Criminal Justice Budgeting Series

Civil and Criminal Justice

This series of briefs provides state legislators and staff with an overview of the interplay between state budgets and the criminal justice system. These briefs identify opportunities for policy changes that can be fiscally beneficial while still ensuring public safety and encouraging successful outcomes for individuals involved with the justice system.

NCSL on
Reducing Spending, Preserving Public Safety in Criminal Justice Budgets
Strained state budgets have reignited the conversation on effective ways to ensure public safety while reducing spending.

NCSL on
Reducing Admissions to Jails and Prisons
This brief explores policy options such as improving responses to individuals with mental health needs and making changes to criminal offenses, including decriminalizing and “defelonizing” some offenses.
label-table

NCSL on
Shortening Length of Stay
Changes to sentencing policies include the elimination of some mandatory minimums and streamlining the process of parole release. States have also expanded opportunities for release by adopting sentence credits and geriatric parole.

NCSL on
Reducing Revocations of Community Supervision for Rule Violations
States can reduce correctional costs without compromising public safety by exploring policy changes such as limiting arrests and incarceration before revocation hearings, capping imprisonment duration, and allowing non-prison sanctions.

This series was prepared under a partnership project of the National Conference of State Legislatures’ Criminal Justice Program in Denver and The Pew Charitable Trusts’ public safety performance project, Washington, D.C.