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October 5, 2017 – Criminal Justice

IUPUI Hosts Forum on the Financial Sustainability of Public Safety

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IUPUI Hosts Forum on the Financial Sustainability of Public Safety

The School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA) at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis last month hosted a forum on the “Financial Sustainability of Public Safety,” headlined by Indianapolis mayor Joe Hogsett and attended by key leaders in the Indiana criminal justice community. Discussion focused on the budgetary pressures facing public safety officials throughout Indiana.

SPEA professor Doug Noonan has been conducting research on the topic, using publicly available data to analyze statewide spending on policing, incarceration, and the court system.

“We have to better characterize the problems facing public safety officials and communities—and it goes beyond the challenges of policing. We have to pay for these things, sustainably, and how we do that matters,” Noonan said.

Noonan elaborated on these issues in The Washington Examiner last week, arguing that ending mass incarceration is a necessary step toward financially sustainable public safety. California, he noted, decreased crime rates and costs by reducing their prison population.

Read more about the event here, and read Noonan’s full piece in The Washington Examiner