The State Council of Governments Justice Reinvestment team was back in the state on Sept. 15th and 16th with some new data to share with policy makers.
Some of the highlights from that presentation were:
***Crime rates (both violent and property) have been DECREASING in both North Carolina and the rest of the nation between 2000 and 2009.
***At the same time, North Carolina's prison population has INCREASED by 29%.
***Department of Correction expenditures INCREASED by 68% between 2000 and 2009.
SUPERVISION BY RISK LEVELS RECOMMENDED
Justice Reinvestment has further refined information about supervision by risk levels. Tony Fabello and Marshall Clement have recommended allocating all probation resrouces by level of risk. They've noted that, until Sept. 1, 2010, probation has been managing all supervised offenders the same, regardless of risk.
Nine percent of NC minimum risk level offenders were rearrested within one year compared to 31% of high risk offenders. Justice Reinvestment suggests focusing fewer resources on the minimum risk offender group and more on the moderate and high risk. If those resources are re-focused, they can be used more effectively without an increase in cost.
Probation managers report that they are already responding to the Justice Reinvestment recommendations and that they began a new supervision system on Sept. 1. They are now managing offenders according to five different risk levels. The new system will not change the sanctions for Intermediate and Community offenders set up under the Sentencing Structure. The structure does present obstacles for supervising offenders by risk.
Justice Reinvestment is supportive of probation's effort to change the "culture of probation supervision" and recognizes that endeavor will take time. They support a move from "supervising paper" to "engaging people."
PRE-SENTENCE REPORTS
Research Director Tony Fabello recommended conducting the first assessment for all probationers sooner than the 60 day period anticipated by probation and said it's a "best practice" to provide an initial assessment at sentencing. He also recommended continuing periodic assessments.
INCREASED CONVICTIONS AND REVOCATIONS IN THE LOWER FELONY RANGES
