On May 27, 2021, the Millennial Action Project (MAP) hosted a webinar for state legislators entitled “Bipartisan Coalition Building with Justice Reinvestment” to address the role of justice reinvestment initiatives in state level criminal justice reform efforts. The event was moderated by MAP State Caucus Manager, Blaine Volpe, and consisted of a panel of legislators and experts in the field:

Missouri State Representative Shamed Dogan (R)
Director of State Initiatives at the Council of State Governments, Elizabeth Lyon
Director of Public Safety Performance Project at the Pew Charitable Trust, Jake Horowitz
Senior Policy Advisor at the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Heather Tubman-Carbone, PhD
Director of Policy and Campaigns at the Crime and Justice Institute, Len Engel

The panelists participated in a stimulating conversation about the critical need for bipartisan coalitions around justice reinvestment, discussed the logistics of state governments working with nonprofits and governmental agencies for technical assistance in the area, and shared success stories from states who have begun the justice reinvestment process. The conversation provided a forum for legislators to learn about the theoretical framework of justice reinvestment, connect with grantmaking resources such as the Council on State Governments and the Pew Charitable Trust, and hear about tangible, bipartisan legislative initiatives making an impact around the country.

Justice reinvestment is a data driven process that requires the collaboration of all three branches of government, as well as third party experts. It consists of two distinct phases: an initial research stage, and subsequent implementation. Through this process, states can identify their “pressure points” and do more with their limited resources by prioritizing funding programs that create better outcomes for offenders. Under the direction of this data driven process, states are able to improve the interface between behavioral health and justice systems, tackle prison overcrowding, more effectively reduce recidivism, and ultimately reduce the overall size of their criminal justice system.

Rep. Dogan began the discussion by highlighting his own experience with justice reinvestment as a Republican legislator from Missouri. In 2017, Missouri established a Justice Reinvestment Task Force in response to a prison population crisis that jeopardized the fiscal sustainability of the state's department of corrections. The legislature took action by passing legislation in the 2018 and 2019 sessions which sought to decrease the size and cost of the state's prison system by providing better resources and more appropriate sentencing options to offenders. Through these efforts, Rep. Dogan explained that the state successfully decreased its prison population, in turn saving resources and allowing for a reallocation of funds to better pay correctional officers and fund other programs.

While Missouri is a particularly good example of the power of justice reinvestment initiatives, Dr. Tubman-Carbone argued that this success is possible in every state. According to Dr. Tubman-Carbone, justice reinvestment is a process that can be tailored to the problems, correctional systems, and social landscapes of any state, because it brings two things to the table that other initiatives don’t: problem identification, and input from a wide array of stakeholders.

Jake Horowitz touched on the two types of advancements that stem from justice reinvestment initiatives: the individual achievements of states in improving criminal justice outcomes, and the establishment of “portfolio thinking.” The achievement of states seeks to answer the basic question of how program performance metrics and funding allocations are impacted as a result of justice reinvestment efforts. While the achievement metrics may be a focal point for many, Horowitz argued that the development of portfolio thinking in a state is far more important in determining justice reinvestment's success. Horowitz argued that the preeminent concern at the outset of justice reinvestment initiatives should not be on bottom line expenditures, but rather on“laws on the books and the policy at the agency and court levels,” which requires the system to prioritize better outcomes, eventually at a lower cost to taxpayers.

Lastly, in detailing the role of technical assistance providers in the work of justice reinvestment, Elizabeth Lyon explained that legislators need a team of neutral third party researchers to provide them with the information required to craft solutions. Justice reinvestment gives states the opportunity to connect all three branches of government, and organizations like the Council of State Governments (CSG) seek to provide an informatic link between these branches. As a resource, CSG and other technical assistance providers listen to what states are seeking to address, and help them craft and create a process that will investigate what changes need to be made.

As more attention is paid to the outsized cost and poor performance of many states' criminal justice systems, state legislators will continue to play a pivotal role in advancing solutions for their communities. If you’d like to learn more about justice reinvestment, please find a list of resources our panelists discussed, as well as some MAP criminal justice reform resources below. Feel free to email policy@millennialaction.org for further questions.