The Urban Institute and the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) have released a policy brief titled The Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Experiences from the Local Sites. The brief summarizes an interim assessment of the progress and activities of the 17 local sites currently engaged in justice reinvestment. The sites include counties in California, Oregon, Wisconsin, Colorado, Ohio, Texas, Kansas, Indiana, Florida, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
Justice reinvestment is a data-driven approach to criminal justice reform designed to examine and address cost and population drivers to generate cost savings. The ultimate goal of Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI) is to reinvest cost savings generated by the reforms into effective public safety strategies. After considering an array of strategies to slow the growth of jail populations, the agreed-upon strategies are implemented and their cost savings and effect on system outcomes are documented.