While the American approach to criminal justice is relatively uniform across the country, there are some differences from state to state. This article briefly summarizes crime, justice, reform, what works, and what could be improved in New Hampshire.

When analyzing New Hampshire’s criminal justice system, it’s important to ask and answer these questions:

• Does New Hampshire have alternatives to incarceration?
• How many people are incarcerated in New Hampshire?
• What are the biggest prisons in New Hampshire?
• What is New Hampshire’s recidivism rate?
• What is New Hampshire’s crime rate?

According to the Bureau of Justice Assistance, New Hampshire has the 43rd highest incarceration rate in the country, ahead of Utah but behind New York. New Hampshire incarcerates 172 people for every 100,000 living in the state, much lower than the national rate of 358 per 100,000.¹

The National Institute of Corrections published data in 2019 indicating that New Hampshire operates ten jails in ten counties. As of 2019, the jail population was 1,990. According to that same data set, the number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of New Hampshire correctional authorities was 2,691, located in 6 state prisons. The New Hampshire Community Corrections program manages 3,659 individuals under probation and 2,251 under parole. New Hampshire’s Department of Corrections operates with a staff of 893 and an annual budget of $128,325,365.²

The Urban Institute reports that the Department of Corrections is the seventh costliest item on New Hampshire’s annual budget, well behind health, hospitals, police, highways, education, and public welfare.³

According to the Sentencing Project, New Hampshire no longer contracts with private prisons and has not done so since before 2000. There is one federal prison and one federal prison camp in the state.⁴

The largest state prison in New Hampshire is the New Hampshire State Prison for Men, located in Concord. The prison has a capacity of 1,408.⁵

New Hampshire is known for having one of the lowest crime rates in the nation. It is considered the third-safest state in the U.S. regarding violent crime, with just Vermont and Maine having lower violent crime rates. According to the FBI, New Hampshire’s violent crime rate is just 198 violent crimes committed per 100,000 people in the state.⁶

In any given year, New Hampshire will report about 12 to 25 murders, 400 to 700 robberies, and 1,000 to 1,600 aggravated assaults.⁷

There is one caveat to New Hampshire’s relatively low violent crime rate. The state consistently records higher-than-average instances of rape. The rate of reported rape in New Hampshire usually comes in at about 49.4 per 100,000 people each year, which is higher than the national average by quite a bit. And in the city of Manchester, the rate of rape crimes is more than twice the national average.

“What might be going on is not that so much that the behavior of sexual assault is taking place itself at a higher rate within New Hampshire. But that more people who are victimized within the state of New Hampshire are likely to report.”

Experts are still determining if these figures legitimately reflect more instances of rape or if New Hampshire’s recording of rape crimes is better than most states. Speaking to this point, Cesar Rebellon, a sociologist at the University of New Hampshire, said: “What might be going on is not that so much that the behavior of sexual assault is taking place itself at a higher rate within New Hampshire. But that more people who are victimized within the state of New Hampshire are likely to report.” Also, the murder rate is significantly lower in Manchester than in other large American cities. That suggests New Hampshire may have perfected a model for accurately measuring rape and sexual assault crimes (which would mean other cities severely under-record their rape and sexual assault-related crimes).⁸

Statistical data on recidivism is an important metric by which to measure the efficacy of a state’s criminal justice system. Recidivism rates in New Hampshire shift from year to year. The percentage of formerly incarcerated individuals who re-offend and become incarcerated in New Hampshire again is usually around 43%. That’s higher than the national average and suggests almost half of all offenders in New Hampshire are not experiencing true reform by going through New Hampshire’s criminal justice system.⁹

Criminal reform in New Hampshire and broader programs that address criminal rehabilitation in New Hampshire are tasked with addressing why people commit crimes in New Hampshire. The criminal justice system in New Hampshire offers some reform programs for inmates, but policymakers must expand them. For example, New Hampshire needs to create criminal reform programs that include:

• Addiction and substance abuse programs for offenders convicted of drug-related crimes
• Vocational training to help offenders learn valuable trades for post-incarceration employment
• Life skills & coping strategy-based programs to help offenders learn how to lead crime-free lives

There are alternatives to incarceration in New Hampshire, but policymakers should expand them. Alternatives to prison in New Hampshire should especially be made available for offenders who have committed nonviolent crimes. Currently, New Hampshire offers:

• Pre-trial diversion programs
• A suspended sentence or a work-release program
• Drug court for nonviolent drug possession offenses
• Probation, parole, and other non-incarceration sentences
• Mandatory work programs to help improve the community
• House arrest, electronic monitoring, and guided supervision

Looking to the future, New Hampshire should invest in educational programs inside New Hampshire and rehabilitation programs inside New Hampshire. New Hampshire has done a remarkable job in reducing its crime rate over time to the point where the state has the 3rd lowest violent crime rate in the country. And the state has also reduced its prison population to the point where New Hampshire has the 9th lowest prison population in the nation.

But New Hampshire still has a relatively high recidivism rate (43%). Improving rehabilitation programs in prisons in New Hampshire and offering more alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders should help lower recidivism while improving public safety.