Background:
House Bill 348, passed during the 2015 General Session, reformed procedures and practices in Utah’s criminal justice system. Policies in the reform package was premised around several key objectives, including prioritizing use of prison for serious and violent offenders; improving outcomes for offenders by strengthening supervision and expanding treatment services; and ensuring oversight and accountability. This fifth annual report provides an update on how well the system is meeting the policy objectives of House Bill 348 while providing a discussion around current challenges.
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The share of the prison population that is non-violent continues to be lower through our current criminal justice policies. Policies that reduced prison length of stay and lowered certain low level drug penalties have reduced the percent of the prison population that is non-violent from 41 to 34 percent.
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Utah’s prison population exceeded its post-reform projections in fiscal year 2018 and continues in fiscal year 2019. While the prison population remains below projections absent criminal justice reform, current numbers are above House Bill 348 projections causing concerns around future prison bed space.
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More justice involved individuals are accessing substance use treatment through Utah’s public behavioral system. The number of justice involved individuals admitted to substance use treatment continued to increase throughout fiscal year 2019. Though this upward trend is encouraging, a significant number of individuals entering the criminal justice system remain in need of treatment services.
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Oversight and accountability for criminal justice reform requires continued and expanded collaboration. Providing and informing state leaders with the best information possible is contingent on increased partnership and data sharing across state and local entities.
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CCJJ and its partner agencies are responding to the system’s current challenges. A newly developed House Bill 348 action plan and intensified criminal justice stakeholder collaboration is taking place to course-correct the system’s current trajectory while guiding it to a better place.