This brief describes the efforts the state of Delaware has made using justice reinvestment to reduce its incarcerated population while ensuring public safety. �Justice reinvestment is a data-driven approach to corrections policy that seeks to cut spending and reinvest savings in practices that have been empirically shown to improve safety and hold offenders accountable � As other jurisdictions consider how best to invest limited public safety dollars, Dela�ware�s experience offers a helpful example of what can be accomplished through a close consideration of data and social science. Because it is a unified system�one of only a handful in which the state�s Department of Correction has custody of both pretrial and sentenced populations�Delaware�s recent work is relevant not only to other states, but also to local jurisdictions, which typically are responsible for jail populations� (p. 1). Sections following an executive summary are: background; Delaware Justice Reinvestment Task Force findings and recommendations�analyzing the data (Delaware�s large pretrial population, probation violations, and long lengths of stay), five recommendations, and projected fiscal impact; moving from research to legislation�pretrial risk assessment, responses to violations of supervision, and recidivism reduction; and conclusion. SOURCE: Vera Institute of Justice (New York, NY). Authored by James, Juliene. [read the full story here]
