Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - November 16, 2009)

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By Mr. WHITEHOUSE (for himself, Mr. Cornyn, and Mr. Leahy):

S. 2772. A bill to establish a criminal justice reinvestment grant program to help States and local jurisdictions reduce spending on corrections, control growth in the prison and jail populations, and increase public safety; to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I am proud today to join Senators Cornyn and Leahy in introducing the Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act of 2009, a bill designed to help States and localities approach spending on corrections in a more rational manner, better manage growth in the prison and jail populations, and increase public safety.

Over 2,200,000 American adults are incarcerated in state and local prisons and jails; the prison population alone nearly tripled between 1987 and 2007, from 585,000 to almost 1,600,000 inmates. States, in turn, have increased spending on corrections by $40 billion in the past 20 years. Despite the continued growth of the inmate population, about half the states plan to cut corrections budgets for fiscal year 2010 amid budget shortfalls.

Most policymakers have limited access to detailed, data-driven explanations about changes in crime, arrests, convictions, and prison and jail population trends. The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act will provide them with the resources to undergo a thorough analysis of the drivers of growth, and to create and implement policy options to manage that growth.

Specifically, the legislation will create a two-part grant program for governments to analyze criminal justice trends, develop policy options to address growth in the corrections system, and implement and measure the impact of the policy changes. Through Phase 1 grants, government entities will be able to conduct a comprehensive analysis of corrections data, evaluate the cost-effectiveness of state and local spending on corrections, and develop policy options suggested by the analysis. Phase 2 grants will provide funds to help government entities implement those policy options and to measure their effectiveness.

Model programs in several states have already found this kind of data study helpful in managing the costs of a growing inmate population. An analysis of prison data in my home state of Rhode Island, for example, prompted legislation to standardize the calculation of earned time credits, establish risk reduction program credits, and require the use of risk assessments to inform parole release decisions. In Texas, the home State of one of my cosponsors, Senator Cornyn, the solution was much different but equally effective--following its analysis, the State invested $227 million on treatment programs and residential facilities to curb population growth, which averted spending $523 million on new prisons.

The Criminal Justice Reinvestment Act will help state and local governments spend their limited corrections budgets in a more targeted, rational way to both manage inmate population growth and protect public safety. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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