The Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice (CCJJ) analyzed state corrections and criminal justice data and developed a comprehensive set of evidence-based policy recommendations to reduce recidivism, hold offenders accountable, and control the state’s prison growth. When fully implemented, the recommendations are projected to reduce prison growth by 2,551 inmates over the next 20 years and thereby avert $542 million in corrections spending. 

CCJJ recommends that a portion of the savings from averted prison costs be reinvested into expanding treatment options, strengthening community supervision, improving reentry services, and reducing burdens on local jurisdictions. With over 95 percent of offenders returning to our communities after serving time in prison or jail, JRI focuses on changing criminal behavior and improving public safety.

JRI Goals for Recidivism Reduction

• Focus prison beds on serious and violent offenders

• Strengthen probation and parole supervision

• Improve and expand re-entry and treatment services

• Match resources to offender's needs

• Support local corrections systems

• Ensure oversight and accountability

Long-Term Solutions

JRI is an approach that develops long-term solutions to a public safety problem plaguing our society – and the resulting policies will have a lasting impact. While other states have seen significant benefits from data driven and evidence-based criminal justice reforms, this is an ongoing process that will require continuous monitoring and improvements to policies and implementation in order to see the full impact they’ll have in Utah. Moving forward, CCJJ and its partners, through its Executive Committee, will focus on the following four areas as we seek to continue and improve the long-term impact of these reforms:

1. Local Criminal Justice Coordination (formation of coordinating bodies in counties or regions, increased information flow)
2. No Entry (improving a service system that keeps individuals out of the criminal justice system, and helps those within it avoid the cycle of incarceration)
3. Implementation Fidelity (applying the recommendations of the recent Legislative audit, with an emphasis on evidence-based supervision, treatment practices, and data sharing)
4. Redefining Success and Recidivism (developing new measures to capture outcomes in the criminal justice system, with an emphasis on promoting success)