Home/Our Work/State Policy and Performance/Sentencing and Corrections

Sentencing and Corrections

The size and cost of America’s prison system has skyrocketed during the last few decades, largely as a result of laws and policies that put more offenders behind bars and keep them there longer. Yet recidivism rates remain stubbornly high, and crime still is a major public concern.

State policy makers across the nation are asking whether soaring prison budgets are the best path to public safety. Increasingly, they are finding the answer is “No.”

The Public Safety Performance Project was established in 2006. It helps states advance fiscally sound, research-based policies and practices in sentencing and corrections that protect public safety, hold offenders accountable and control corrections costs.

The project carries out these objectives by:

  • helping states collect and analyze data—who is admitted to their prisons, how long they stay, who returns—and the implications of corrections practices for public safety and state budgets;
  • improving states’ understanding of how their existing policies, practices and outcomes for dealing with criminal offenders compare to those of other states; and
  • encouraging states to use the best research available to advance reforms that will reduce crime and recidivism, and deliver a solid return on taxpayers’ investments.

It also helps state officials and others share state-of-the-art knowledge and ideas through policy forums; public opinion surveys; multi-state meetings; national, regional and state-level meetings; and online information.

A part of the Pew Center on the States, the project works with several external partners, including the Council of State Governments Justice Center, and the Vera Institute of Justice.

For more information, visit the Public Safety Performance Project Web Site.

Report

Related Content

Media Coverage

A/V WebCast

Click here to Subscribe to News Feeds
 

E-Alerts & Newsletter

Stay updated with Pew News Now! We invite you to sign up to receive our weekly e-mail newsletter.


Contacts

For more information on this area of Pew's work please contact