With an eye toward trimming inmate populations and reducing recidivism, Massachusetts officials are asking for an independent review of the state's criminal justice system, reports the Boston Globe. Gov. Charlie Baker, along with the state Senate president, House speaker and chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court, have asked the U.S. Department of Justice and Pew Charitable Trusts for help crunching state data and seeking policy recommendations to get the best public safety outcomes for each dollar spent.
The Council of State Governments, a nonprofit that aids states in crafting public policy, is set to conduct the analysis, and the Justice Department and Pew are poised to fund the effort, which has received conditional approval. Officials expect the study to take up to nine months before policy recommendations are delivered. Many other states have cut criminal justice costs by using the same approach, known as justice reinvestment. A state official called it a “soup-to-nuts analysis.”