CSGJC helping communities nationally to adopt and scale evidence-based and data-driven approaches to ensure successful reentry for people with substance use disorders and other complex needs

The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center requests $1,000,000 from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to provide an innovative, comprehensive set of supports to help localities enhance successful reintegration; use community-based strategies to address those in the reentry population who are at risk of committing or being victims of violent crime; ensure access to treatment for those in the reentry population who have behavioral health needs; and increase trust in local justice system actors.  

The CSG Justice Center will select three local or Tribal jurisdictions to conduct reentry landscape analyses (or system mapping) and receive intensive training and technical assistance (TTA) to increase public safety and health, improve community trust and legitimacy in the criminal justice system, and strengthen social capital for people with criminal records. The comprehensive approach will comprise three long-term objectives to transform their supervision and reentry systems: 1) scaling up access to stable housing, substance use treatment, health care, education, employment, and other supports for people with criminal records; 2) clearing away unnecessary barriers to opportunities and economic mobility; and 3) advancing racial equity by using data to understand and address racial disparities in access to services, quality of services, and outcomes.  

The proposed landscape analyses and TTA address a critical gap in current reentry strategies by targeting those localities whose readiness to support people in reentry will be most determinative of national reentry outcomes. The activities directly align with the priorities of this program, including accelerating justice and the capacity of criminal justice leaders to reduce rates of incarceration, community correctional control, and racial disparities; increasing diversion opportunities; targeting and reducing crime; enhancing collaboration across justice, behavioral health, and public health to address barriers for people impacted by the criminal justice system and historically underserved or marginalized; improving relationships between communities and the criminal justice system; and institutionalizing innovative practices implemented during the pandemic.  

The CSG Justice Center is uniquely qualified to lead this project and serve as an information clearinghouse given its extensive experience leading fieldwide TTA centers and serving as the TTA provider for more than 1,500 BJA grantees. Together with the Community-Based Public Safety Collective and the Latino Coalition for Community Leadership, the CSG Justice Center will advance a new, comprehensive approach to improving reentry that prioritizes equity and combines population-based system reforms with targeted interventions for individuals, and community-led violence prevention efforts with corrections- and community supervision-based recidivism-reduction strategies