Is support for criminal justice reform in red states really still "strong"?

The question in the title of this post is prompted by this lengthy new Arnold Ventures piece titled "Red State Support for Criminal Justice Reform Remains Strong."  I recommend the piece in full, in part because it has plenty of notable content even though its contents do not fully support the title of the piece.  Here are some extended excerpts:

Partisans and pundits like to present criminal justice reform as an issue that pits red states against blue states.  But beyond the headlines, policymakers from both sides of the aisle are working to build a criminal justice system that is more effective, efficient, accountable, and just.  Even following the spike in crime during the Covid-19 pandemic, bipartisan commitment to criminal justice reform has remained remarkably robust — including leadership from conservative coalitions....

In North Carolina, Conservatives for Criminal Justice Reform (CCJR) has gained traction since its founding in 2016 and has advanced several pieces of reform legislation. Their first goal was raising the juvenile age so that a 16- or 17-year-old charged with a low-level felony or misdemeanor would not enter the adult court system.... Other wins included the General Assembly and Senate’s unanimous passage of the Second Chance Act in 2019, which allowed the expungement of nonviolent charges, and Senate Bill 300 in 2021, which was sponsored by three Republican state senators. That bill standardized police officer training and created a database to track uses of force resulting in death or serious injury....

Another organization aiming to reach both sides of the aisle is R Street Institute, a D.C.-based think tank.  Recently, the organization has worked on initiatives concerning the cost-saving success of police-led juvenile diversion programs and cite-and-release programs as an alternative to arrest....

Over the last decade, policy change around marijuana has progressed rapidly.  In November 2022, Maryland and Missouri voters approved ballot measures to legalize recreational marijuana, meaning that it is now legal in just under half of all states (and decriminalized in a majority of states).  Additionally, some of the remaining states are poised to reexamine their cannabis laws this year, including Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Texas, and Oklahoma.

Last October, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt — a Republican who has become a national leader in red state criminal justice reform — ordered a special election for State Question 820, which would have legalized recreational marijuana use. While the referendum ultimately failed, it garnered significant Republican support in the relatively conservative state. It also included some of the most comprehensive marijuana criminal justice reforms seen in any legalization effort to date and will serve as a benchmark for future efforts around the country....

Meanwhile, Americans for Prosperity, a conservative advocacy group, has set their sights on another drug policy long overdue for reform: sentencing disparities between crack and powder cocaine. For over 35 years, the sentencing imbalance between these two types of cocaine has disproportionately and undeniably impacted Black communities. In 2022, the bipartisan Eliminating a Quantifiably Unjust Application of the Law (EQUAL) Act narrowly failed in the Senate after passing the House, and in February 2023 it was reintroduced by a bipartisan group including U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Rand Paul....

In the last five years, 10 states have passed clean slate legislation — policies that expand eligibility for the clearance or sealing of arrest and conviction records, as well as automate that process — for people who have remained crime-free.  Another half dozen states are expected to consider bills around the topic in the coming year or so.  Advocates say the popularity of these efforts is due to a principle all sides can agree on: Bureaucratic barriers should be removed so that more people can get back to work and support themselves....

“Clean Slate efforts have gained strong bipartisan support because they are deeply rooted in the American Dream — the belief that if you work hard, you should be able to get ahead and provide for your family,” says Sheena Meade, CEO of Clean Slate Initiative. ​“Also, people are starting to understand that those who benefit from a second chance are normal folks. One in three Americans have an arrest or conviction record, and most records are not for serious offenses.”

These clean slate policies can have massive impact. For instance, since the implementation of Pennsylvania’s clean slate law in 2019, over 40 million cases have been sealed, benefiting 1.2 million Pennsylvanians.... The Nolan Center for Justice, established by the American Conservative Union Foundation, is also a prominent voice for clean-slate policies. ​“We tailor our approach depending on who we speak to,” explains Kaitlin Owens, Nolan’s deputy director of advocacy. ​“For instance, reaching out to business leaders who can testify on the positives of hiring formerly incarcerated folks can go a long way.”

In addition to its support for people who have recently been released from incarceration, the Nolan Center also works to effectuate change within prisons. For instance, model policy written by Nolan in 2017 around improving the treatment of incarcerated women was distributed to state legislatures via the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative nonprofit organization, resulting in 32 states — many of them southern Republican strongholds — passing such legislation.  One example is North Carolina, which in 2021 passed the Dignity Act limiting the use of restraints and cavity searches on pregnant women, providing access to menstrual products, and ensuring mothers are placed in facilities within a reasonable distance to their children. 

I find it both notable and interesting to see how Arnold Ventures is trying to make the case that "bipartisan commitment to criminal justice reform has remained remarkably robust."  I would not quibble with this claim if the title of this article focused on conservative advocacy groups because all the groups mentioned in the article (and others like Right on Crime) continue to press forward with thoughtful arguments that all sorts of criminal justice reforms are justified by conservative principles.  Put slightly differently, there is certainly a strong case to be made that conservative principles and conservative advocacy groups still strongly support criminal justice reforms.

But the article title claims that "Red State" support for reform "Remains Strong."  This claim could be supported, yet North Carolina is the only state extensively discussed in the article has actually enacted reforms (whereas failed and stalled reform efforts in Oklahoma and elsewhere are also discussed).  Putting aside that many consider North Carolina a purple state (in part because it has a Democratic governor), it is disappointing that the article does not mention an array of notable recent reforms in red states like Florida and Indiana and Ohio.  (And, though the article discusses some federal reform proposals, it does not discuss the recent "bipartisan" work of Congress to reject Washington DC's local effort to reform its criminal code.)

In sum, though I sincerely want to believe that the "bipartisan commitment to criminal justice reform has remained remarkably robust," I see the politics of crime and punishment circa Spring 2023 to be much more nuanced, dynamic and multi-dimensional with a lot of distinct political and practical factors pushing and pulling distinct reform efforts.  And while it is useful to see Arnold Ventures painting a rosy picture concerning modern reform politics, this picture does not seem entirely complete.