Awards totaling more than $17.5 million to state justice agencies and technical assistance partners to improve public safety and more effectively manage correctional populations and costs were announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ).
DOJ said, “This year’s awards include $5.85 million to four state agencies (Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon and South Dakota) and two organizations that will assist these agencies: the Center for Effective Public Policy, Inc., and the University of Cincinnati. The remaining $11.6 million is being awarded to two non-government partner organizations—the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Crime and Justice Institute—to provide technical assistance to the 20 states currently receiving support with their data analysis, policy development and implementation efforts.”
“Correctional reform is a vital part of our efforts to make our criminal justice system more efficient, more effective, and more fair,” said Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch. “These awards advance that goal by reducing states’ prison populations and encouraging them to use proven strategies in their approach to criminal justice – changes that will not only ease public finances, but also improve public safety.”
The Justice Reinvestment Initiative “provides participating states with a means for all three state government branches and other stakeholders to work together and implement results-oriented, data-driven justice systems reform,” DOJ said, noting that, “This funding also enable state leaders, with the input of stakeholders, to examine their states’ unique sentencing and corrections systems, investments and outcomes and make better-informed decisions about treatment, programs and prison/jail resources. Savings from these reforms are reinvested in high-performing public safety strategies. To date, 30 states have used the Justice Reinvestment Initiative to take a comprehensive look at their criminal justice systems.”
The site-based awards, funded under the JRI: Maximizing State Reforms Program, supports states that have already adopted justice reinvestment policies to implement one or more strategies to further the goals of a state’s justice reinvestment reform efforts, including the commitment to data-driven decision making and investment in evidence-based practices and programs.
For more information about the Justice Reinvestment Initiative visit http://go.usa.gov/xZsqe.
