Sacramento, CA — Today, the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) released a report, Realignment and Recidivism in California, which shows, through data provided by 12 county probation departments and the Board of Community Corrections (BSCC), that probation departments have proven effective at closely monitoring offenders from state prison in the two years immediately following the largest public safety re-structuring in California, known as realignment.

“We appreciate the work done on this report by PPIC and the help this short-term look at the two years immediately after realignment can provide us as a baseline for measuring the long-term efforts to change criminal behavior,” said Chief Mary Butler, CPOC President.  “The report shows that in the two years immediately following realignment, probation and our local partners successfully utilized the sanctions available to us in order to ensure public safety and utilized swift sanctions to prevent further criminal activity.

The goal of Realignment was to build a long-term sustainable system that relies not just on punishment and incarceration to temporarily stop criminal behavior but is based on an evidence based and balanced approach that builds a rehabilitative infrastructure to address the causes of criminality and recidivism as well as to reduce California’s overcrowded prisons safely. While we see incarceration rates down, we look forward to further study on the issue that informs us of the long-term impact building out an evidence based rehabilitative infrastructure will have on public safety and how a focused and ongoing investment in evidence based rehabilitation makes an enduring change to California’s public safety system.”

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