PROJECTJustice Reinvestment Initiative

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  • Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Sources and Notes

  • The JRI State Summaries provide snapshots of accomplishments and system-level data trends in each state. They summarize the challenge that brought each state to the JRI process, highlight accomplishments achieved in implementing tailored policy solutions, describe the lasting impact or innovative solutions developed through JRI, and provide a data dashboard capturing trends in crime rates, recidivism, prison populations, and prison composition. The data presented in this summary are included to describe trends and provide additional context on system changes pre- and post-reform. System-level indicators shown here track high-level changes in state justice systems and do not necessarily demonstrate the impact of any specific reform, including JRI policy and practice changes. 

     

    The sources and methodological notes for each document can be found here. The following notes apply to all states:

    • Savings and averted costs estimates are collected from each state prior to publication. The methods states use to calculate savings and averted costs vary and therefore figures are not comparable. Note that this figure can include operational savings resulting from incarceration reductions as well as averted costs from avoiding the construction of new facilities.
    • Reinvestment includes both up-front and subsequent investments from savings, averted costs, or new dollars.
    • Recidivism data capture the most recent data available in each state. The populations (e.g., people released from prison and/or people placed on probation supervision), measures (e.g., rearrest, reconviction, and (re)incarceration), and time periods (e.g., one, two, or three years) tracked vary from state to state and figures are therefore not comparable. For that reason, an increase in recidivism rates for people released from prison may reflect differences in the underlying population rather than the effectiveness of supervision and rehabilitation strategies.
    Research Areas Crime, justice, and safety
    Policy Centers Justice Policy Center