Notable comments from AAG about Justice Reinvestment

Earlier this week, Assistant Attorney General Karol Mason delivered these interesting remarks for DOJ's Office of Justice Programs at a big Justice Reinvestment Summit. The full speech is worth review, and here are a few excerpts I found noteworthy:

I think it can legitimately be said that justice reinvestment has transformed the way we approach public safety in this country.  It is no exaggeration to say that it has helped to redefine the missions of our criminal and juvenile justice agencies.  Thanks in great part to the focus that your work has given to justice policies, corrections leaders, law enforcement officials and prosecutors have begun to measure their performance, not just by the narrow metrics of arrests, convictions and confinement, but by actual improvements to public safety.

And this shift in attitude and approach is paying off.  Many states that have engaged in Justice Reinvestment have seen drops in crime rates and imprisonment — and substantial taxpayer savings.

Having just emerged from the recent mid-term elections, it’s worth remarking on another important aspect of justice reinvestment: it’s an approach to justice policy that resonates on both sides of the aisle.  We’ve seen lawmakers who disagree on just about every other policy matter rally around data-driven analysis focused on investing increasingly scarce public resources in programs and policies that work.

State and local governments, representing all political persuasions, have taken on major reforms designed to reduce prison-building costs and redirect precious public funds to programs aimed at reducing crime.  It can honestly be said that, in a climate of intense partisanship, we are witnessing the growth of a broad, bipartisan consensus in city halls, state capitals and Congress around crime and justice policy, thanks in great measure to justice reinvestment....

This progress is reflected in a general downward trend in both crime and incarceration rates throughout the country.  Before the FBI released its most recent data last week, crime had declined nationally by more than 11 percent since President Obama took office. The new FBI data show additional drops in 2013.  On top of that, the rate of incarceration has gone down by more than eight percent since 2009.  It’s the first time these two measures have fallen together in more than 40 years.  This is truly historic! We’re experiencing a moment of public safety unprecedented in most of our lifetimes.

But this is no time to relax.  Those of you who’ve been in this business for a while know that the winds of justice and sentencing policies have always blown hot and cold.  If we don’t take advantage of the momentum we’ve built through Justice Reinvestment and embed this data-driven mindset into mainstream practice, we risk a return to the counterproductive practices of the past.

In fact, truth be told, we are still two nations when it comes to prison trends. The extraordinary success in reducing incarceration that we’ve been able to realize in many states has been offset by continued increases in others.  Now, to be sure, these figures don’t reflect that some of the states with increases are now working through justice reinvestment to change course.  And I’m confident that now we have the wind at our back. But we will have to remain vigilant.