Facilitating dialog and advancing public policies for better ways to achieve a safer, more just, and more effective criminal justice system that is both fiscally and socially responsible and results in less crime, less public costs, and greater rehabilitative effect on offenders.
The latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics indicate what many policy-makers and taxpayers in states across the nation already know:Incarceration is a very expensive option.It is also being challenged by more people that, in some cases, it is not an effective approach to securing our communities.
Additional factors such as the continuing high rate of recidivism, increasing criminalization of juvenile misbehavior, and the intergenerational impacts of incarceration, the nation’s reliance upon incarceration as a rehabilitative instrument has become more skeptical.In fact, incarceration has been not only cyclical and self-perpetuating but growing.Today, one in every 131 U.S. residents is incarcerated.The fact that one in 21 African American men are in custody or under the supervision of state correctional systems points to the racial disparity that exists in American society that further intensifies the problem.
In the State of Florida, the picture is even more stark than the national one:521 of every 100,000 Floridiansis incarcerated.The state’s three-year and five-year recidivism rates exceed that of most other states.Florida spends one of every $11.00 of the state’s general funds on corrections, exceeding the national average of one in every $15.00.In a time of government fiscal crisis, it is important to understand the real costs to all Floridians to maintain a criminal justice system that continues to cost more to manage, yet does not show the expected return on investment, e.g., lower crime, fewer prisoners, and safer neighborhoods.
The highest cost to Floridians is its prison system.In all areas, the costs are high and continue to grow and the situation does not appear favorable.Consider that the average Florida prison inmate reads below a sixth-grade level.Forty-nine percent of incarcerated women in the state suffer diagnosable mental illnesses.
Both the male and female inmate populations appear to be poised for further growth preparing new cohorts of adult inmates.In fiscal year 2007-08, Florida incarcerated 6,616 juvenile offenders.Studies show that between 40 percent and 60 percent of juveniles detained will be incarcerated as adults.If the state continues this trend for the next 10 years, producing 3,308 "adult-inmate-candidates” per year, incarcerating just this group of 16,540 in the adult corrections system will cost Florida taxpayers more than $436 million in fiscal year 2022-23 alone.
In an era of fiscal rethinking and compulsory frugality, there are several significant targets where Florida policy-makers can take aim to reduce our reliance upon costly incarceration and improve the safety of our communities.
Most importantly, Floridians must recognize that adult incarceration is but one point on a continuum of portals to the justice system, and that reform must occur in a coordinated manner along the entire "corrections arc.”The corrections arc spans from juvenile referrals for incidents initiating in schools and communities; to state custody and supervision for juveniles and adults; to recidivism of ex-offenders unsuccessful at re-entering communities.The Arc focuses on four areasfor change that can begin to have a dramatic effect on the reversing the continued rise in costs and crime in Florida:
Improve school policies and cultivate student success in school.
Improve its treatment of juvenile offenders
Shift in the culture of corrections from the highly punitive "care and custody” model to an emphasis on rehabilitation
Change the conditions in the State of Florida that unfairly and unnecessarily jeopardize ex-offenders.
In the interest of public safety, fiscal responsibility, social and criminal justice effectiveness, the CollinsCenter for Public Policy is opening and facilitating a wide spectrum of conversations on Florida’s need for Justice Reform.By bringing together the knowledge, expertise and ideas from a diverse representation of Florida government, education, business and citizen communities, we will explore and find ways to achieve solutions to these many challenges.
Coalition for Smart Justice– a group of concerned citizens and professionals representing a wide spectrum of Florida’s political, business, and social landscape – have opened a conversation to explore better ways to achieve a safer, more just, and more effective criminal justice system that will have the desired outcomes of less crime, less public costs, and greater rehabilitative effect on offenders. The Coalition seeks to both identify and achieve safer and healthier communities for Florida’s citizens as a result of an improved criminal justice system.
The task to reform Florida’s justice system is complex and long-term.Progress will require meaningful and coordinated efforts occurring mindfully along the entire corrections arc in order for the state to realize the lasting change its residents need and deserve.
A major land purchase by the South Florida Water Management District in Florida's Lake Okeechobee Region will have an important impact on the region's people, towns, jobs, and future economies.
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Coalition for Smart Justice
A State-wide conversation to explore better ways to achieve a safer, more just, and more effective criminal justice system.
An Open Letter to the Governor, Legislature and to the People of Florida
Sustainable Florida - Collins Center
Sustainable Florida - Collins Center is the premier statewide organization committed to the balance of economic interests with the need to be socially and environmentally responsible.
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