BJA FY 15 Justice Reinvestment Initiative: State-Level Technical Assistance

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Approximately 2.2 million people were incarcerated in federal, state, and local prisons and jails in 2013, a rate of 1 out of every 110 adults.1 After three years of declines, the prison population increased slightly in 2013, largely due to growth in state prison populations. These prisons face crowding and resource challenges. Accordingly, state spending on corrections has remained high. Over the last 25 years, state corrections expenditures have increased significantly—from $12 billion in 1988 to more than $55 billion in 2013. Justice reinvestment emerged as a way to address these issues through a targeted, datadriven policymaking process. BJA, in a public/private partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts, launched the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) in 2010 as a multistaged process in which a jurisdiction increases the cost-effectiveness of its criminal justice system and reinvests savings into high-performing public safety strategies. JRI is a public-private partnership between BJA, the Pew Charitable Trusts, and JRI technical assistance (TA) and assessment providers. Funding from BJA is authorized under the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015, Pub. L. 113-235.

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