New Criminal Justice Center Initiative Focuses on Higher Education

A key public safety and budgetary goal for California policymakers is to prevent prisoner recidivism—to ensure that released prisoners become productive members of society and stay out of prison. Yet few opportunities to earn a degree exist for the incarcerated or recently released, so the likelihood that they will improve their prospects for successful reentry into society with education is limited.  Renewing Communities, a new effort by the Stanford Criminal Justice Center (SCJC) at Stanford Law and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Institute on Law and Social Policy at Berkeley Law, addresses the absence of such higher education programs and will use research to develop innovative models for the more than 600,000 people who are currently in custody or under community supervision
in this state.

The timing is right for this initiative, says Debbie Mukamal, executive director of SCJC. She explains that California’s criminal justice system has changed dramatically in the past two years under Public Safety Realignment, resulting in greater numbers of prisoners under local county control who can be connected with community educational institutions. This may result in a greater capacity within the state system to address the educational needs of its prison population.  “A college education can be the key to viable employment and other supports that facilitate successful reentry,” says Mukamal. “We need to build a bridge between California’s public system of higher education and criminal justice for the benefit of the state as a whole.”  The initiative is supported by a generous grant from the Ford Foundation.