NEW YORK TIMES EDITORIAL: …Underlying the state reforms is a relatively new and more sophisticated way of using data about the offender — including criminal history, drug abuse and instances of antisocial behavior — to assess the likelihood of that individual’s committing a new crime. And by examining arrest, sentencing and probation data, the states can revise policies that might be driving people back into prison unnecessarily.
States have found that many inmates go back to prison not for committing new crimes but for technical violations, like missing appointments with parole officers or failing drug tests. With that knowledge, states have moved to less costly and more effective sanctions — a brief jail stay, community service or more frequent meetings with the parole officer — for such offenses.
Some states are also embracing what is known as the “justice reinvestment” approach, under which they channel significant sums of money into improved parole or probation services while beefing up the drug treatment and mental health services that many ex-offenders need to stay out of trouble… (more)
