Recidiviz

Recidiviz also touts the fact that its hiring, retention, and promotion policies are designed to favor members of racial and other minority groups. ²  Recidiviz was originally founded as a volunteer project by several high-level employees at Google, where the employee base reportedly supports Democratic Party politicians by a wide margin. The project became a standalone nonprofit organization in 2018. ³

In 2021, Recidiviz was selected along with other left-of-center advocacy groups to receive a share of more than $3.8 billion in grants from Mackenzie Scott, the former wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who started giving away her share of the fortune after their separation. ⁴

Initiatives

Recidiviz has published research on a wide range of state-level criminal justice policies and strategies. The organization’s reports endorse more lenient approaches, which it claims will save local governments billions of dollars in total while improving outcomes for both the incarcerated and for society. ⁵

In March 2023, Recidiviz published a report on youth parole-age-limit extensions in the state of California since 2014. The organization claimed that the state should lower the minimum age to 15, citing the approximately 4,000 convicted criminals serving life sentences and the potential benefits of making them eligible for early release. The report cited Washington, D.C. as an example of a jurisdiction with permissive youth parole policies, though it acknowledged that 12 percent of those released under the district’s new policies since 2016 went on to commit more crimes. ⁶

In October 2022, Recidiviz published a report on pretrial detention in the state of Arkansas. The organization claimed that the state should end the practice in order to address overcrowding in prisons, and that this would save nearly $600 million in public funds. The report cited a similar policy in Kentucky, which it described as a “success” while acknowledging that 12 percent of detainees who were released went on to get arrested again during their pretrial period. ⁷

In February 2021, Recidiviz published a report on a proposed increase of penalties for third-time or subsequent drug offenders in the state of Oklahoma. The organization pushed back against the measure, arguing that it would increase costs. The report also cited the fact that Blacks in Oklahoma are more than four times more likely than whites to get caught for drug offenses as a reason to oppose the legislation. ⁸

Supporters

Proponents of the Recidiviz approach to criminal justice policy include the left-wing legal activist American Civil Liberties Union and the center-right R Street Institute, as well as the immigration expansion advocacy group Forward US, a project of Silicon Valley billionaires Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. ⁵

The organization’s financial backers include numerous major left-of-center grantmakers, including the Ford Foundation and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation. In addition, the organization has received funding from the libertarian-oriented Charles Koch Institute, and the Koch-affiliated advocacy group Americans for Prosperity has endorsed Recidiviz research. The organization has also received taxpayer funding through the United States Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance. ⁹

Leadership

Clementine Jacoby is the executive director and co-founder of Recidiviz. She previously spent four years as a product manager at Google. Jacoby has also collaborated with the TED Foundation, using its “TED Talks” platform to promote large-scale releases from the prison system, claiming that this would reduce costs while improving public safety. ¹⁰

Andrew Warren is the head of product and co-founder of Recidiviz. Like Jacoby, he previously worked in product management at Google. ¹¹

Robert Rooks and Jay Jordan, who have both held the position of chief executive officer at the Alliance for Safety and Justice, a left-of-center law enforcement policy advocacy group backed by the Tides Center, are both members of Recidiviz’s board of directors. ⁹

Funding

In 2019, Recidiviz received less than $1.9 million in contributions and grants. In 2020, this jumped to nearly $9.9 million, and the organization distributed more than $2.5 million in charitable disbursements of its own. ¹²  According to Inside Philanthropy, Recidiviz was among the recipients of a major funding infusion into left-wing criminal justice policy and other causes from Mackenzie Scott, the former wife of billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, starting that year. ¹³