Each year, the Utah Legislature introduces hundreds of bills that affect the criminal justice system.
Some of these bills attempt to reform our system, but more often we see bills that seek to enhance penalties - even create new criminal offenses. Our research staff examined years of bill data to analyze criminalization trends since the implementation of the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI).
Overview of all bills since JRI.
Out of thousands of criminal justice bills proposed from 2016 to 2026, our staff identified 668 that fit into the project categories.
Bills can include multiple provisions. To avoid misrepresenting the total number of bills introduced, each bill in this project was assigned to only one category.
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Bills under this category sought to establish new criminal offenses. Out of 256 introduced, 129 passed and became law.
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Bills under this category sought to repeal existing criminal offenses. Over the course of eight years, fourteen were introduced and only eight passed.
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Bills under this category sought to enhance the severity or number of penalties associated with an existing criminal offense. Out of 157 introduced, 104 passed and became law.
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Bills under this category sought to reduce the severity or number of penalties associated with an existing criminal offense. Out of 52 introduced, 33 passed.
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Bills under this category sought to expand the applicability of existing criminal offenses in such a way that the offense applied to more people. Out of 142 introduced, 83 passed and became law.
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Bills under this category sought to narrow the applicability of existing criminal offenses in such a way that the offense applied to fewer people. Out of 47 introduced, 34 passed.
Proposed and Passed Bills by Category
in number of bills
Passed Bills by Category
in number of bills
Our staff broke down each category by offense level and type.
The Fiscal Impact
What are fiscal notes?
Utah, unlike some other states in the U.S., requires a fiscal note for every bill introduced during the annual legislative session. The fiscal note writing process is collaborative in nature and requires the input of many different agencies in order to accurately predict the costs attached to proposed legislation.
How accurate are fiscal notes?
Fiscal notes are subject to tight deadlines and will be published without agency input if responses are not received within the timeframe. The last week of the session consistently sees a rush of bills pushed through that may not have had the standard agency vetting process.
The majority of bills in this project had fiscal notes predicting a net increase of zero dollars. Because many of these same bills created new felony offenses or increased penalties, it is unlikely their implementation saw no increase in costs. Our organization is not aware of any effort to retrospectively evaluate the accuracy of fiscal notes.
Local Costs
The costs of lower level offenses are predominantly paid for by counties, and while local costs are considered in the fiscal note process, they are not part of the final fiscal note dollar amount considered by legislators.
Where only 65 of 270 passed bills predicted a state fiscal impact, an additional 61 of those 270 anticipated an increase in costs to local governments.
Predicted State Costs
in number of bills
Passed bills from 2016 to 2024 that create/expand offenses or increase penalties. Generated using information from the Utah Legislature General Sessions 2016 to 2024.
Fiscal Notes by Category
in dollar amounts
Passed bills from 2016 to 2024 with positive fiscal notes. Generated using information from the Utah Legislature General Sessions 2016 to 2024.