Arizona
Arizona Statewide Effort
In 2008, a bipartisan group of state policymakers in Arizona asked the CSG Justice Center to help them implement a justice reinvestment approach to make fiscally sound decisions about corrections policies that would advance public safety goals.
Data-Driven Analysis & Policy
To determine what was driving increases in the prison population, the Justice Center provided state policymakers and stakeholders with an analysis based on a comprehensive review of data from multiple agencies.
- High rates of failure among people on probation supervision contributed significantly to the projected growth in the prison population.
- In FY 2006, more than 4,000 probationers were revoked to prison for conditions violations at a cost of $100 million to the state. Of those admitted to prison for failing on probation, 79 percent were identified as property or drug offenders.
- People who violated the conditions of their probation accounted for one-third of all prison admissions. These probation violators served, on average, sixteen months in prison after their probation was revoked.
- People on probation may be eligible to earn up to twenty days off their term of supervision for every thirty days they demonstrate positive progression and compliance with their conditions of supervision, participate in their community service assignments, and adhere to court-ordered restitution payments.
- Probationers who violate conditions of release lose whatever time they initially earned off of their period of supervision.
- Probation departments that reduce crime (measured by new felony convictions committed by people on probation) and revocations to state prison receive a portion of the savings they have generated for the state.
- Forty percent of the savings associated with reduced probation revocations will be returned to the county. The county must reinvest those savings to supplement, not supplant, existing state and county funding used for victim services, probation risk-reduction strategies, and substance abuse treatment at the county level.
In June 2008, the Arizona Legislature enacted, with overwhelming bipartisan support, the Safe Communities Act, which established incentives for people on probation to comply with their conditions of release and encouraged county probation departments to adopt evidence- based practices to improve community supervision and reduce recidivism.
Impact of the Justice Reinvestment Policies
An analysis conducted by the state of the new policies revealed a decline in probation revocations from the FY 2008 baseline to FY 2010.
- The number of people on probation who were revoked to state prison declined from 6,801 to 4,913, a drop of 1,888 revocations or nearly 28 percent.
- The number of people revoked from probation to county jails declined from 719 to 441, a drop of 278 revocations or almost 39 percent.
- The number of probationers who were convicted for another felony crime while on supervision also declined from 3,174 to 2,188, a decline of 31 percent.
- If the rate of revocations to the Department of Corrections had remained at 2008 levels, the state would have had to spend $35.9 million in 2010 to house the additional prisoners.
Reinvestment in Strategies to Increase Public Safety
Policymakers at the state, county, and local level worked to design and implement a comprehensive public safety strategy in neighborhoods with high crime and incarceration rates.
- In 2008, policymakers from the Governor’s Office, Department of Corrections, Maricopa County, and experts from Arizona State University (ASU) leveraged their collective resources and expertise to focus and coordinate the supervision of people on probation and parole and address substance abuse, mental illness, and poverty among other issues.
- State parole and county probation offices worked with social workers, churches, and other community groups to provide job training, counseling, and other social services to people on community supervision. Additionally, they worked to link returning offenders, youth, and families to services that can help reduce juvenile delinquency and recidivism.
- Maricopa County officials also partnered with ASU to establish a Community Crime Analysis Center (CCAC) to analyze crime trends and the effectiveness of crime-reduction strategies being deployed in identified neighborhoods by state, county, and local officials and community-based organizations.