A criminal record creates barriers to jobs, occupational licensing, housing, and higher education opportunities. Click to read our reports and databases on how state legislatures are working to help released offenders successfully transition back into the community.
Use our Community Supervision (probation and parole) enactment database to track legislation in your state, compare laws with the 50-state charts, or read our recent reports.
Americans on probation serve terms of just under two years on average, but 9 in 10 people on probation for at least a year without being rearrested could have served shorter terms without impacting recidivism rates.
COVID-19 has significantly affected the American criminal justice system. In particular, states have tried to reduce involvement with the justice system and limit person-to-person interactions, whether with law enforcement, in courts, in jails and prisons, or with community supervision officers. Read about these and other actions in our brief.
In this Q&A, Utah Representative Eric Hutchings (R) explained how asking the right questions and relying on data have led policymakers to understand the root causes of pressing problems and invest resources wisely.
NCSL Sentencing and Corrections partners with The Pew Charitable Trusts' public safety performance project, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation on sentencing and corrections policies.