Thursday, May 3, 2012
Guv'ment Pew REALLY loves Georgia's criminal justice reform law
Posted by Gwynedd Stuart @gwynnstu on Thu, May 3, 2012 at 3:03 PM
Yesterday, Governor Nathan Deal signed HB 1176, Georgia's stab at reducing prison populations, improving public safety, and saving loads of money ($264 million over the next five years, lawmakers hope).
Pew Center on the States, which collaborated with the special council that was created to draft the legislation, is really pleased with the outcome. To say the least.
This comprehensive new law reflects a bipartisan consensus about how to combat nonviolent crime," said Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States. "Georgia's leaders have developed a landmark set of reforms that will make communities safer and curb runaway corrections spending."
Some of what the bill aims to do ...
— Reserve prison space for people who commit serious crimes. The bill creates degrees of severity for crimes like burglary, forgery, and theft, and raises the threshold for felony theft from $500 to $1,500.
— Invest in accountability courts and diversion programs so people who require help — drug addicts, the mentally ill — so they don't just get locked up, let out, and end up reoffending. According to Pew, $11.6 million of prison savings will go toward accountability courts and $5.7 million will go toward substance abuse treatment programs for offenders.
— Monitor efficiency to see what's working and what isn't.
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