Spotlight Announcement

12/3/2007: Justice Center Releases State Briefs on Justice Reinvestment Policies Enacted in Kansas and Texas

The Council of State Governments Justice Center recently released two new documents describing Texas and Kansas policymakers' recent bipartisan efforts to employ a data-driven "justice reinvestment" strategy to avert projected prison growth and increase public safety.

In Kansas, policymakers enacted legislation designed to encourage local community corrections agencies to develop and implement strategies that will reduce revocation rates among individuals under community supervision. The legislation also authorizes program credits to provide an incentive for individuals to complete certain educational, vocational, or treatment programs while they are incarcerated. Individuals who participate in such programs can have their prison sentences reduced by up to 60 days.

To avert further growth in the Texas prison population, the state legislature enacted measures to improve success rates of people on community supervision, expand the capacity of treatment and diversion programs, and enhance the use of parole for low-risk offenders. By implementing these policies, the state reduced budgeted expenses for the next fiscal biennium by $210.5 million.

The Justice Center, with support from the Public Safety Performance Project of The Pew Charitable Trusts’ Center on the States and the Bureau of Justice Assistance, a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, worked intensively with policymakers in both states to develop policy options aimed at increasing public safety and reducing corrections spending.

To download the Texas and Kansas briefs, or to access more information about the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, please visit www.justicereinvestment.org.