A new report issued by MassINC, Community Resources for Justice, and the Criminal Justice Reform Coalition explains why criminal justice policies in Massachusetts are not working. According to the report, Crime, Cost, and Consequences: Is it Time to Get Smart on Crime?, one reason might be that Massachusetts is spending more money on corrections than on education. The report goes on to list other reasons the system is failing, including poor supervision of reentrants and sentencing policies that need to be overhauled. If the issues are not corrected, MassINC warns that over the next 10 years Massachusetts will spend over $ 2billion on ineffective correctional practices.
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Solutions to the pressing issues caused by current Massachusetts criminal justice policies can be found in Crime, Cost, and Consequences: Is it Time to Get Smart on Crime? The authors of the report suggest:
Placing a moratorium on the expansion of state and county prisons
Reconstituting the Sentencing Commission within the trial court to revisit the state’s approach to sentencing and sanctions
Clearly delineating responsibility for all post-release supervision to the Parole Board and pretrial and diversion to the Probation Department
Expanding the use of community supervision and pre-release for those most likely to reoffend
Making Boston’s Emergency Reentry Program a model for urban centers across the state
Completing an extensive survey of conditions of confinement, programming, and program quality across the system
Standardizing data systems and reporting protocols, and funnel information to a central research center
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