This brief report describes the Crime and Justice Institute’s (CJI) role in supporting South Dakota’s Criminal Justice Initiative Work Group, comprised of a diverse group of stakeholders, in conducting a comprehensive review of South Dakota’s criminal justice system and developing policy recommendations to reduce the state’s corrections population and save $207 million taxpayer dollars through 2022.

The Crime and Justice Institute (CJI), in partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts’ public safety performance project, provided technical assistance to the Work Group, bringing expertise in data and systems analysis and evidence-based correctional practices to support the bipartisan Criminal Justice Initiative Work Group in reaching its goals.

The reform bill, Senate Bill 70, also known as the Public Safety Improvement Act, was introduced by a bipartisan coalition of 70 co-sponsors in November 2012 and signed into law by Governor Dennis Daugaard in February 2013.

Click here to read the report.