Center for Sentencing Initiatives

  • Federal Funding Alert: FY 2020 Justice Reinvestment Initiative: Reducing Violent Crime by Improving Justice System Performance read more
  • New RFP Available Arnold Ventures and CUNY ISLG launch the Reducing Revocations Challenge. Request for Proposals due June 24, 2019. read more
  • Pew Report: Fewer People Going Back To Prison New analysis finds number returning three years later is down by nearly a quarter. read more
  • 2018 BJS Recidivism Report BJS released a new report on arrests of people released from prisons in 30 states in 2005, looking at a recidivism over a 9-year follow-up period (from 2005-2014). read more
  • National Prison Rate Continues to Decline More than two-thirds of states cut crime and imprisonment from 2008 to 2016. read more
  • 50-State Data on Public Safety Workbooks CSG published state-specific workbooks containing data visualizations that show historical trends and data comparisons related to crime, arrests, recidivism, and corrections and help identify opportunities to increase public safety. read more
What is the Center for Sentencing Initiatives?

With the support of the Conference of Chief Justices and Conference of State Court Administrators, the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) launched a national project, "Getting Smarter About Sentencing," in 2006 to support state court sentencing reform efforts nationwide.

The Center for Sentencing Initiatives (CSI) works closely with the Conference of Chief Justices and the Conference of State Court Administrators to implement their resolution In Support of Sentencing Practices that Promote Public Safety and Reduce Recidivism.

CSI conducts research, provides information and tools, offers education and technical assistance, facilitates cross-state learning and collaboration, and promotes the use of evidence-based sentencing practices that protect the public, hold offenders accountable, and reduce recidivism.

CSI's work has been supported by The Pew Public Safety Performance Project; the State Justice Institute; the Bureau of Justice Assistance and National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice; and NCSC.