Tools and strategies to help states reduce crime, recidivism, and costs

50 States.
50 Unique Sets of Public Safety Challenges.

Although crime rates across the country are near all-time lows, each state faces a unique combination of public safety challenges, including increasing crime rates in some communities, growing numbers of people who have mental illnesses entering county jails and state prisons, spiking opioid and other drug-related deaths, high recidivism rates, rising correctional populations and costs, pervasive barriers to employment and housing for people with criminal records, and more. These challenges may appear overwhelming, but many states are using innovative approaches to tackle them and are achieving results.

One Comprehensive Public Safety Roadmap.

The 50-State Report on Public Safety is a web-based resource that combines data analyses with practical examples to help policymakers craft impactful strategies to address their state’s specific public safety challenges. The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center analyzed millions of data points, and with support from the Association of State Correctional Administrators, interviewed corrections staff in all 50 states to collect new data on each state’s research capacity and supervision practices for use in this first-of-its-kind resource. The 50-State Report on Public Safety contains:

Over 300
state-by-state
data visualizations
Data visualizations
More than 100 examples of public safety innovations
More than 100 examples
of states’ public safety innovations
3 goals, 12 strategies, and 37 action items policymakers can select from to focus on the issues most relevant to their communities.
Policymakers can pick the topics to focus on most relevant to their communities

Select a section of the report below to start reading.

Part 1

Reduce Crime and Strengthen Communities

Strategy 1

Use data to understand crime trends.

Strategy 2

Improve responses to people who have behavioral health needs in local criminal justice systems.

Strategy 3

Help local governments use jail space cost-effectively.

Strategy 4

Develop crime-reduction strategies that prevent violent crime and strengthen trust in law enforcement.

Part 2

Break the Cycle of Reoffending

Strategy 1

Use data to drive recidivism-reduction efforts.

Strategy 2

Ensure the effective use of risk and needs assessments.

Strategy 3

Improve the effectiveness of supervision to reduce recidivism.

Strategy 4

Provide people on supervision with the resources they need to succeed.

Part 3

Use Cost-Effective Strategies to Invest in Public Safety

Strategy 1

Examine drivers of corrections costs.

Strategy 2

Develop data-driven policy options to improve public safety.

Strategy 3

Reinvest in strategies that improve public safety.

Strategy 4

Track results.