Connecticut
Step 4: Measure the impact and enhance accountability.
For each policy adopted by Connecticut policymakers, an appropriate state agency was selected to set performance measures and projected outcomes and evaluate the effectiveness of established programs.
Evaluations of the probation violation programs show promising results.
- A Central Connecticut State University evaluation suggests that the Probation Transition Program and Technical Violator Unit programs have been successful in reducing recidivism among high-risk probationers.5 By December 2005, the number of persons re-incarcerated for technical violations had dropped by 20 percent.6
- Because of the success of the PTP and TVU programs, state policymakers anticipate savings of $6.3 million in fiscal year 2007 and $8 million in fiscal year 2008 once the two programs are implemented statewide.7
- In 2004, legislators canceled the state’s contract with Virginia for 2,000 additional beds, in turn yielding $30 million annually in averted costs.
- Based on the initial results, policymakers approved $11 million in the FY 2007-2008 budget to expand community-based treatment and residential programs, and expand the PTP and TVU programs to adult probation offices statewide.
The state institutionalized systems to provide elected officials with regular reports reviewing trends in the prison population, and to develop population projections, track outcomes and recommend policy options.
- In 2005, the General Assembly enacted “An Act Concerning Criminal Justice Planning and Eligibility for Crime Victim Compensation,”8 establishing the Criminal Justice Policy and Planning Division (CJPP) to collect data from multiple criminal justice agencies and produce ongoing analyses of, and recommendations for, improving Connecticut’s criminal justice system. CJPP is housed within the Office of Policy and Management.
- A new sentencing task force was established to report on the impact of sentencing policies. In 2006, the General Assembly passed “An Act Concerning Criminal Justice Policy and Planning and the Establishment of a Sentencing Task Force.”9 The bill established the Connecticut Sentencing Task Force to review criminal justice and sentencing policies, analyze sentencing trends, and assess the impact of corrections and sentencing policies.
- See Central Connecticut State University, Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, “Addendum to the Final Report of the Court Support Services Division’s Probation Transition Program and Technical Violation Unit,” June 2006.
- Ibid.
- See Fiscal Impact “Raised Bill #5651 An Act Adopting The Recommendations of the Report Of The Commission On Prison And Jail Overcrowding.”
- Connecticut General Assembly, Substitute House Bill 6976, Public Act No. 05-249, “An Act Concerning Criminal Justice Planning and Eligibility for Crime Victim Compensation”, enacted 2005.
- Connecticut General Assembly, Substitute House Bill 5781, Public Act No. 06-193, “An Act Concerning Criminal Justice Policy and Planning and the Establishment of a Sentencing Task Force”, enacted 2006.