Second Chances Resource Library

FAMM’s Compassionate Release Report Cards grade state’s compassionate release mechanisms in seven performance categories. Unfortunately, the majority of states’ programs flunk compassionate release. Those that do not, nonetheless, could stand significant improvement in one or more of the areas we evaluated.

Knowing what doesn’t work is the first step to fixing underperforming programs. The report card project’s aim is to identify barriers to the success of well-intentioned programs that don’t work as intended. We offer this toolkit to lawmakers, advocates, and stakeholders interested in refurbishing the broken programs in their state. We hope that the ideas here will generate improvements in the reach, accessibility, design, and transparency of their state compassionate release programs.