A Decoupled System: Federal Criminal Justice and the Structural Limits of Transformation

Abstract

The United States federal criminal justice system is changing. Actuarial risk assessment instruments and evidence-based practices play increasingly important roles; federal reentry court programs have been implemented across the country. Yet, while promising, these developments may not be enough to stem the growth and costs of federal criminal justice. The highly politicized nature of crime and punishment may limit the potential for change. Even within the federal criminal justice system, the decoupled nature of bureaucracies, in which stakeholders make decisions for which they are not financially responsible, makes meaningful change problematic. States, however, have demonstrated that structural changes can foster efficient use of resources and improve fiscal stewardship. A number of statutory, structural, and procedural modifications could help to reorganize a continuum of fragmented bureaucracies into a cohesive federal reentry-centered system.