Pew Trust: Public Safety Performance ProjectCrime and correctional control—any court-ordered supervision of an individual, whether in the community, as with probation or parole, or in a facility, such as a jail or prison—create substantial burdens for governments and taxpayers, as well as for people in confinement or under supervision and their families. But decades of research have revealed a range of strategies that are more effective for achieving public safety.
Since 2005, The Pew Charitable Trusts and its partners have conducted research, provided technical assistance and legislative support to governments, and made strategic grants to advance fiscally sound, data-driven criminal and juvenile justice policies and practices that protect public safety and reduce correctional populations and costs.