Justice and public safety agencies could feel crunch

Counties could be impacted by potential state funding reductions to justice and public safety agencies for 2010-11, a team from the General Assembly's Fiscal Research Division told members of the NCACC Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee on Feb. 9.

Denise Thomas of the Fiscal Research Division said that justice and public safety agencies account for 11 percent of the state's total general fund budget, and staffing reductions could be in play as the governor and legislators make adjustments to the state budget for the upcoming fiscal year. These agencies combine to employ more than 31,000 people.

Governor Beverly Perdue has already mandated that state agencies hold back 5 percent of their budget to meet reversion targets that will cushion the deficit in revenues that state fiscal analysts are projecting.

Steering committee members also heard from Nicole Sullivan, manager for the Department of Correction's Office of Research and Planning, on the Justice Reinvestment Act, a new federal initiative that attempts to reform the nation's criminal justice system by addressing the rising prison population. In North Carolina, incarcerations grew by 93 percent from 1982 to 2007.

Governors and Legislatures in 12 states, including North Carolina, have established statewide councils to address prisoner re-entry issues. The General Assembly has established a Joint Select Committee on ex-offender reintegration into society to look at issues including barriers in accessing jobs, housing, education, training and services.

The Reinvestment Act is designed to provide data to help policymakers decide which areas to concentrate resources as they attempt to address the rising recidivism rate. North Carolina is projecting a shortage of 8,500 prison beds by 2017, and policymakers are realizing that the conventional way of building prisons is costly and may be not feasible in light of the economic situation.

North Carolina is also one of 25 states involved in the National Atlas Sentencing and Corrections projects conducted by the Justice Mapping Center. This project is generating maps to depict the residential distribution of prison and parole populations and the geographic deployment of criminal justice resources associated with those populations. Project benefits include a better understanding of spatial patterns and demographic dynamics of prison admissions, prisoner re-entry expenditure projections, and probation/parole caseload distributions in high-concentration areas. In other words, mapping of this kind would accurately determine which communities would most need resources.

In other news from the meeting, Mark O'Donnell of the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services provided an update on the residential transition Level III and Level IV group homes process. O'Donnell said this consolidation of residential group homes was necessary as the Division faced a 42 percent cut in state funds.

To help with child transition, child/family teams were set up to focus on the strengths and weaknesses of each child. The Local Management Entity acts as the lead agency in this process and is charged with coordinating meetings with partners from the community to assist children during the process.

In addition, members received an update on the NCACC's progress toward achieving flexibility of E-911 funds. For more on this issue, click here.

Chairman Hubert Sealey, a Robeson County commissioner, set the steering committee's next meeting for Tuesday, May 11, at 10 a.m. at the Albert Coates Local Government Center in Raleigh.