Corrections

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.

Please join the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) webinar, The Evidence Behind Swift and Certain Sanctions, on Monday, November 10 at 3 p.m. EDT. The webinar will explore the effects of swift and certain sanctions and highlight one local and one statewide project that have substantially implemented the model as part of their community supervision strategies.

A Judicial Conversation on Emerging Evidentiary Issues and Alcohol

Depending on the state's laws, underage drinking offenses may be referred to a number of courts including juvenile court, traffic court, criminal court, or family court, depending on the offense. Over time many states have adopted changes in state law enabling law enforcement to charge minors based officer observations, and theories of constructive possession. As these underage drinking cases are brought forward the courts are also asked to accept the results of fuel cell developed evidence of the offense.

The Evidence Behind Swift and Certain Sanctions in Community Supervision

Historically, many community supervision agencies have had few meaningful intermediate sanctions for when offenders are found in violation; agencies have had the unenviable task of trying to improve offender accountability with few tools to increase compliance. In an effort to enhance offender accountability, many localities over the last decade have tested programs to improve the speed and certainty of intermediate sanctions.

The Urban Institute, in coordination with the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), released a policy brief titled Improving Recidivism as a Performance Measure. The policy brief outlines the essential elements states should use when defining, collecting, analyzing, and disseminating recidivism data. These four elements are described as:

NCSL Webinar - Health Care for Aging Prisoners

This webinar, facilitated by the National Conference of State Legislatures, will address policy options for states to consider to reduce health care costs for older and sicker inmates. State spending on health care for prisoners increased in 41 states between 2007 and 2011, with a median growth of 13 percent. Although there has been a slight downturn in spending since the 2009 peak of $8.2 billion, a majority of states are working to address and reduce prison health care costs.

Please join the National Criminal Justice Association (NCJA) webinar, Inside the Beltway: A Look at the State of Criminal Justice Funding and Legislation in DC, on Wednesday, September 17 at 3 p.m. EDT.  This webinar will feature an interactive discussion with  NCJA Director of Government Affairs Elizabeth Pyke about the status of current legislation, the federal budget process, and appropriations issues.

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