In an interview with The Afro-American, Chris Shank, Director of the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention (GOCCP) discussed the Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council (JRCC) which will use a data-driven approach to develop a statewide criminal justice framework to reduce incarcerations, recidivism and their associated costs, while increasing public safety. As reported in The Afro-American:
If Maryland is going to reduce recidivism, not to mention the costs associated with our criminal justice system, then the state needs a complete and data-driven picture of how that system operates. Senate Bill 602 requires the JRCC to request technical assistance from the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the Public Performance Safety Project of the Pew Center on the States for the purposes of analyzing our system and developing the Justice Reinvestment Coordinating Council’s policy recommendations, which are due to the governor on or before Dec. 31.
“What my goal to produce [for] Gov. Hogan and to the state of Maryland, in terms of this whole process, is, for the first time, a holistic, critical examination of our criminal justice system. Who’s doing what in that criminal justice system, and how efficiently are we doing it, and how can we do it better? Once we have that analysis, then we have an opportunity to look at cost savings, but then we also have an opportunity to reduce the recidivism rate. And that provides a more safe society, a more just society,” said Shank.
For more information read the full article in The Afro-American.
