Dollars and Sentences: Legislators' Views on Prisons, Punishment, and the Budget Crisis (July 2003)
In spring 2003, state legislatures faced with the worst budget crises in a generation scrambled for ways to cut corrections spending without jeopardizing public safety and confidence. Their wide-ranging conversation, summarized in this report, revealed how in some states partisan politics is taking a back seat to efforts to save money and produce better outcomes through increased attention to rehabilitation and prevention.
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Is the Budget Crisis Changing the Way We Look at Sentencing and Incarceration? (June 2003)
This Issue in Brief from Vera's State Sentencing and Corrections Program shows how some states have seized the opportunity presented by changed public attitudes toward crime and incarceration to deploy innovative tools such as structured sentencing, simulation models, and risk assessment at sentencing to enhance stability in their justice systems and save money.
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Shoveling Up: The Impact of Substance Abuse on State Budgets (January 2001)
Published by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
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