BJA FY 13 Criminal Justice Improvement and Recidivism Reduction through the State-Level Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI)

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Approximately 2.2 million people were incarcerated in federal, state, and local prisons and jails in 2011, a rate of 1 out of every 107 adults.1 State spending on corrections has increased exponentially over the last 20 years from $12 billion in 1988 to more than $52 billion in 2011.2 At yearend 2011, about 4,814,200 offenders were supervised in the community either on probation or parole, representing about 1 in every 50 adults under community supervision. Many states are searching for ways to reign in the growth in corrections spending in a manner consistent with public safety. State policymakers often have insufficient access to detailed, data-driven explanations about changes in crime, arrest, conviction, and jail and prison population trends. The Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) is a data-driven public safety approach that provides extensive training and technical assistance (TTA) to states to analyze the data and develop criminal justice system policy options. These options are intended to reduce corrections spending while yielding more effective uses of scarce resources. The savings can sustain reinvestment strategies which can both initiate savings for reinvestment in high performing programs and support strategies that further states’ public safety goals. Phase II provides intensive TTA during implementation of the states’ JRI strategy and goals.JRI is a public-private partnership between BJA, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and JRI TTA and assessment providers. Funding from BJA is authorized under the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013, Pub. L. 113-6, 127 Stat. 198, 253.

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