Arizona Improves Probation Incentives
In Arizona, probation success rates have taken a turn for the better. Three years ago, then-Senator Steve Kaiser outlined his plan to overhaul probation in the Capitol Times, where he detailed a bill that promised to radically improve probation outcomes for all of Arizona. At the time, Arizona’s probation and parole programs were in crisis. After a steady decrease in probation failures from 2008 to 2017, recidivism had begun to climb once more. Arizona’s probationary status quo was unsustainable, and traditional probationary practices could not remedy recidivism. There have been efforts to experiment with new solutions in the state, the Safe Communities Act is a major one. Enacted in 2008, this act provided probation departments with a portion of the money they saved the taxpayer by reducing recidivism. This incentivized counties to continually improve outcomes for probationers. Yet the legislature largely defunded the Safe Communities Act in 2011, so its potential was never realized.
Therefore, Senator Kaiser, seeking new solutions to probation failure and inspired by the philosophy behind the Safe Communities Act, advocated the re-introduction of incentive payments to probation departments. In 2021, Arizona enacted Probation Success Incentive Payments and Grants, a program aligned with Senator Kaiser’s philosophy. Now, the time has come to reflect on its impact. Have its lofty promises of reducing probation failures been kept?
The answer is a resounding “yes.” A 2023 report from the state Supreme Court’s Adult Probation Services Division entitled “Probation Success Incentive Report Detailing FY 2022” found that an astounding 81 percent of probationers successfully completed a term. For reference, the national average for the same statistic in 2020 ranged from 43 to 65 percent. Arizona now ranks among the top states for probation success, only a couple of short years since Arizona implemented the new policy.
And this is only the beginning. Because the program rewards success with additional funding, it encourages departments to reinvest in programs that they have seen work firsthand, creating a snowball effect of improvement. Counties across the state received a total of $669,201 in incentive funding during fiscal year 2022, which represents a portion of the money they saved taxpayers by preventing probationers from revocation—and therefore prison. Counties then invested that extra funding in professional development and training for officers, improved programming for probationers to help ensure a successful transition to a productive life, enhanced onboarding, and updated equipment.
Not all improvements come as a result of incentive payments. The Probation Success Program runs on data. Multiple data points help assess the success of a given department, taking into account the unique circumstances of each probationer and leveraging historical trends to track change over time. Aside from being a necessary component of the Probation Success Program, the collection of such robust data also enhances a department’s ability to work effectively. For example, more complete data allowed departments to streamline Intensive Probation Supervision and tailor their programming to each individual.
In turn, the insight provided by data collectors dovetails with incentive funding, producing synergistic results. Departments invested bonus funding into substance abuse disorder and mental health screenings for new probationers that allowed departments to identify how to best support individual needs, adding screening results to the robust body of data. Then, additional funding is allocated to programs that demonstrably address those needs. As a result, programming is maximally efficient and incisive, and will only grow more effective as its successes return savings to the state and additional bonus funding to departments.
The Probation Success Program is in its infancy, but its results already speak for themselves. Since 2018, all Arizona counties improved their probation success rates—except for one. Of the counties with improvements, six, including Maricopa, improved by more than 50 percent. This progress represents millions of taxpayer dollars saved, but it means so much more. Each person who may have failed probation under prior conditions but succeeded because of the program is a productive worker, an active citizen, a neighbor, and a family member. The past three years have proven that incentivizing probation success saves money while benefitting all aspects of our communities. In the years to come, we can only imagine how its benefits will multiply.