The Strategy: How Justice Reinvestment Works
To get started, policymakers establish a small, high-level, interbranch, bicameral, and bipartisan team of elected and appointed officials to work with the Justice Center’s nationally recognized criminal justice policy experts. These experts then consult with a broad range of stakeholders in the jurisdiction, which may include prosecutors; public defenders; judges; corrections and law enforcement officials; service providers and community leaders; victims and their advocates; people who have been incarcerated; and health, housing, human service, education, and workforce professionals.
Together, these policymakers, experts, and stakeholders move through 3 phases:
1: Analyze data and develop policy options.
Justice Center experts analyze crime, arrest, conviction, jail, prison, and probation and parole supervision data provided by state and local agencies; map specific neighborhoods where large numbers of people under criminal justice supervision live and cross-reference this information with reports of criminal activity and the need for various services (including substance abuse and mental health treatment programs) and resources (such as unemployment or food stamp benefits); and assess available services critical to reducing recidivism. Using that state-specific information, the Justice Center develops practical, data-driven, and consensus-based policies that reduce spending on corrections to reinvest in strategies that can improve public safety.