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Nebraska Chief Justice Jeffrey Funk urges funding, touts probation gains and tech overhaul
Summary
Chief Justice Jeffrey Funk told the Legislature that probation programs and problem-solving courts are reducing recidivism and costs, but the judicial branch needs new funding and a case-management modernization supported by a $1.7 million planning grant to sustain progress.
Chief Justice Jeffrey Funk delivered the State of the Judiciary address to the Nebraska Legislature, praising probation and problem-solving courts for lowering reoffending while urging lawmakers to provide adequate funding for the judicial branch in the next biennium.
Funk told senators that adult probation supervises more than 14,000 Nebraskans and that "the recidivism rate for those successfully completing probation is an exceptional 19%." He said problem-solving courts now serve more than 800 participants, with a 24% recidivism rate among graduates, and that juvenile probation caseloads have fallen substantially with a current recidivism rate of 17%.
The chief justice framed those results as cost-effective alternatives to incarceration:…
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