Lawmakers from Utah are using common sense to reform the state's criminal justice system. A new bill, in effect as of October 1, changes the way the state handles criminal charges and convictions, and expands services that help rehabilitate offenders and reduce recidivism.

The bill, called the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, was conceived after the state decided to try to reduce prison population growth, rather than build another facility to accommodate more prisoners. According to Route Fifty:





"We were going to build a brand new prison," said Ron Gordon, executive director of Utah’s Commission on Criminal and Juvenile Justice. "We started talking about building enough beds to replace the existing prison and then thought: If we are going to build 4,000, why not six and if not six, why not eight, let’s really take advantage of things and build a 10,000 bed facility?" But before Gordon and other officials chose to move forward with this project, they decided to go a different route. "[W]e had to stop and say that’s not the right direction to go. We don’t want to just build more and more beds."

Instead, the state introduced and passed H.B.348, the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, which makes major changes to the state's criminal laws. To find out exactly what is included in the bill, read on.