10-18-12-csg-jc-justice-reinvestmentpr

Contact: Marc Pelka, mpelka@csg.org, 860-659-7092 (cell) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 18, 2012 Pennsylvania General Assembly Sends Justice Reinvestment Bill to Governor Corbett Includes key investments for law enforcement, victim services, probation HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania General Assembly passed House Bill 135 on Tuesday with a House vote of 195 – 0 and a Senate vote of 49 – 0. This is the critical second half of the criminal justice policy framework that began in July with enactment of Senate Bill 100 (now “Act 122”). Both bills are part of a larger effort called Justice Reinvestment, which is a data-driven approach to reduce corrections spending and generate savings to reinvest in strategies that increase public safety.

These bills expand the range of responses available for holding lower-level offenders accountable, increase efficiency in corrections and parole processes, and improve the commonwealth’s efforts to lower recidivism among people on parole supervision through community correction programs.

In addition to the public safety enhancements, the increased efficiencies are projected to generate gross cumulative marginal cost savings of $253 million by Fiscal Year 2017/2018. HB 135 requires that a portion of savings from specified policies would be reinvested to support local law enforcement, victim services, county probation and parole, and other programs and services that work to cut crime and increase criminal justice system effectiveness. In the first year, for example, 75 percent of generated savings will be reinvested according to formulas set in statute.

The legislation’s approval marks the culmination of a bipartisan, inter-branch, and data-driven process launched in January when Governor Tom Corbett established a working group of state cabinet secretaries, Republican and Democratic state lawmakers, and criminal justice system stakeholders, to review comprehensive analyses conducted by Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center staff, in partnership with the Pew Center on the States and the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance.

The justice reinvestment policy framework will strengthen the criminal justice system through three key improvements: creating partnerships with counties for managing lower-level offenders, reducing inefficiencies and delays, and better prioritizing treatment and supervision based upon the risk posed by individuals who access them. 

First, it positions counties to volunteer for a partnership that reimburses a portion of costs locally that the commonwealth otherwise would have borne by incarcerating lower-level offenders in state prison. The reimbursements can be used to develop local offender

management strategies, such as electronic monitoring, day reporting, intensive probation supervision, and more. One-third of all people enter prison with less than one year on their minimum sentence, limiting the DOC’s capacity to deliver programming and the Parole Board’s ability to review cases in a timely manner. 

Second, it addresses costly inefficiencies in corrections and parole system-related delays that both limit the number of cases that could be reviewed each month and halt transition of people approved for parole from prison to supervision. The commonwealth currently spends $77 million annually to incarcerate people who, even though they had been approved for parole supervision, remain in prison because they lack a housing plan, or were participating in a program, or owed a fee or fine.

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Third, it increases the effectiveness of Pennsylvania’s community correction system, by prioritizing intensive residential programs for people on parole supervision who, based on their specific level of criminogenic risk and need, will benefit the most. Furthermore, based in part on concerns raised by district attorneys and victim advocates, it prohibits the placement of offenders in these community-based programs unless they have been approved for parole.

The creation of innovative policing grants is among the reinvestments Pennsylvania is making. The grants are divided in two funding categories: first, for virtual training of police officers and for department accreditation and, second, for local and regional research-based law enforcement strategies to deter and combat crime. This investment can target strategies like hot spot policing, crime analysis, and community partnerships that help to supercharge existing law enforcement personnel by deploying resources more strategically, with better information, and a broader set of tools to prevent crime before it happens.

Now the bill moves on to Governor Corbett’s desk where he is expected to sign it. This legislation, in conjunction with Senate Bill 100, rounds out the working group’s public safety proposals to increase criminal justice system effectiveness and reinvest savings back into the community to strengthen law enforcement as well as to deter and reduce crime and recidivism.

To enhance the state’s capacity to implement the legislation, Pennsylvania will be requesting technical assistance from the CSG Justice Center and funding from BJA that will support training, education, and upgrades to data systems and to support policymakers, practitioners, and staff who will then work to translate policy into practice.

“State leaders across the country are finding bipartisan consensus on a new set of policies aimed at nonviolent offenders that can reduce recidivism and cut costs to taxpayers,” said Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States. “This bill demonstrates that Pennsylvania’s policy makers are serious about protecting public safety while keeping corrections costs in check.”

"The data-driven justice reinvestment approach works to achieve cost savings and public safety improvements at the same time,” said Denise O’Donnell, Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance in the U.S. Department of Justice. “With approval of this legislation, Pennsylvania has set out to utilize the most current strategies in criminal justice that are tailored to the unique issues facing the state.”

The Council of State Governments Justice Center is a national nonprofit organization that serves policymakers at the local, state, and federal levels from all branches of government. The Justice Center

provides practical, nonpartisan advice and consensus-driven strategies—informed by available evidence—to increase public safety and strengthen communities.

The CSG Justice Center’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative to address corrections spending and public safety is a partnership with the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States, with additional support to CSG from the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice. These efforts have provided similar data-driven analyses and policy options to state leaders in 16 other states.

To learn more about the justice reinvestment strategy in Pennsylvania and other states, please visit justicereinvestment.org. ###