Vera Institute — State and Local Issues — Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

Galsworthy Criminal Justice Reform Program

State and Local Issues

Because 90% of all prisoners in the United States are in state facilities, the work that states are doing to reduce their prison populations is crucial. Attempting to end mass incarceration necessitates realizing this is a situation requiring not one national solution, but fifty state solutions. Below are current state solutions that could be effectively modeled by other states for meaningful reform.

Posts tagged Vera Institute

‘Disrupting Prison’ Reform Initiative Expands to Six States

“Three new states have been selected to participate in a model national initiative designed to test whether incarceration strategies used in Germany and Norway can work for young adult offenders in the United States. North Dakota, Colorado and Idaho will join the “Restoring Promise” initiative spearheaded by the Vera Institute of Justice and MILPA Collective, a California-based nonprofit led by former incarcerees, in what organizers called an effort to “disrupt and transform the living and working conditions inside American prisons and jails.”“

The Crime Report

November 19, 2019

State ReformsPhillip ReevesNovember 19, 2019The Crime Report, Vera Institute, MILPA Collective, North Dakota, Colorado, IdahoComment

People in Prison in 2018

“The overall 1.8% decline in the national prison incarceration rate was driven by the large decrease in the number of people in federal prisons, as well as greater than 5% declines in incarceration rates in seven states. However, the declines were not universal. Mass incarceration is still on the rise in some states, such as Indiana, Texas, and Wyoming.“

Vera Institute

April 24, 2019

State ReformsPhillip ReevesApril 24, 2019Vera InstituteComment

Crisis at the Crossroads of America

“The recent jail growth in Indiana is reminiscent of the decades when mass incarceration was being built up across the country. In many states, from the early 1980s until the early 2000s, a 32 percent increase in jail population over two years was not uncommon. But around the mid-2000s, growth in the U.S. incarceration rate began to slow. Declines, rather than rapid growth, became the norm.”

Vera Institute

October 20, 2018

State ReformsPhillip ReevesOctober 20, 2018Vera Institute, IndianaComment