June 2013
The Cabinet-level Reentry Council is working to enhance community safety and well-being, assist those returning from prison and jail becoming productive citizens, and save taxpayers dollars by lowering the direct and collateral costs of incarceration
Public Safety (State/Local Focus)
Approximately two million adults are incarcerated in state prisons and local jails, costing U.S. taxpayers more than $75 billion each year. The vast majority of these individuals eventually return to their home communities.
In fact, each year nearly 700,000 individuals are released from state prisons; millions more cycle through local jails. Nationally, two out of every three people released from state prisons are rearrested for a new offense and about half are reincarcerated within three years. When reentry fails, the societal and economic costs are high. Reducing recidivism – a central goal of the Reentry Council – is critical for increasing long-term public safety and lowering corrections costs.
Accomplishments to Date • Since FY09, there have been nearly 500 Second
Chance Act (SCA) grant awards that total over $250 million, supporting reentry efforts in 48 states.
• A national forum on reentry and recidivism reduction was convened in December 2011. Teams of policymakers from all 50 states attended this results-oriented event to set goals and develop strategies for reducing recidivism.
• In FY12, a new Statewide Recidivism Reduction (SRR) grant track was established, funding seven state corrections agencies to plan and implement state- wide recidivism reduction strategies.
• The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) also established the SMART Probation program, funding nine sites in FY12 to pilot innovative evidence-based strategies to reduce recidivism among probationers.
• Since its inception, the Justice Reinvestment Initiative’s (JRI) bipartisan, interbranch, and data-driven approach has helped policymakers from over 27 states and 18 counties increase public safety and reduce corrections costs.
• The BJA-supported National Reentry Resource Center (NRRC) released a policy brief in September 2012 highlighting seven states that reported significant declines in their three-year recidivism rates.
• A series of “Recidivism Reduction Checklists” were recently released to help state leaders evaluate strengths and weaknesses in their reentry efforts and develop recidivism reduction plans.
• The Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the Council of State Governments Justice Center released Planning and Assessing a Law Enforcement Reentry Strategy to help policing personnel and their partners facilitate successful reentry in their jurisdictions.
• The National Institute of Corrections (NIC) funded intensive technical assistance for seven sites to develop the capacity to implement “Evidence-Based Decision Making in Local Criminal Justice Systems.” The delivery of technical assistance and tools have led criminal justice stakeholders to increased use of research and data to guide their criminal justice decisions, resulting in system improvements that include decreased jail and prison bed utilization.
• NIC funded intensive technical assistance to six sites for the Transition from Jail to Community Initiative (TJC). The TJC model is designed to advance collaboration between jails and communities to enhance public safety, reduce recidivism, and improve reintegration processes.
Snapshot
Agenda Moving Forward Ensure that Reentry Efforts Generate Reductions in Recidivism
Strengthen Community Corrections Policies and Practices
The BJA-supported NRRC will continue to develop and disseminate tools and resources to help state officials implement recidivism reduction strategies. NRRC staff are working intensively with the seven SRR grantees to help them develop statewide recidivism reduction plans, and will document important lessons learned from those states to help inform the broader field.
Recognizing that about five million individuals (or one in fifty) are on probation or parole in the U.S., strengthening community corrections is a priority for the DOJ and the NRRC. Grantee work will continue to focus on promoting effective community supervision practices that increase public safety.
Promote Cost-Effective Approaches to Enhancing Public Safety Americans have made it clear they want a correctional system that holds people accountable and keeps communities safe, and in a way that makes the most of their tax dollars. A primary goal of JRI is ensuring that the millions of dollars in cost savings from justice reinvestment legislative changes are effectively reinvested in programs and policies that strengthen public safety. A new JRI “lessons learned� report can help inform the work in future JRI sites, as well as in the broader corrections field.
Highlight Effective Law Enforcement Reentry Strategies A new report, Lessons Learned: Planning and Assessing a Law Enforcement Reentry Strategy, developed with support from the COPS Office, describes how four law enforcement agencies used the principles outlined in Planning and Assessing a Law Enforcement Reentry Strategy to engage in local-level reentry partnerships in order to reduce crime and increase public safety. DOJ will continue to assist law enforcement agencies in engaging in reentry efforts in their jurisdictions.
Key Resources (Public Safety) Reentry Council http://csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/projects/firc/
National Reentry Resource Center http://csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/
The National Summit on Justice Reinvestment and Public Safety http://csgjusticecenter.org/justice-reinvestment/ report/
Lessons from the States: Reducing Recidivism and Curbing Corrections Costs through Justice Reinvestment http://csgjusticecenter.org/jr/publications/lessonsfrom-the-states/
States Report Reductions in Recidivism http://csgjusticecenter.org/nrrc/publications/ states-report-reductions-in-recidivism-2/
National Institute of Corrections Planning and Assessing a Law Enforcement Reentry Strategy Online Toolkit http://whatworks.csgjusticecenter.org/ law_enforcement_toolkit
Recidivism Reduction Checklist http://csgjusticecenter.org/reentry/reentry-checklists/
www.nicic.gov