D7 · Pillar D · Human Flourishing & Societal Infrastructure
Criminal justice and corrections modernization
Federal system: sentencing reform that prioritizes sentences of 12 months or less for non-violent offenses; rehabilitation-first federal facilities on the Halden model; and front-end diversion — drug courts, mental-health courts, veterans courts — scaled to national coverage. State partnership: a $20 billion federal matching-grant pool for states that adopt equivalent reforms, structured so recidivism-reducing states receive additional shares. Extends B9.
- 10-year fiscal
- +$28B net federalInvestment
- Implementation
- Years 4–10
- Middle class
- Positive in affected communities
- Planetary
- Modestly positive
State savings $12B–$20B a year at scale · Medium confidence
No household levy. Gains concentrate where incarceration and recidivism costs are highest.
A smaller prison estate reduces operational emissions and land use.
Global precedent
Netherlands (91 percent of sentences one year or less; 19 prisons closed since 2009); Germany (75 percent of sentences one year or less; recidivism about half the U.S. federal rate); Norway’s Halden Prison.
Lead mechanism
Department of Justice; Bureau of Prisons; Senate and House Judiciary.
Bipartisan framing
Conservative case
Fiscal discipline, public-safety effectiveness, and state-led adoption through matching grants.
Progressive case
Shorter sentences for non-violent offenses and rehabilitation infrastructure. The First Step Act (2018) is the recent bipartisan statute.
Figures in this framework are illustrative directional estimates derived from publicly available data and conventional Congressional Budget Office budget-window logic. They are not official CBO scores. Any provision adopted from this framework would require formal CBO scoring before legislative consideration. This document is a policy white paper, not an introduced bill.