美国司法再投资改革实践检视

An Insight into Justice Reinvestment in the U.S.

21世纪以来,在大规模监禁背景下,美国各州相继达到监狱拥挤、不堪矫正支出重负的临界点。在此背景下,各州开始探索监禁改革之路,联邦政府遂正式发起“司法再投资倡议”。这个以经济性著称的司法再投资,通过设立问题解决法庭、改革量刑法与缓刑、保释制度等措施,打破监禁与累犯循环的局面,运用司法测绘定位司法资源缺口,将由此节约的司法资源投入到加强社区监督与改善社区基础设施中,从而显著提升了美国刑事司法系统运行的公平与效率。从2007年至今,司法再投资已积累了十余年的改革实践经验。35个州的多项数据表明,司法再投资有效缓解了美国大规模监禁带来的资金和人员短缺,能在让更多犯人回归社区的同时,降低累犯率并提升公共安全。司法再投资的实践经验及其所蕴含的经济学思维,或为中国监狱与社区矫正改革提供镜鉴。

Mass incarceration has pushed the American criminal justice correctional system to verge of bankruptcy due to overcrowded prisons.Targeting fairness and efficiency of criminal justice resource out of an economic perspective,Justice Reinvestment Initiative(JRI)has established problem-solving courts,amended laws on sentencing,probation,parole and bail in order to reduce the prison population as well as break the cycle of recidivism within criminal justice system by empirically identifying the gap between justice resources and its demands,and prioritizing the integrated resources for the supervision of offenders and improvement on infrastructure in community.A wealth of statistics on Justice Reinvestment,collected by 35 JRI states since the year of 2007 when the wave of reforms began,have indicated Justice Reinvestment as a promising strategy reversing mass incarceration with the reduction of recidivism rate while increasing of public safety despite offenders’reentry to community.The experiences of JRI practice and the economic perspective within may afford a reference to China’s future legal reforms on prison and community correction.