Justice Reinvestment Initiative Funding and Performance Goals - Gary R. Syphus
Last Updated: May 26, 2015

House Bill 348, Criminal Justice Programs and Amendments, amended current criminal justice statute, and legislators appropriated approximately $14 million ($12 million ongoing and $2 million one-time) to help meet the requirements in the bill. The changes in policy and funding are far-reaching. 
Some of the new requirements include:
  1. New standards for mental health and substance treatment,
  2. Reduced penalties for certain offenses,
  3. Enhanced tracking of offenders in order to better assess and treat, and
  4. A requirement to create standardized graduated sanctions to address offender violations.

The new funding spans across four agencies and includes pass-through funds to local governments to meet the requirements in the new law. The table below provides a breakdown of the funding associated with the changes in the law.

With this funding comes the expectation of certain desired results. The Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice submitted the following outcome measures in the performance note:
  1. Reduce prison population (estimated CY 2016 prison population is 7,145 with a target to reduce population to 6,118 by CY 2020),
  2. Increase successful discharges from prison (estimated FY 2016 parole success rate at 20% aimed to increase to 25%  by FY 2020; and estimated FY 2016 successful probation rates from 37% to 47% by FY 2020), and
  3. Reduce recidivism with targeted reentry, treatment, and recovery services (estimated FY 2016 parole recidivism rate at 71% with a goal to reduce it to 62%; and estimated FY 2016 probation recidivism rate at 19% to reduce to 16% by FY 2020).