Publications

A Message from our Executive Director:   Dear Fellow Stakeholders, Looking back at 2023, I am proud to share we here at the Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice have made great advancements in the areas of criminal and juvenile justice policies, services for victims of crime, data connections, innovative geospatial research, and ongoing statewide disbursement of federal and state

Background: Over the last two decades, the forfeiture process in Utah has gone through various procedural changes along with changes to how funding is to be allocated and used. During the 2015 Utah General Legislative Session, Senate Bill 52 was passed creating additional reporting requirements for state and federal forfeitures. During the 2017 Utah General Legislative Session, Senate Bill 70

This seventh annual report provides an update on juvenile justice reform policies that were passed in Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 and subsequent years.▸Highlights from this year’s report: Referrals to Utah’s juvenile court system increased in FY 2023. Overall, there were 14,204 referrals to the Juvenile Court in FY 2023. This represents an increase of 11.4% from FY 2022 but an overall

Background: The Utah Sentencing Commission:  Publishes Guidelines Advises all three branches of government on sentencing policy Conducts research Reviews and makes recommendations on legislation Tracks legislative changes to sentencing statutes Tracks judicial decisions related to sentencing issues Assists the legislature in the review and study of sentencing issues Conducts training and education statewide Responds to public comment and inquiries Below

Background: The 20th Annual DUI Report to the Utah Legislature was prepared in accordance with §41-6a-511 of the Utah Code. The statute requires the Utah Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice to prepare an annual report of DUI related data, including the following: Data collected by the state courts to allow sentencing and enhancement decisions to be made in accordance

Background: The criminal justice reforms that Utah passed in 2015 through H.B. 348 were the result of an extensive planning and analysis process bringing together stakeholders across the system in 2014, in consultation with the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance Project and other partners through the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI). The report that this group produced included many recommendations

Background: Over the last two decades, the forfeiture process in Utah has gone through various procedural changes along with changes to how funding is to be allocated and used. During the 2015 Utah General Legislative Session, Senate Bill 52 was passed creating additional reporting requirements for state and federal forfeitures. During the 2017 Utah General Legislative Session, Senate Bill 70

Background Similar to other states, recidivism continues to be a central measure in Utah’s criminal justice system. This site shows trends in 3-year recidivism rates for individuals that served time in prison on a leading felony weapon offense that were released on parole between 2014 and 2018. Four types of recidivism rates are included: 1) any return to prison 2) a return based on one

Overview: Since the early 2000’s, 40 US states have passed criminal justice reform legislation, often formally called the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI). These reforms, while varying by state, aim to improve system performance while controlling costs. Research Question: Critics of justice reform initiatives often argue that the “softer” policies in these reforms may negatively impact public safety, with recent concerns

The work of the Utah Juvenile Justice Working Group laid the foundation for research-based, data-driven policy changes. Moving forward, the state could benefit from making efforts to: 1) understand and adopt research-based approaches to generate positive outcomes for youths diverted from a petition via an NJA, and 2) ensure that NJA practices are implemented with substantial fidelity and quality. As