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Reducing Prison Populations and Enhancing Public Safety through Justice Reinvestment: Vera Institute of Justice?s Approach to Justice Reinvestment at the State Level

Award Information

Award #
2010-RR-BX-K001
Location
Congressional District
Status
Closed
Funding First Awarded
2010
Total funding (to date)
$4,115,400

Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2010, $2,250,000)

The purpose of the FY 2010 Criminal Justice Reform and Recidivism Reduction Competitive Grant Program is to implement a Justice Reinvestment model. "Justice reinvestment" refers to a data-driven model that: (1) analyzes criminal justice trends to understand what factors are driving the growth in jail and prison populations; (2) develops and implements policy options to manage the growth in corrections expenditures, generates savings in public revenues, and increases the effectiveness of current spending and investment to increase public safety and improve offender accountability; (3) reinvests a portion of the savings into the justice system to further reduce corrections spending and into the community to further prevent crime; and (4) measures the impact of the policy changes and reinvestment resources and holds policymakers accountable for projected results.

The Vera Institute of Justice, Inc will use the FY 10 CJ IRR State-Level Justice Reinvestment Program Implementation Category Two funds to assist state policymakers interested in utilizing a justice reinvestment approach to increase public safety and reduce spending on corrections. In consultation with BJA, the goals of the project are to assist states in developing and implementing data-driven laws and policies that reduce incarceration populations, enhance public safety, reduce criminal justice costs, and improve communities. Using a simulation model, Vera will work with state teams to identify a range of policy options that target the drivers of their corrections population and their criminal justice expenditures and then aim to reduce prison growth, save costs, and improve public safety. The Vera Institute and its partners will assist the state policy teams with the implementation of the selected policy options, opportunities for reinvestment, quality assurance, and performance measurement.

CA/NCF

Date Created: September 19, 2010