BJA FY 13 Smart Probation: Reducing Prison Populations, Saving Money, and Creating Safer Communities

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At yearend 2011, there were an estimated 4,814,200 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 remain high. 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 FY 2013 Smart Probation Program (SPP) seeks to improve probation success rates, which would in turn improve public safety, reduce admissions to prisons and jails, and save taxpayer dollars. Funds can be used to implement evidence-based supervision strategies and to innovate new strategies to improve outcomes for probationers. This program is funded under the Second Chance Act appropriation. Signed into law on April 9, 2008, the Second Chance Act (P.L. 110-199) was designed to improve outcomes for people returning to communities from prisons and jails. This first-of-its-kind legislation authorizes federal grants to government agencies and nonprofit organizations to provide employment assistance, substance abuse treatment, housing, family programming, mentoring, victims support, and other services that can help reduce recidivism.

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