The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.

Jackson finished his formal supervision and now has a job selling housewares at
Macy’s.
“That court turned my whole life around,” he said.
The judge uses a strategy based on research that found a few days in jail is enough to
disrupt problematic behavior, but that people kept in jail for longer periods get
comfortable and are more likely to later reoffend.
In his court that handles more hardened offenders, Vlavianos said he noticed a 40
percent drop in violations this year after he reduced the time of jail stays for scofflaws
and required more intense supervision.
Defendants who flout Vlavianos’ rules can expect a knock on their door from Jason
DiGiulio, one of two Stockton police officers assigned to work with the judge.
Tall and stocky with short-cropped hair, DiGiulio is hardly a liberal reformer. He blames
Proposition 47, the 2014 ballot initiative that reduced sentences for drug and some
minor theft offenses, for making it harder to arrest shoplifting suspects. Under the law,
thieves now have to steal more than $950 worth of goods—up from $400—before they
can be charged with a felony.
But he has warmed to his role bringing people directly to Vlavianos, not jail, so the judge
can quickly find out why scofflaws are violating the rules.
On a hot morning in late summer, DiGiulio flipped through a clipboard of mugshots in
his patrol car. At any given time, he is looking for roughly 50 to 75 people.
He pulled up to a white bungalow with a well-manicured lawn. A woman who answered
said the man the officer was looking for lived in an apartment in the basement but that
she hadn’t seen him in days.
It took a few weeks before DiGiulio was able to bring the missing man to court, where
Vlavianos ordered him to meet with a probation officer.
About three months later, DiGiulio said, the man had earned a spot on what the judge
calls “the A Team,” an honor roll of sorts for the collaborative courts.
“Jail or prison is needed,” DiGiulio said. “But if you send an alcoholic or a drug addict to
prison, when they get out, they will still have the addiction. You’ve got to find them at
just the right point, and you wear them out.”
The Marshall Project receives funding from the California Endowment and other
organizations that favor efforts to reform California’s criminal justice system. Under terms
of its funding, the Marshall Project has sole editorial control of its news reporting.
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