CSG Justice Center

Effective emergency response starts with skilled responders—people who are trained, supported, and ready to help in a crisis. Our Expanding First Response Commission recently shared ways states can grow and sustain this workforce in our latest brief. Washington is already putting these strategies into action with its BHCore program, launched in 2024. BHCore trains co-response and alternative response teams, funds innovative local programs, and uses data to improve behavioral health services statewide. See what’s working—and how your state can do it too. http://bit.ly/4fr2qmI #ExpandingFirstResponse

📢 NEW: We just released a new brief of recommendations from our #ExpandingFirstResponse Commission. Dispatchers are often the first point of contact in a crisis. Their ability to connect callers with the right response—including community responder teams—can reduce distress, ease pressure on police and hospitals, and save lives.    This brief highlights 3 actions state leaders can take right now to strengthen dispatch operations and better integrate community responder programs.    📘 Read the new brief: http://bit.ly/3JxW3SF  

Join us to learn how states are moving beyond recidivism to track what truly supports success after jail or prison. You’ll hear directly from national experts and state corrections leaders: 🔗 Register today: https://lnkd.in/e-2555N3

Want to save taxpayer dollars? Harris County, Texas, is proving that tracking the right data leads to fewer days in jail, more treatment, and cost savings. Here's how the national #SteppingUp initiative has helped counties save money and lives since 2015: https://lnkd.in/d7bvp-35

In 2023, 2 in 5 people sent to state prison were incarcerated for a “supervision violation” like missed probation appointments or failed drug tests. ❗In many of these cases, no new crimes had been committed. Check out our latest 50-state report to learn more about community supervision and how it impacts your state’s prison population: https://lnkd.in/exEUjmYP

When it comes to mental health and the justice system, has your county asked these 6 key questions? https://lnkd.in/e6JYCvfh

State leaders are in a unique position to ensure local community responder programs survive and succeed. These programs reduce harm, hospital visits, and the burden on police—but they’re often reliant on short-term funding. Join the national Expanding First Response Commission to discuss their new recommendations on how to: ✔ Secure long-term funding ✔ Strengthen the community responder workforce ✔ Use state policy to protect these programs Register today: http://bit.ly/45OpKGC

Corrections analysts can expand their skills through our free, self-paced online courses in a variety of topics through the Advancing Data in Corrections Academy! The initial courses focus on the R statistical programming language and data quality, and we’ll continue adding more to empower corrections analysts to improve their department’s data-driven decision-making and statistical analysis capacity. Register now ➡️ https://lnkd.in/eGmS3edM #AdvancingDataInCorrections #DataDrivenDecisionMaking #Data

We need your help! Thousands of people leave jail or prison w/o health care or housing, which isn’t just a personal crisis but a public safety problem & a systems failure. #Reentry2030 helps states provide the support people need on Day 1. Vote for our #SXSW 2026 panel now & help us bring these solutions to more leaders & states (free SXSW account required): https://bit.ly/4lj2eqS

Despite four challenging months, I’m so proud of our team at the CSG Justice Center for releasing a steady string of data analysis, smart strategies, and inspiring examples to fuel the efforts of leaders across the country advancing safety and justice. ICYMI: 💥 Our data team turned 70+ data sources into 50 state snapshots of justice, health, budget, and workforce trends with interactive data visualization. 💥 We launched the Collaborating for Youth and Public Safety Initiative in partnership with six states: California, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Rhode Island. 💥 Our Expanding First Response Commission is releasing recommendations for how state leaders can strengthen local community responder programs. 💥 Nearly 800 reentry leaders joined us in July to hear from members of congress working to reauthorize the Second Chance Act, review the latest data on reentry outcomes, and hear how Missouri and North Carolina are working to achieve bold goals by 2030. 💥 Our latest round-up of data on supervision violations found that 110,000 people went to prison for technical violations in 2023, costing taxpayers an estimated $3 billion. 💥 We celebrated a decade of learning through Stepping Up what works to tackle the shared crisis of meeting the behavioral health needs of people cycling through county jails. 💥 Our policy analysis equipped leaders in Alabama to design and enact a bipartisan workforce law to remove employment barriers for people with criminal records, all part of the state’s Reentry 2030 goal to connect more people leaving prison to employment. 💥 Reentry success should be measured by more than just not returning to prison. Employment, housing and health are among the areas for broader metrics we suggest in a new brief. 💥 Our Advancing Data in Corrections Academy launched a series of self-paced courses for corrections analysts to learn skills like calculating recidivism rates, data quality fundamentals, and more. 💥 More behavioral health resources are available for local criminal justice systems thanks to Medicaid Reentry waivers, opioid settlements, and more state and local investment. The opportunities and risks at stake with how these services are deployed are “once in a generation.” We estimated how many people could be eligible for new Medicaid-billed services across 19 states.