Invest in evidence-based reforms that
reduce crime and incarceration
The Challenge
The number of people incarcerated in the United States increased nearly five-fold between 1972 and 2010, fueled in part by federal policies and legislation including the “War on Drugs” and the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act. In recent years, there has been bipartisan recognition that this dramatic increase resulted in an overuse of incarceration as a response to crime. Significant research over the past twenty years suggests that incarceration has limited long-term effect on crime rates, and that the public safety impact of incarceration diminishes as the rate of incarceration increases. In addition, many conservative organizations and lawmakers have criticized the exorbitant costs of incarceration and the government’s overreach to criminalize behavior that could be otherwise addressed without justice involvement.
People suffering from homelessness, mental health issues, and substance use issues have been particularly impacted by over-incarceration policies. Connections between the justice system and other social services, such as mental health treatment, drug and alcohol addiction treatment, and education need to be strengthened. Many cities, however, lack the necessary training to identify and deal with the cross-cutting issues of social services and criminal justice. Consequently, people who should not be incarcerated, end up in jail or prison. According to recent estimates, 37 percent of people in state prison and 44 percent of people in local jails have had mental health problems, and more than half of people in state prison and local jail have drug abuse issues. Jails have, therefore, become our cities’ largest homeless shelters, mental health hospitals, and drug treatment facilities.
The impact of incarceration is not only felt by the person who is in jail or prison. More than 2.7 million minor children (under age 18) have a parent who is incarcerated, and more than half of incarcerated parents were the primary income earners for their children prior to incarceration. Having an incarcerated parent is correlated with negative life outcomes, including behavioral health issues and poor academic achievement, thus contributing to generational trauma and prolonged community instability. In addition, research suggests that the overall well-being of communities with high exposure to the criminal justice system is negatively impacted, leading to elevated levels of depression and anxiety even for community members who have no personal contact with the justice system. Collectively, over-reliance on incarceration weakens the social and economic fabric of communities, and limits their ability to effectively respond to new shocks and stresses.
The adverse effects of incarceration policies have been disproportionately experienced by communities of color, particularly the black community. Nationally, African Americans are more than 5 times as likely and Latinos/Hispanics 1.5 times as likely to be incarcerated as whites. The racial disparities remain, even when controlling for other factors such as drug use. For example, drug-related arrest rates are three to four times higher for blacks than whites, even though blacks and whites use drugs at about the same rate. It is more difficult to discern arrest rates among Latinos/Hispanics due to inconsistent data collection methods across states and localities.
The Opportunity
The challenge of over-incarceration can be daunting, but there is a better way. Research suggests that community-based responses to crime may produce better public safety benefits and reduce the detrimental impacts of justice-involvement. Such an approach can be significantly less expensive for taxpayers and addresses the underlying causes of crime rather than simply prosecuting the symptoms of those causes (i.e., the criminal act) thereby contributing to long-term safety and security. The Reverse Mass Incarceration Act of 2017 would incentivize this type of approach by providing grant funding to states to implement evidence-based reforms designed to reduce crime rates and incarceration. A state becomes eligible for these grants if incarceration at the local and state level was reduced by no less than seven percent, and the crime rate did not increase by more than three percent over the preceding three years.
People suffering from mental health and drug use issues require treatment, not incarceration. Cities and states have implemented innovative and evidence-based approaches ranging from treatment courts to diversion programs, such as Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) and the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PARRI) to more effectively address these issues.
These programs give police the tools they need to divert people arrested for low-level offenses, including those with substance use issues, to drug treatment and other community-based services in lieu of prosecution and incarceration. Early research into LEAD is promising; LEAD is associated with nearly 60 percent lower odds of arrest following referral. And, DOJ’s COPS Office identified PAARI as a strategy that successfully addresses opioid use.
While overincarceration remains a significant issue, incarceration has already been reduced by 13 percent from its peak in 2007–2008. The Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), led by the Department of Justice in collaboration with the Pew Charitable Trusts and Council of State Governments Justice Center, has contributed to this reduction. JRI teams work with elected officials law enforcement agencies, and other stakeholders to identify the forces — such as crime, sentencing decisions, and probation/parole policies — that contribute to incarceration growth in a given state, and develop tailored reforms to address those forces. Due to its success, JRI has enjoyed overwhelming bipartisan support. Funding for JRI should be increased by $2.5 million to support parallel reforms at the juvenile justice-level, and DOJ’s commitment to working with states and localities via JRI should be reaffirmed.
Action Steps
Legislative
Congress should continue to support, and increase funding levels for the Justice Reinvestment Act.
Congress should pass the Reverse Mass Incarceration Act of 2017 which would provide federal incentive grants to reduce states’ prison population.
Executive
DOJ should publicly reaffirm its support for the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, and call on Congress to increase funding levels.
DOJ should continue to provide local communities with training and technical assistance to improve the use of diversion programs, and provide targeted grant funding to help scale the programs to other jurisdictions.
DOJ should rescind recent directives to federal prosecutors instructing them to charge all defendants with the most serious charges possible, and instead, allow for prosecutorial discretion particularly for lower-level drug offenses.
NIJ should assist communities by studying local diversion and alternative to incarceration programs, and identifying national best practices.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) should continue its work with local communities to build resilient and trauma-informed cities where children and adult community members receive appropriate treatment and support to overcome traumatic and stressful situations, including those related to violence and incarceration.
The Administration should rescind Executive Order 13768, a ban on providing federal funding to Sanctuary Cities, as the grants referenced above should benefit all tax-paying members of the community, notwithstanding tensions between local and federal authorities related to immigration enforcement.
