The National Capital Revitalization and Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997, also known as the Revitalization Act, was enacted on August 5, 1997, with provisions to reform the

criminal justice Criminal justice is the delivery of justice to those who have been accused of committing crimes. The criminal justice system is a series of government agencies and institutions. Goals include the rehabilitation of offenders, preventing other ...

system in Washington, D.C. The act was spearheaded by

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

Republican Senator

Lauch Faircloth Duncan McLauchlin "Lauch" Faircloth (born January 14, 1928) is an American politician who served one term as a United States Republican Party, Republican United States Senate, U.S. Senator from North Carolina. Before his Senate service, Fairclo ...

Corrections

Under the legislation, adult felon prisoners were put under custody of the

Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...

, and the

Lorton Reformatory The Lorton Reformatory, also known as the Lorton Correctional Complex, is a former prison complex in Lorton, Virginia, established in 1910 for the District of Columbia, United States. The complex began as a prison farm called the Occoquan Work ...

Lorton, Virginia Lorton is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. The population was 18,610 as of the 2010 census. History Lorton is named for a village in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria, in England. Joseph Plasket ...

was required to close by December 31, 2001. Offenders serving short sentences for misdemeanors serve time at either the Central Detention Facility or the Correctional Treatment Facility, both run by the

District of Columbia Department of Corrections The District of Columbia Department of Corrections (DCDC) is a correctional agency responsible for the adult jails and other adult correctional institutions for the District of Columbia, in the United States.http://doc.dc.gov/doc/cwp/view,a,3,q,491 ...

. Approximately 6,500 prisoners have been sent to Bureau of Prison facilities around the United States, including over a 1,000 sent to West Virginia, and another 1,000 to the new and purpose-built

Rivers Correctional Institution Rivers Correctional Institution is a privately owned prison in unincorporated Hertford County, North Carolina, operated by GEO Group under contract with the Federal Bureau of Prisons since its construction in 2001. The prison, on of land, was s ...

in North Carolina. Following the passage of the Revitalization Act, a Corrections Trustee was appointed by U.S. Attorney General

Janet Reno Janet Wood Reno (July 21, 1938 – November 7, 2016) was an American lawyer who served as the 78th United States attorney general. She held the position from 1993 to 2001, making her the second-longest serving attorney general, behind only Wi ...

to oversee the District of Columbia Department of Corrections during the transition period.Revitalization Act
. Sentencing and Criminal Code Revision Commission. Retrieved on 2008-12-07

Parole and probation

The Revitalization Act transferred authority regarding parole to the

United States Parole Commission The United States Parole Commission is the parole board responsible for granting or denying parole to, and supervising the parole releases of, incarcerated individuals who fall under its jurisdiction. It is part of the United States Department of J ...

, and the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency was established to oversee

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

ers and

parole Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...

es, and provide pretrial services. The functions were previously handled by the D.C. Superior Court and the D.C. Pretrial Services Agency.

Funding

The Revitalization Act also mandated that the

Federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-gover ...

provide funding for the District of Columbia court system, including the

Superior Court of the District of Columbia The Superior Court of the District of Columbia, commonly referred to as DC Superior Court, is the trial court for the District of Columbia, in the United States. It hears cases involving criminal and civil law, as well as family court, landlor ...

, and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

References

{{reflist Crime in Washington, D.C. Government in Washington, D.C.