Brennan Center’s proposal to reform the federal government’s largest criminal justice funding program by linking federal grant money to modern criminal justice goals.
Success-Oriented Funding
The criminal justice system is full of financial incentives that intentionally or inadvertently help fuel mass incarceration. Government funding is often given to public and private entities without accurate accountability - federally, in states, and at the local level.
But, there is a solution. "Success-Oriented Funding" is simple: fund what works. The policy model would restructure criminal justice funding to ensure better outcomes, ones that reduce both crime and incarceration together. Success-Oriented Funding would extend what the government has already started to implement in education and healthcare. By setting clear goals for success, government can better align public policy goals with funding streams.
Hammered for going around Congress with executive orders, President Obama should go further on voting and transparency, to make government work better.
As the President releases his new budget, he should consider a better system for the criminal justice system: Success-Oriented Funding. The model is simple: fund what works, and dump what doesn't.
“Asking federal anticrime aid applicants a different set of questions might produce better incentives for state and local projects that help reduce mass incarceration in the United States ..."
(source: The Crime Report)
To move the criminal justice system forward, should we be employing the same tactics used at the height of the crime wave in the '80s? Or focus efforts—and dollars—on modern data-driven approaches and away from incarceration?
Conservative and progressive groups, law enforcement, and policy makers have written letters in support of the Brennan Center’s proposal for reform.
Considering their cost and wide allocation, grant programs have a significant effect on criminal justice and corrections policy nationwide. Congress and the DOJ should look at these grant programs as a valuable tool for reform.
As state officials across the nation search for solutions to our criminal justice crisis, they should consider using funding to shape a better system.
This new report from the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law proposes modernizing one key aspect of the criminal justice system: federal prosecutors.
Two decades ago, the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 – known as the “crime bill” – changed the landscape of criminal justice in the United States. The bill was responsible for a dramatic influx of federal funds that helped drive mass incarceration.
For the National Review, Eli Lehrer lauds the Brennan Center’s success-oriented funding proposal for criminal justice reform.
(source: National Review)
At a time of national belt-tightening, it’s important that federal justice grant money goes toward achieving clear goals.
“As it stands, 60 percent of JAG funding over the last three years—totaling more than half a billion dollars—has gone to law enforcement activities."
(source: The Atlantic)
“The other problem with these grants is that there’s no real metric attached to them. The Brennan Center recently published an excellent overview of this problem, with some smart proposals for reform.”
(source: The Washington Post)
The Justice Policy Institute examines the need for reforms to the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant program.
The Brennan Center submitted testimony to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science encouraging the use of Success-Oriented Funding.
The Brennan Center has a smart new plan to reduce mass incarceration in America: fund the criminal justice policies that work and starve the funding of those that don’t.
This report lays out a recommendation for the President to take swift executive action to reform criminal justice grants and provide accountability to the flow of federal funds used by state and local law enforcement.
At a time of fierce debate between President Obama and Congress over the use of executive action, this policy proposal outlines 15 steps the administration can take to overcome a paralyzed government, strengthen democracy, secure justice, and further the rule of law.
Lauren-Brooke Eisen on how success-oriented funding principals improve use of taxpayer money, promote accountability, and reduce government waste.
"As the opposition to mass incarceration builds, a new report from the Brennan Center of Justice makes a valuable contribution to the question of how imprisonment rates can be reduced."
(source: The American Prospect)
"In 1988, when the programme was created, American cities faced soaring crime rates. Today the problem is that too many people are expensively locked up. A new report from the Brennan Centre for Justice ... suggests that the JAG programme may be partly to blame for this."
(source: The Economist)
“In a recent report, the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law calls this a "bet on success ... instead of using the typical model of privatization, in which private prisons generally bet on failure (i.e. the more prisoners, the better)."
(source: CNN/Fortune)
A new report confirms that private prisons not only rely on faulty math to get states to agree to binding contracts, but they also fail to save states money even when their contract legally requires it.
More from Brennan Center:
Missouri lawmakers are considering bring back firing squads as a means of execution. Nicole Austin-Hillery discusses on MSNBC.
The nation’s vast criminal justice system is filled with incentives that can steer or deter behavior, for good or for ill—however, instead of spurring innovative law enforcement policies, today’s fiscal incentives often result in a system that continues to run on autopilot.