BOULDER, Colo.—Dec. 8, 2014—A new report released in November on North Carolina’s Justice Reinvestment Act and its impact three years later suggests that smart approaches to reentry programming and probation supervision can positively impact the risk of recidivism among offenders while maintaining public safety and reducing the high costs of incarceration.
Since enactment, the North Carolina prison population has dropped by 8 percent while the state’s crime rate has fallen by 11 percent. In addition, probation revocations decreased by half.
The report, released by the respected Council of State Governments’ Justice Center, closely examined the 2011 reforms to the state’s criminal justice system, including the increased focus on reentry programming, the overhaul of the state’s probation systems and the sentencing reform measures that targeted reserving prison space for the most serious of offenders.
As a part of the Justice Reinvestment Act, the state created the Treatment for Effective Community Supervision (TECS) programs that provide substance abuse treatment, cognitive behavioral therapy and other evidence-based programs for individuals under supervision.
GEO Reentry Services operates six of these TECS centers in key cities in North Carolina—including Charlotte, Greensboro, Concord, Gastonia, Asheboro and Salisbury—and has received high marks for delivering professional services that help to break the cycle of crime for participants while preparing them to successfully reenter their communities.
GEO Reentry’s approach has been proven to reduce recidivism, target employment or full-time school enrollment upon program completion, alter criminal attitudes and behaviors and generate savings for taxpayers.
The GEO Reentry-operated TECS centers include drug and alcohol education and treatment, cognitive restructuring therapy, community connections services where offenders are linked to local resources as needed and aftercare.
To read the full report on the Justice Reinvestment Act’s success, click here. You can find more information on GEO Reentry’s approach to reentry programming here.