Source: The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\nThese interventions are not secret. Foundations publish grant lists, and campaign finance reports document the spending. The stated goals are reducing racial disparities, lowering costs, and addressing what funders view as over-incarceration. The practical effect in multiple jurisdictions has been substantial changes in charging, bail, and release practices, sometimes against local public opinion after subsequent crime increases.<\/p>\n
Measuring the Public Safety Consequences<\/h2>\n
Critics argue the funding creates misaligned incentives. When grant success is defined by fewer people in jail, local officials face pressure to release more defendants, including those with serious charges. When outside money elects prosecutors who announce they will not pursue certain categories of cases, charging decisions shift regardless of local crime trends. Public safety outcomes, recidivism, new violent offenses by released defendants, and clearance rates receive less systematic tracking than the metrics funders reward.<\/p>\n
The Allegheny County account raises a concrete question that goes beyond the abstract debate: when grant conditions or external funding priorities reward lower detention numbers, how thoroughly are the downstream public-safety costs measured and disclosed? Robertson\u2019s piece argues that in her office they were not, and that the result included the death of a children\u2019s doctor whose killer had been released under the new regime.<\/p>\n
Similar dynamics have appeared in other cities that adopted bail reform, progressive prosecution, or MacArthur-style Safety and Justice Challenge grants. Some jurisdictions discover the failings of these policies after a high-profile case involves one of these released defendants and makes changes. Other jurisdictions have just continued the approach. What drives these decisions really comes down to how much outside funding and political support the jurisdiction is actually receiving.<\/p>\n
Who Is Driving Criminal Justice Policy?<\/h2>\n
Voters and local officials ultimately control statutes, budgets, and elections. But the influence of these large grants and donors cannot be ignored. And it really begs the question: What is driving criminal justice reform, fairness, justice or is it all just about the money?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Criminal Justice Policy Across America for Sale to the Highest Bidder Across the country, we have seen many instances of criminal justice policy shifting away from law and order and moving towards more social justice goals of reducing jail populations, limiting financially secure release, and… <\/p>\n
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Across the country, we have seen many instances of criminal justice policy shifting away from law and order and moving towards more social justice goals of reducing jail populations, limiting financially secure release, and electing \u201creform\u201d prosecutors. And the disturbing thing about this shift is that much of it has not been driven by local voters or frontline experience. Instead, it has been pushed forward by large grants and political donations from progressive billionaires and foundations.<\/p>\n