Cornyn leads criminal justice reform bill aiming to reduce recidivism rates

Drawing from successful criminal justice reform efforts in Texas and Rhode Island, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) introduced legislation on Thursday that aims to reduce recidivism and crime rates while saving taxpayer dollars.

The Corrections Oversight, Recidivism Reduction, and Eliminating Costs for Taxpayers In Our National System (CORRECTIONS) Act would require the Department of Justice to develop tools to assess the risk of recidivism for eligible offenders. The measure would also focus available Bureau of Prison resources on criminals who are most likely to reoffend while shifting lower-risk offenders to less restrictive, lower-cost facilities.

“Texas has successfully implemented reforms that have reduced recidivism rates and saved taxpayer dollars,” said Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “The CORRECTIONS Act builds off this model by fostering partnerships with faith- and community-based organizations to help better prepare low-risk offenders to become productive members of society. I hope the Senate can follow Texas’ lead and implement these common sense, bipartisan reforms.”

The Bureau of Prisons would be required to offer evidence-based recidivism reduction programs to eligible offenders, and it would also promote partnerships with private organizations and non-profits. Then, offenders could earn credit toward pre-release custody upon completion of recidivism reduction programs. Serious violent criminals would be excluded.

U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), who introduced the bill with Cornyn, said Rhode Island used similar reforms to help inmates get help and gain skills that prevent them from reoffending.

“That’s led to big gains for former inmates, our prison system, and the communities where prisoners return,” Whitehouse said. ”Sen. Cornyn’s and my bipartisan legislation would use smart reforms from states like ours to improve the federal prison system. Our bill has been an important part of bipartisan comprehensive criminal justice reform legislation in the Senate in recent years. I hope it will trigger further good-faith negotiation on sentencing and prison reform solutions.”

Under the bill, the federal probation office would also be required to begin planning for the reentry of eligible offenders at the beginning of their sentence, and it would require the Department of Justice to test reentry pilot programs across the country.