Justice Reform and Recidivism

Moderator: Joe Adams (PARCA)

Speakers:

Stephen Stuart, Bureau of Government Research

Steve Geherke, Utah Department of Corrections
Eric K. Hutchings, Speaker Pro Tem, Utah Legislature
 Estimated annual cost of $80 Billion (2012)

Bureau of Justice Statistics: https://www.bjs.gov/glance_redirect.cfm

 A common refrain
among reformers
is that “we should
lock up people
we are scared of
not people we
are mad at.”

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/michelle-ye-hee-lee/
Women and girls commit fewer violent crimes.
One of the major recommendations
of our initial report was to have the
state adopt a risk-based approach to
incarceration, which would include
closing Tutwiler and building a
smaller maximum security unit.

We incorporated the entirety of a

report entitled “Gender-Responsive
Strategies for Women Offenders,” by
the Department of Justice, National
Institute of Corrections.
A New Juvenile Justice Code was enacted in 2008
In the early 2000s, Texas spent about
$1 billion a year Imprisoning people
from seven school districts.

According to Tony Fabelo, former

Director of the Texas Criminal Justice
Policy Council, Texas spent more than
$650 million in litigation due
to overcrowding.

Reforms were a fiscal necessity.

Houston

Seven neighborhoods accounted for 5 percent of

the City’s population and 25 percent of the City’s
returning prison population.
Houston

Seven neighborhoods accounted for 5 percent of the

City’s population and 25 percent of the City’s
returning prison population.
This is Tony’s basic visualization
regarding prison overcrowding.

At a rate of 12 per day, 4,380 new beds

are required each year. That was
unsustainable.