After reviewing Milwaukee County's (Wisconsin) activities in Phases I and II of its Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), their impact is reviewed.
During Phase I, key stakeholders in the county collaborated in developing a vision and mission statement called the "Milwaukee County Early Intervention Strategy. This strategy included 1) an expansion of universal screening options intended to improve pretrial release decisions and reduce pretrial detention; 2) the redesign and expansion of pre-charge diversion for low-risk offenders; and 3) the redesign and expansion of post-charge deferred prosecution for moderate-risk offenders. In Phase II of the JRI, the county obtained federal funding for the establishment of a "Central Liaison Unit " (CLU), with the mission to provide low intervention case management for individuals assessed as low-risk and needs-based services for moderate-risk offenders receiving deferred prosecution. Recent analyses (2016) indicate that although the average daily jail population decreased by 24 percent between 2007 and 2012, it has since remained stable at approximately 2,500 inmates. Although the number of bookings declined substantially over time, the jail population remained stable over time because of increases in lengths of stay, especially among sentenced and municipal warrant inmates, combined with recent increases in length of stay for felony pretrial inmates. These findings indicate the need for continual monitoring of criminal justice policies and practices in order to determine their impact and sustainability.