{"id":939,"date":"2021-08-10T01:07:51","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T01:07:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=939"},"modified":"2025-11-29T17:20:13","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T22:20:13","slug":"ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform","status":"publish","type":"episodes","link":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform","title":{"rendered":"Ep. 5: Insights from Illinois Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This episode provides a big picture overview of why our criminal justice system needs improvement, especially regarding our overuse of prisons, by exploring the gold mine of information and perspective in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icjia.org\/cjreform2015\/index.html\">2016 report of the Illinois Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The primary focus of this episode is on the background information of the report, which is divided into four subsections:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The role of prisons<\/li>\n<li>The impact of high incarceration<\/li>\n<li>The resource question (or what I refer to as the resource riddle)<\/li>\n<li>And finally, guiding principles and operating assumptions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Among the most important points we hope you take away from this episode are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Overuse of prison as a solution to crime problems is not only ineffective and hugely expensive, but also counterproductive, resulting in more crime, not less.<\/li>\n<li>We can\u2019t punish our way out of our crime problems, especially in high crime communities.<\/li>\n<li>Therefore, rather than persisting in our currently dominant punishment approach to criminal justice, we need to pivot to a problem-solving approach.<\/li>\n<li>A problem-solving approach leads naturally to replacing overuse of prison with more effective and ultimately less costly solutions best delivered at the local level.<\/li>\n<li>But, increasing the capacity of local communities to scale up and effectively implement those local solutions requires funding on a scale that meets the need.<\/li>\n<li>To think those additional funds can come from savings from sending fewer people to prison not only gets the cart before the horse, it is also mathematically unrealistic, given the deep reductions in our prison population that must precede any substantial reduction in the costs of running the prison system.<\/li>\n<li>That is the resource riddle, and solving it is essential to public safety and community health.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>With that background in mind, you\u2019ll be a much better informed listener for our upcoming episodes featuring interviews of remarkable people who have been to prison and returned to build new lives, people whose stories need to be told, whose voices need to be heard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_angie_page":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"https:\/\/episodes.castos.com\/6071ff53eed562-33341195\/JV-06-Risley-Commission-Report-FINAL.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"624904","podmotor_episode_id":"605328","cover_image":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/cropped-VOICES.webp","cover_image_id":"1520","duration":"00:34:39","filesize":"47.6 mb","filesize_raw":"49924141","date_recorded":"2021-08-10 01:07:51","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":""},"class_list":["post-939","episodes","type-episodes","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform Solutions Discussed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform - a big picture overview of why our justice system needs improvement, especially overuse of prisons\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ep. 5: Insights from Illinois Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform - a big picture overview of why our justice system needs improvement, especially overuse of prisons\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Justice Voices\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/justicevisions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-29T22:20:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/cropped-VOICES.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform\",\"name\":\"Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform Solutions Discussed\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/cropped-VOICES.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-10T01:07:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-29T22:20:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform - a big picture overview of why our justice system needs improvement, especially overuse of prisons\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/cropped-VOICES.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/cropped-VOICES.webp\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Justice Voices Logo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Episodes\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/?post_type=episodes\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Ep. 5: Insights from Illinois Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Justice Voices\",\"description\":\"Eye-Opening Stories Practical Solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"Justice Visions\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Justice Voices\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/VOICES.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/06\\\/VOICES.webp\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Justice Voices\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/justicevoices.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/facebook.com\\\/justicevisions\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform Solutions Discussed","description":"Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform - a big picture overview of why our justice system needs improvement, especially overuse of prisons","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ep. 5: Insights from Illinois Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform","og_description":"Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform - a big picture overview of why our justice system needs improvement, especially overuse of prisons","og_url":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform","og_site_name":"Justice Voices","article_publisher":"https:\/\/facebook.com\/justicevisions","article_modified_time":"2025-11-29T22:20:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":512,"height":512,"url":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/cropped-VOICES.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform","url":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform","name":"Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform Solutions Discussed","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/cropped-VOICES.webp","datePublished":"2021-08-10T01:07:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-29T22:20:13+00:00","description":"Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform - a big picture overview of why our justice system needs improvement, especially overuse of prisons","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/cropped-VOICES.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/cropped-VOICES.webp","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Justice Voices Logo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?episodes=ep-5-insights-from-illinois-commission-on-criminal-justice-and-sentencing-reform#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Episodes","item":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?post_type=episodes"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Ep. 5: Insights from Illinois Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/","name":"Justice Voices","description":"Eye-Opening Stories Practical Solutions","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/#organization"},"alternateName":"Justice Visions","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/#organization","name":"Justice Voices","url":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/VOICES.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/VOICES.webp","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Justice Voices"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/facebook.com\/justicevisions"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/episodes\/939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/episodes"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/episodes"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/justicevoices.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}