to attend. o Summer/fall 2019: Project partners will host two webinars for all 22 states with newly elected administrations to cover trends in state, local, and federal policy reform and discuss opportunities for change in policing, probation and parole, correctional practices, community-based services, principles of evidence-based practice, and cross-systems planning.

Meet impacted people face to face: Eight states will have the opportunity to participate in the Face to Face initiative, which challenges governors to connect with people who are closest to corrections systems, including formerly or currently incarcerated people and their families, corrections officers, local law enforcement, victims of crime, and others who have firsthand experience with the criminal justice system.

Contact us with your questions: Experts are available to answer your questions about criminal justice policies, practices, and data. Contact Lauren Dedon (ldedon@nga.org; 202624-5375) or Elise Simonsen (esimonsen@nga.org; 202-624-5380) with your research questions or requests for technical assistance.

We look forward to working with you in the year ahead as you begin to address complex criminal justice issues in your state.

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