The Council of State Governments Justice Center recently launched Justice Counts, a new initiative to help policymakers and criminal justice practitioners make better decisions about public safety using data.
In criminal justice systems across the country, data is often collected but not analyzed, shared or acted upon due to individual agencies lacking the time, ability or directive to do so. To address this issue, Justice Counts will create a network of partners across all 50 states and thousands of counties and cities to develop a set of criminal justice metrics that any state or agency can use.
That network, which consists of officials in policymaking, law enforcement, courts, corrections and behavioral health, will study up-to-date, public criminal justice data from each state to identify gaps in collection and opportunities for improvement, then work to create a set of key criminal justice metrics that drive budget and policy decisions. The group will then develop tools and resources to enable policymakers and criminal justice professionals to examine their current practices, adopt this data metric and improve public safety in their communities.
View the Justice Counts page on the Council of State Governments website to learn more about this initiative, which is also supported by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance.
The CSG is a region-based forum that was founded to foster the exchange of insights and ideas to help state officials shape public policy, and the CSG Justice Center develops research-driven strategies to increase public safety and strengthen communities.
As the CSG Justice Center’s new initiative aims to address, there is much work to do to improve corrections, both within the prison system and within communities, in the interest of public safety. GEO Reentry Services is working closely with officials all the time to develop programs that reduce recidivism, strengthen communities, and help alleviate pressure on prison and jail systems.
GEO Reentry provides evidence-based treatment and supervision programs for adult probationers, parolees and pretrial defendants in residential, in-prison and non-residential reentry centers. Learn more about GEO Reentry’s programming and program outcomes.