Report Public Safety Realignment: Impacts So Far By Magnus Lofstrom, Brandon Martin Sep 28, 2015 Prompted by a federal court order to reduce prison overcrowding, California’s 2011 historic public safety realignment shifted many correctional responsibilities for lower-level felons from the state to counties. The reform was premised on the idea that locals can do a better job, and it was hoped that incarceration rates and corrections costs would fall. At the same time, critics predicted crime would rise. Four years since its implementation, realignment has made several important impacts: Realignment significantly reduced the prison population, but the state did not reach the court-mandated population target until after the passage of Proposition 47 in November 2014, which reduced penalties for many property and drug offenses. The reform challenged county jails and probation departments by making them responsible for a greater number of offenders with a broader range of backgrounds and needs. The county jail population did not rise nearly as much as the prison population fell, reducing the total number of people incarcerated in California. Realignment did not increase violent crime, but auto thefts rose. Research so far shows no dramatic change in recidivism rates. State corrections spending remains high, but there is reason to believe expenditures could drop in the future. Realignment has largely been successful, but the state and county correctional systems face significant challenges. The state needs to regain control of prison medical care, which is now in the hands of a federal receiver. And the state and counties together must make progress in reducing stubbornly high recidivism rates.
Report Pretrial Detention and Jail Capacity in California By Sonya Tafoya Jul 22, 2015 California’s persistently overcrowded jails are facing additional challenges now that public safety realignment has shifted many lower-level offenders from state prisons to county supervision. Jail capacity challenges are prompting a reconsideration of California’s heavy reliance on holding unsentenced defendants in jail pending trial—known as pretrial detention. The legal rationale for pretrial detention is to ensure court appearances and preserve public safety. But California’s high rates of pretrial detention have not been associated with lower rates of failure to appear or lower levels of felony rearrests. This report concludes that pretrial services programs—if properly implemented and embraced by the courts, probation, and the jails—could address jail overcrowding and improve the efficiency, equitability, and transparency of pretrial release decision making.
Report Realignment, Incarceration, and Crime Trends in California By Steven Raphael, Magnus Lofstrom May 19, 2015 When California’s historic public safety realignment was implemented in October 2011, many were concerned about the impact it would have on crime rates. In a 2013 report, we found that realignment did not increase violent crime in its first year, but that it did lead to an increase in auto thefts. In this report, we assess whether these trends continued beyond realignment’s first year. We find that both the prison and jail populations increased slightly since 2012, which means that the number of offenders on the street did not rise from the 18,000 during realignment’s first year. This is likely to change with the implementation of Proposition 47, which further reduces California’s reliance on incarceration. Our analysis of updated state-level crime data from the FBI confirms our previous findings. Violent crime rates remain unaffected by realignment, and although California’s property crime rate decreased in 2013, it did not drop more than in comparable states—so the auto theft gap that opened up in 2012 has not closed. Research indicates that further reductions in incarceration may have a greater effect on crime trends; the state needs to implement effective crime prevention strategies—and it can learn about alternatives to incarceration successfully implemented by the counties as well as other states.
Report Alternatives to Incarceration in California By Ryken Grattet, Brandon Martin Apr 17, 2015 Three-plus years after implementing a major realignment of its public safety systems, California continues to face pressure to reduce both its prison and jail populations. California relied on some alternatives to custody-based punishment before realignment but it has been expanding its use of others. Current research on the effects of incarceration and its alternatives offers a general endorsement of the idea that increasing reliance on community-based alternatives is not likely to result in large increases in crime and recidivism. The evidence suggests that the effectiveness of both incarceration and community-based supervision depends on a number of factors, including the rate of incarceration in a given community, the offender characteristics, and the nature of the response to violations during and after supervision. Finally, intensive data collection on county implementation efforts can help the state identify the community-based strategies that produce the best outcomes.
Statewide Survey PPIC Statewide Survey: Californians and Their Government By Mark Baldassare, Renatta DeFever, Lunna Lopes, Dean Bonner Jan 28, 2015 Some findings of the current survey: Californians are starting 2015 on an optimistic note: majorities see the state headed in the right direction and are hopeful that elected leaders will work together. Partisans are divided over whether the state should use its budget surplus to pay down debt and build up the reserve or to restore social services. Californians support increased funding for higher education but also want existing funds to be spent more wisely. Most Californians see crime as a problem in their communities, and a majority think that minorities are not treated equally by the criminal justice system—blacks are especially likely to hold this view. Job Approval Ratings: President Obama [PDF] Governor Brown [PDF] California State Legislature [PDF] U.S. Congress [PDF] Senator Boxer [PDF] Senator Feinstein [PDF] Their Own State Legislators in the Assembly and Senate [PDF] Their Own Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives [PDF] Time Trends of Job Approval Ratings: President Obama [XLS] Governor Brown [XLS] California State Legislature [XLS] U.S. Congress [XLS] Senator Boxer [XLS] Senator Feinstein [XLS] Their Own State Legislators in the Assembly and Senate [XLS] Their Own Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives [XLS] Mood of Californians: General Direction of Things in California [PDF] Economic Outlook for California [PDF] Time Trends for the Mood of Californians: General Direction of Things in California [XLS] Economic Outlook for California [XLS] This survey was supported with funding from The James Irvine Foundation.
Report Do Local Realignment Policies Affect Recidivism in California? By Mia Bird, Ryken Grattet Aug 20, 2014 In the aftermath of California’s corrections realignment, recidivism patterns did not change dramatically among offenders released from state prison to county supervision. But early evidence suggests that offenders did better if they were released to counties that emphasized reentry services rather than traditional law enforcement.
Report Is Public Safety Realignment Reducing Recidivism in California? By Steven Raphael, Magnus Lofstrom, Ryken Grattet Jun 27, 2014 Despite sweeping changes to the state’s corrections system, California has not seen dramatic changes in arrests or convictions of released offenders. Overall arrest rates are down. But convictions are up, likely a reflection of new prosecutorial processes. Multiple arrests are also up, possibly because released offenders are now spending more time on the streets. This research was supported with funding from the Smith Richardson Foundation.
Report Health Care for California’s Jail Population By Shannon McConville, Mia Bird Jun 18, 2014 The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has created a new opportunity for California to reach and enroll a medically vulnerable population—the jail population—in health insurance coverage. While inmates receive health care services from county jail systems while incarcerated, few have coverage after they are released from custody. Expansion of the state’s Medicaid program (Medi-Cal) under the ACA has extended insurance eligibility to much of the currently uninsured jail population. As a complement to the ACA, California recently signed into law Assembly Bill 720 (AB 720), which facilitates the use of jails as sites of health insurance enrollment. Increasing enrollment levels for the jail population holds the potential to reduce corrections costs, as well as improve public health and safety.
