On behalf of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, Policy Counsel Danyelle Solomon and Counsel Lauren Brooke-Eisen submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science on budget priorities for fiscal year 2015. Pertaining to the Department of Justice’s criminal justice funding, the testimony encouraged the use of Success-Oriented Funding to steer the criminal justice system toward the twin goals of reducing crime and mass incarceration.
“Grounded in economic principles … Success-Oriented Funding ties government dollars as closely as possible to whether agencies or programs meet specific, measurable goals,” reads the testimony, to “drive toward what policymakers and researchers increasingly see as a new, modern, and more effective justice system… Success-Oriented Funding principles improve the use of taxpayer money, promote accountability and reduce government waste.”
The testimony identifies ways in which both President Obama’s recent budget and Republicans and Democrats in Congress have supported criminal justice funding reform. It calls on committee members to fully fund the Byrne Incentive grant, Innovation grant, and Competitive grant programs, parts of the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program, the largest federal grant for criminal justice, that contain some Success-Oriented Funding principles.
Brennan Center Testimony House Appropriations Subcommittee CJS 2014