Arkansas Criminal Justice Reform Effort Shows Promising Signs
By: KARK 4 News
Updated: September 25, 2012
A huge effort to reform Arkansas' criminal justice system may be showing signs it's working.
Criminal justice experts told lawmakers on Tuesday the number of people going to prison in Arkansas is down 7 percent, or roughly 1,100 people.
The percentage of people with their parole revoked is down by 30 percent, while those with their probation revoked is down 15 percent.
Experts say it's the result of a law that went into effect in July 2011.
"There really is a very cohesive effort among all the state agencies to work together to implement act 570 in a very thoughtful, long-term way and I think it's great," says criminal justice consultant Wendy Naro-Ware. "I actually think it's going really well here in Arkansas."
Lawmakers and Governor Beebe made changes to the system after a Pew Center report showed if nothing was done to the system, its cost would grow by 43 percent over the next 10 years.
Criminal justice experts told lawmakers on Tuesday the number of people going to prison in Arkansas is down 7 percent, or roughly 1,100 people.
The percentage of people with their parole revoked is down by 30 percent, while those with their probation revoked is down 15 percent.
Experts say it's the result of a law that went into effect in July 2011.
"There really is a very cohesive effort among all the state agencies to work together to implement act 570 in a very thoughtful, long-term way and I think it's great," says criminal justice consultant Wendy Naro-Ware. "I actually think it's going really well here in Arkansas."
Lawmakers and Governor Beebe made changes to the system after a Pew Center report showed if nothing was done to the system, its cost would grow by 43 percent over the next 10 years.
