Public Safety
The American justice system is failing to deliver safety and rehabilitation despite millions of dollars spent every year. Unaccountable spending, misaligned incentives, and a lack of transparency are driving mismanagement and dysfunction. Americans deserve better. We need a justice system that holds people accountable, drives rehabilitation, and makes our communities safer.
Strengthening our institutions from the bottom up
Right now, opaque bureaucracies and unaccountable funding are maintaining the status quo. Our criminal justice system is complex—there are over three thousand overlapping jurisdictions that make up our nation’s justice system—but this means it is ripe for reform and innovation. Innovative policies which track and reward specific outcomes can drive culture change from the bottom-up and deliver better outcomes for prisoners and our communities alike.
Private prisons present a unique opportunity for reform with outcomes-based contracts which reward improvements, including increasing employability and decreasing recidivism upon release. State prisons can be rewarded the same way, including bonuses for keeping good correctional officers. Our probation and parole departments which help ex-offenders find jobs can receive financial bonuses to spend on better equipment, and individual probationers can earn days off their term for maintaining employment.
research, Homelessness, Public Safety
2024 National Public Safety and Homelessness Poll
Recently, Gov. Kevin Stitt questioned the performance of correctional facilities operated by GEO Group, a multibillion-dollar private company that owns and manages prisons across the United States. Nationwide, private prisons have failed to make a compelling case that they are better or even cheaper than public alternatives, and a growing number of states, such as Arizona and Idaho, have canceled some of their contracts.
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