Introduction Read the full policy brief. To anyone raised on American television, it may come as a surprise that a person could appear at a court hearing without a lawyer. But every day in West Virginia, people who are arrested face their first hearings alone. This has significant consequences. At the first appearance hearing the…
Criminal Justice
When Anthony[1] was arrested in 2020, he sat at the police station for hours before a man came over the station telephone and told him, “We’re going to set your bond at $25,000 cash.” The man on the phone was a magistrate conducting Anthony’s “first appearance” hearing. At this hearing, a magistrate explains the criminal…
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - About 95 percent of people who leave prison or jail return home without the resources they need to transition back into society, according to the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy. Some of the barriers they face include housing and supervision restrictions or problems getting a job with a…
Lootpress - “Overcoming Barriers to Reentry & Reintegration Post Incarceration,” a reentry simulation event will be held at Concord University on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. Read the full article. The Concord University Sociology Department and the WV Reentry Councils are sponsoring the event.Beverly Sharp, Director of the WV Reentry Councils, along with Ashley Lough from…
Charleston Gazette-Mail, Huntington Herald-Dispatch - With jail costs bearing down on county commissions in West Virginia, a legislative committee drafted a bill Friday that would play a part in decreasing how much county governments pay to incarcerate people. Read the full article. The House of Delegates Committee on Jails and Prisons adopted a bill that…
WCHS TV - The West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy hosted its annual Budget Breakfast on Friday. Watch the full segment. It marks the ninth time the breakfast has been held. Organizers conduct the event during the legislative session each year. The event provides a chance for lawmakers to analyze the governor's proposed budget…
At our 2022 Budget Breakfast on January 21, Justice Reform Strategies' Brian Elderbroom presented on how West Virginia can improve community supervision practices to safely address the state’s current incarceration crisis. You can download Brian's keynote PowerPoint presentation here. You can watch the full Budget Breakfast recording here.
Media Advisory: January 19, 2022Contact: Renee Alves, 304-720-8682 Charleston, WV – As the 2022 legislative session gets underway, the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy would like to invite you to join us at our 9th annual Budget Breakfast, taking place this Friday, January 21 at 8:00am EST. Each year, the WVCBP holds this event to provide…
For Immediate Release: January 11, 2022Contact: Renee Alves, 559-916-5939 Charleston, WV – West Virginia is a national outlier in regard to rising incarceration. From 2009 to 2019, West Virginia’s imprisonment rate grew 10 percent while the state imprisonment rate fell 16 percent nationally. This rapid growth in incarceration has continued unabated during the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbating dangerous overcrowding…
This issue brief was written for the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy by Brian Elderbroom. Elderbroom is the founder and president of Justice Reform Strategies, a consulting firm providing policy, communications, and management support to organizations committed to improving the criminal justice system. He is a national expert on sentencing and corrections policy…