Public Safety Performance Project

Between 1980 and 2013, the federal imprisonment rate increased 518 percent while annual taxpayer spending on federal prisons rose 595 percent. Prison expenditures grew from 14 percent of the Justice Department’s total outlays to 23 percent, increasingly competing for resources with law enforcement and national security programs.

Six state legislative leaders reflect on how they successfully enacted comprehensive sentencing and corrections reforms using a bipartisan, interbranch working group and focusing on data and research to craft policies that met their unique challenges.

Anticipating substantial growth in prison population and costs, Oregon lawmakers in 2013 enacted comprehensive sentencing and corrections reform legislation (House Bill 3194). Since then, the state has stabilized its prison population and redirected nearly $58 million in savings to front-line public safety programs shown to cut crime and reduce recidivism.