In January 2007, the Consensus Building Institute (CBI) lead a collaborative process to evaluate and improve the integrated functioning of the various entities that play a role in a growing Maine Town’s planning “system”. The process engaged over one hundred and fifty citizens, land owners, and professionals, and many stakeholders expressed interest in exploring additional options for educating and engaging the public in land use and other important Town governance issues.

Across the country, two decades of effort to “get tough on crime” through increasingly strict sentencing laws, prison conditions, and parole rules have produced the highest incarceration rates in U.S. history. Since very few prisoners serve life sentences, these policies have also led to the highest prison release rates in history.