Analysis Area 1: Examine state and county criminal justice investments over time to assess how the state’s spending aligns with public safety priorities.
Update: In February, CSG Justice Center staff in collaboration with the Delivery System Standards and Funding Policy Working Group submitted a report to the Minnesota state legislature that outlined the Justice Reinvestment policy recommendations, including a proposal for moving the community supervision system to a single funding formula. Similarly, CSG Justice Center staff in collaboration with the Governor’s Council on Justice Reinvestment submitted a parallel report to the governor’s office as mandated by Executive Order 21-34. After submitting these reports, CSG Justice Center staff continued to have conversations with stakeholders to build consensus on the new funding model.
Analysis Area 2: (A) Assess the availability of treatment, programming, and other community resources to improve supervision outcomes throughout Minnesota. (B) Assess the types of programming and treatment available to people in the criminal justice system through prisons and other correctional facilities.
Update: In February, CSG Justice Center staff submitted reports to the legislature and governor that outlined the Justice Reinvestment policy options, which included a recommendation to improve access to behavioral health care in the community for people under community supervision. Additional conversations with behavioral health practitioners revealed that many of the strategies outlined under this policy option are being pursued by other parties, including reducing barriers to obtaining professional licenses, suspending rather than terminating Medicaid, and increasing the availability of telehealth treatment for people on supervision. As a result, the Governor’s Council on Justice Reinvestment opted to deprioritize this policy option in favor of those that strengthen supervision practices and standardize funding for the probation system. Some council members, however, continue to be interested in introducing legislation that addresses the unintended consequences of the direct service model, which allows patients to make decisions about their own treatment, for the corrections population.
Analysis Area 3: Assess the fidelity of supervision practices (e.g., supervision levels by assessed risk; conditions of supervision most likely to increase successful outcomes and reduce recidivism, revocation, rearrest, or reincarceration).
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Update: In February, CSG Justice Center staff submitted reports to the legislature and governor that outlined the Justice Reinvestment policy options, which included recommendations to:
1. Increase effectiveness and equity across the probation systems.
2. Hold people on probation consistently accountable.
3. Prioritize quality assurance of supervision practices.
4. Reduce racial disparities across the supervision system.
5. Engage victims of crime in meaningful, restorative supervision practices.
6. Measure outcomes.
During the fourth and fifth meetings of the Governor’s Council on Justice Reinvestment, members identified policies that could be accomplished through grant conditions, administrative changes, and improvements to policies and procedures. They also identified recommendations that require legislative action and have prioritized two recommendations: (1) establishing a Justice Reinvestment implementation committee and (2) developing revocation or “halfway back” caseloads. The Justice Reinvestment implementation committee will oversee the implementation of several of the recommended policies, including:
• Development of supervision service standards and definitions
• Development of a risk screener and risk and needs assessment tools or mapping of current assessment tools to a universal five-level matrix for consistent, equitable supervision levels
• Implementation of formalized collaborative case planning
• Development of an incentives and sanctions grid
• Development of data outcomes and metrics
• Recommendations to the legislature for the establishment of a proposed Minnesota
Community Corrections Board to take the place of the implementation committee after FY2025, including a proposed governance structure and role for the board
Other Updates:
In Minnesota, there is no yearly deadline for the introduction of bills. However, each year the legislature establishes deadlines for committee action on bills. Committee deadlines are announced during the first half of a session, and in 2022, the first deadline for committees to act favorably on bills in the house of origin is March 25.
CSG Justice Center staff are working on several deliverables including the project overview, an addendum to the report that was submitted to the governor that outlines the priority recommendations, and the final report.
Research Monthly Status:
This month, the CSG Justice Center research team focused on pulling data on national trends to complete deliverables for the project. The team gathered information regarding incarceration, community corrections, and crime rates for states that spend a low amount of money on corrections like Minnesota.
Research Monthly Log:
2/15: Compared crime rates and incarceration rates for states, examining these rates by correctional spending.
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