Financial instruments for preventative investment

Justice reinvestment is a local approach to justice decision-making which seeks to reinvest some of the state funds spent on imprisonment into local programmes that tackle the longer term causes of offending in specific localities. It is based on geographic analyses of returning ex-offenders. The analysis above, conducted by Eric Cadora at the Justice Centre, reveals that five counties accounted for more than half of the people sentenced to prison at a cost to taxpayers of over half a billion dollars. Of these localities, Harris County (Houston) received and contributed the most prisoners, with 10 of Houston’s 88 neighbourhoods accounting for almost $100 million a year in incarceration costs. This evidence is then used to target preventative interventions more effectively.

Financial instruments for preventative investment including the UK ‘Invest to Save’ budget, the US Justice Re-Investment programme and contingent revenue bonds such as the proposed Social Savings or Social Impact Bonds.