Criminal Justice Reform and Reinvestment In Georgia © 2011 – 2015 Hon. Michael P. Boggs Thomas Worthy, Esq. Co-Chairs Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform

Background 2 Report of the Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform for Georgians – 2011 If we did nothing… Projected Prison Growth of 8% by K to almost 60K Additional $264 million to expand capacity Other Drivers… In 2010, more than 5,000 low-risk drug and property offenders were sentenced to the Department of Corrections, accounting for 25% of all admissions Pew’s 1 in 30 Report—Georgia ranked last with 1 in 13 Source: Report of the Special Council on Criminal Justice Reform for Georgians – November 2011

Year Adult Sentencing Reform Year Juvenile Justice Reform/Code Rewrite Year Offender Reentry Year Misdemeanor Probation Reform Criminal Justice Reform 3

Substantial Policy Initiatives Requiring Legislation  Changed the felony threshold for burglary, theft and forgery from $500 to $1,500  Moved to weight-based drug sentencing  Mandated the electronic submission of sentence from clerk of court to Department of Corrections  Establishment of mandatory minimum “safety valves”  Drug trafficking if certain specific provisions are met  “Truth in pleading”  Certificates of program and treatment completion  Presumption of due care in hiring, retaining, licensing, leasing to or admitting to a school program  Conditional drivers’ licenses for accountability court participants  Expanded parole eligibility for non-violent drug recidivists  Creation of administrative probation Criminal Justice Reform 4

Substantial Policy Initiatives Requiring Executive/Administrative Action  Capping length of stay in Probation Detention Centers at 180 days  Enabled the conversion of underutilized PDCs to Residential Substance Abuse Treatment beds  Automation of Pre-Sentence Assessments  Pre-Release Center Conversions  Day Reporting Center Lite Pilot Program  Creative solution for rural areas  Probation Options Management (POM)  Matching the appropriate supervision level to the offender  Appropriations—to date, over $65 million in new state appropriations  $20 million++ per year for expanding and strengthening accountability courts  Combination of $5 million (state) and $1 million (federal) per year for local juvenile justice incentive grants  $10 million per year for education (technical and GED) in Department of Corrections  $3 million per year for reentry services at Department of Community Supervision Criminal Justice Reform 5

HB 1176 HB 349 HB Weight Based Drug Sentencing Phase I - July 2013 Phase II – July 2014 Georgia Prison Population SB 365 Source: Georgia Department of Corrections

7 Total Jail Population SB 365 HB ,742 HB ,259 37,004 Source: GA Dept. of Community Affairs Monthly Jail Report

2015 saw the lowest number of overall commitments since 2002 Commitments High Point HB 349 SB 365 Georgia Prison Commitments Source: Georgia Department of Corrections HB 1176

Georgia Prison Commitments Racial Composition Calendar YearTotal CommitmentsAfrican AmericanCaucasian ,65513,3687, ,74710,5877, ,1339,9837,644 Change %-25.3%4.8% Change %-5.7%1.7% While overall prison admissions dropped 16.3% between 2009 and 2015, commitments of African American men dropped 24.3% and African American women declined 37.6%. The number of African Americans entering the prison system in 2015 (9,983) was its lowest since Source: Georgia Department of Corrections.

Recidivism Rates Since 1972 Source: Georgia Department of Corrections Three-year felony reconviction rates of prisoners released

Jail Backlog/Awaiting Pickup Source: Georgia Department of Corrections

HB 1176 July E-Portal Becomes Law Jan 2013 – All Clerks begin using E-Portal FY Jail Subsidy Source: Georgia Department of Corrections

HB 1176 capped PDC Length of Stay at 180 days Length of Stay Cap Effect on PDC Backlog Source: Georgia Department of Corrections July 2012 HB 1176 Effective June 2013 Male PDC flipped To Female PDC By statute the counties receive no jail subsidy for these cases. July 2015 Male & Female PDC flipped to RSATs

HB 1176 Violent vs. Non-Violent Prison Trends Source: Georgia Department of Corrections 5 % Growth since %

Juvenile Justice Fiscal Incentive Grant Year Two Evaluation Report July 2014 – June Courts (51 Counties), serving 70% of Georgia’s total at-risk population. Source: Carl Vinson Institute of Government, Year Two Evaluation Report, ( ).

Juvenile Justice Source: Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice.

2016 Recommendations Restoring the Intent of the 1 st Offender Act – Discharge by operation of law. – No Administrative GCIC Dispositions. – Front-end sealing of FOA records. – Retroactivity. – Possession of Alcohol by a Minor (§ ). – Those charged with human trafficking and abuse of the elderly or disable ineligible for FOA plea.

2016 Recommendations Secure Juvenile Detention: Youths 13 and Under - Detentions – 2011: 3 – 2012: 1954% charged with a felony – 2013: 7546% charged with a misdemeanor, – 2014: 225technical and status charges. – 2015: 450 Restrict secure “short-term” detention for all youth ages 13 and under, except for SB440 and Serious Felonies. Source: Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice

2016 Recommendations School Disciplinary Procedures – Amend statute dealing with disruption of or interference with the operation of public schools to require a plan of “progressive discipline.” – Provide for increased training for school disciplinary hearing officers. – Mandate the use of a MOU in systems employing the use of School Resource Officers.

2016 Recommendations Misdemeanor Probation Supervision – Require affidavit before issuing arrest warrant in failure-to-report cases. – Prohibit pre-hearing arrest for failure-to-pay cases. – Automatic termination in pay-only cases. – Remove Judges and Prosecutors from contracting for probation supervision services and in pre-trial intervention cases. – Adult: Extending Parole Eligibility to Non-Violent Recidivist Drug Offenders; Drivers Licenses; Ban Box on Professional Licensing.

Looking Ahead Examining the cost and public safety returns realized by the imposition of mandatory/non-parole eligible recidivist sentencing and whether fiscal, moral, and public safety benefits can be realized by restoring sentencing discretion to our states trial court judges. Examination of Georgia’s adult felony and misdemeanor probation systems to determine what, if any, efficiencies may be gained through additional reforms of models, practices and probation terms. 471,067 Probationers/6,161 per 100,000 residents; –National Average – 1,560 per 100,000. –Civil Infractions within Title 40, Indigency, Bail Reform, Fines and Fees. –Average Probation Length for Non-Violent probationer is 9.95 years/11.88 for Violent offender.