BJA FY 12 Smart Probation: Reducing Prison Populations, Saving Money, and Creating Safer Communities

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At yearend 2010, there were an estimated 4,887,900 adults under supervision in the community either on probation or parole—the equivalent of about 1 out of every 48 adults. Many people on supervision do not successfully complete their community supervision.1 According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), 16 percent of probationers were incarcerated as the result of a new sentence or revocation of their current probation. These failure rates are a key reason prison populations continue to swell nationally. State-level data from BJA’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative indicate that in some states probation and parole revocations account for up to 65 percent of prison and jail admissions annually.The purpose of this program is to improve probation success rates, which would in turn improve public safety, reduce returns to prisons and jails, and save taxpayer dollars. Funds can be used to implement evidence-based supervision strategies to improve outcomes for probationers.FY 2012 appropriations under the Second Chance Act made funding available for Smart Probation projects, in addition to providing federal awards to state and local governments and federally recognized Indian tribes for demonstration reentry projects.

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