23 new reports on policing, crime, race, and more.

Criminal Justice Research Library for June 8, 2023 Bringing you the latest in empirical research about mass incarceration

We've The Prison Policy Initiative has added 23 new reports to the Research Library [[link removed]]: Community Impact [[link removed]] Sentencing Reform for Criminalized Survivors: Learning from New York's Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act [[link removed]] by Sentencing Project and Survivors Justice Project, April, 2023

"Since its passage, the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA) has freed people who otherwise would have spent considerably more time behind bars, but compromises...have limited its impact." Coping With Limited Prosecutorial Resources: An Assessment of the Case Processing and Community Impact From...Prosecutors and Staff in a Southeastern County [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Christi Metcalfe and Joseph B. Kuhns, March, 2023

"Results suggested that Mecklenburg County...suffered more broadly from criminal justice funding challenges, and faced staffing shortages and turnover that were perceived as affecting case dispositions, office morale, and community trust." Lower-Level Enforcement, Racial Disparities, & Alternatives to Arrest: A Review of Research and Practice from 1970 to 2021 [[link removed]] by Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College, February, 2023

This policy review considers five key models of alternatives to arrest: citations, diversion programs, legalization, police-involved crisis response models, and non-police response models. Conditions of Confinement [[link removed]] You're Out!: Three Strikes Against the PLRA's Three Strikes Rule [[link removed]] by Kasey Clark, March, 2023

"At a minimum, the PLRA has failed to achieve Congress's goal of garnering "better prisoner suits." The overall decrease in the proportion of wins by prisoner-plaintiffs...also suggests that more meritorious claims are being excluded from the courts." Banning Torture: Legislative Trends and Policy Solutions for Restricting and Ending Solitary Confinement throughout the United States [[link removed]] by Unlock the Box Campaign, January, 2023

"Given that even a brief time in solitary can cause devastating harm--without any benefit--policymakers should finally and fully end solitary confinement for all people, other than for periods of minutes or hours for purposes of emergency de-escalation." Crime and Crime Rates [[link removed]] Jail Populations, Violent Crime, and COVID-19: Findings from the Safety and Justice Challenge [[link removed]] by CUNY Institute for State & Local Governance, March, 2023

"The public narrative that jail population reform leads to an increase in violent crime makes for attention-grabbing headlines, but it is not backed by any evidence-based research." Economics of Incarceration [[link removed]] Reduction or Elimination of Costs and Fees Charged to Inmates in State Correctional Facilities [[link removed]] by Virginia Department of Corrections, October, 2022

"The 9% commission [on commissary purchases] collected by VADOC, in addition to high prices and sales tax, collected to fund these services places an unfair cost on some of the Commonwealth's poorest families." Health impact [[link removed]] Estimated Costs and Outcomes Associated With Use and Nonuse of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder During Incarceration and at Release in Massachusetts [[link removed]] by Avik Chatterjee et al, April, 2023

"We found that initiating and continuing MOUD treatment during incarceration could avert a substantial number of opioid overdose deaths at a relatively low cost ($8 million over 5 years) and would be a highly cost-effective intervention." Heat-related mortality in U.S. state and private prisons: A case-crossover analysis [[link removed]] by Julianne Skarha et al, March, 2023

"A 10-degree (F) increase was associated with a 5.2% increase in total mortality and a 6.7% increase in heart disease mortality. The association between temperature and suicides was delayed, peaking around lag 3 (exposure at three days prior to death)." Jails [[link removed]] Reformers Looking To Intervene in Mass Incarceration Must Understand the Role of Rural County Jails [[link removed]] by Sarah Walton, May, 2023

"In communities that lack alternatives, jails may become a catchall solution to local health and economic crises...healthcare facilities, schools, employers, and housing agencies are all necessary partners in addressing rising rural jail incarceration." Read more in Sarah Walton, "The Gateway to Mass Incarceration: A County-Level Analysis of Jails in the United States," Ohio State University, forthcoming. LGBT [[link removed]] Protected & Served? 2022 Community Survey of LGBTQ+ People and People Living with HIV's Experiences with the Criminal Legal System [[link removed]] by Lambda Legal and Black and Pink National, February, 2023

"In terms of both expectations and real experiences, trans people, gender nonconforming/ nonbinary people, and people of color were more likely to say that police were or would be very hostile, very skeptical, and very unfair to them." Police and Policing [[link removed]] Justice Navigator Public Assessments [[link removed]] by Center for Policing Equity, December, 2022

This platform contains analyses of policing data from seven participating departments across the country, to identify which policing practices have patterns of racial disparities, and what factors may be contributing to those disparities. Probation and parole [[link removed]] Punishment Beyond Prisons 2023: Incarceration and supervision by state [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, May, 2023

"Understanding how each state fares in probation and parole in addition to its systems of confinement gives us a more accurate and complete picture of its reliance on punishment." This is an update to our 2018 report, Excessive, unjust, and expensive: Fixing Connecticut's probation and parole problems [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative and the Katal Center for Equity, Health and Justice, May, 2023

"Those who are on probation and parole live in fear of arrest and incarceration for nearly any action that could constitute a violation -- a gross misuse of resources and a disservice to families in Connecticut." Race and ethnicity [[link removed]] Criminal Convictions in New York State, 1980-2021 [[link removed]] by Data Collaborative for Justice at John Jay College, May, 2023

"Relative to their representation in the residential population, the conviction rate in 2019 for Black people statewide was 3.1 times higher than for white people." Recidivism and Reentry [[link removed]] Employment Application Criminal Record Questions and Willingness to Apply: A Mixed Method Study of Self-Selection [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Mike Vuolo, Lesley E. Schneider, and Eric G. LaPlant, September, 2022

"[Job] applicants may self-select out rather than divulge their record...In interviews, participants described self-selecting out due to anticipatory stigma, often resulting in long-term burnout. Still, some respondents would apply..." Race, work history, and the employment recidivism relationship [[link removed]] by Simon G. Kolbeck, Paul E. Bellair, and Steven Lopez, August, 2022

"Our findings imply that employment contributes to racial disparities in recidivism via racialized barriers to labor market participation rather than via differential effects." Sentencing Policy and Practices [[link removed]] The Poor Reform Prosecutor: So Far From the State Capital, So Close to the Suburbs [[link removed]] by John F. Pfaff, March, 2023

"In many ways, the county is a distinctly awkward jurisdiction for those who hope reform-minded prosecutors can play a significant role in reversing our decades-long investment in mass punishment and mass incarceration." How Long is Long Enough? Task Force on Long Sentences Final Report [[link removed]] by Council on Criminal Justice, November, 2022

"While drug crimes account for a minority of the nation's long sentences, the Task Force believes that long prison terms are especially ineffective in addressing substance use disorders and related or co-occurring mental health disorders." Trials [[link removed]] Cost of Discretion: Judicial Decision-Making, Pretrial Detention, and Public Safety in New York City [[link removed]] by Scrutinize, QSIDE Institute, and NYU School of Law, May, 2023

"The estimated impact of these judges' disproportionately carceral decisions over 2.5 years amounts to 580 additional people detained, 154 additional years of pretrial detention, and over $77 million of additional costs borne by New York City taxpayers." Evidence Rules for Decarceration [[link removed]] by Erin Collins, April, 2023

"As we envision a path towards decarceration, we must consider the barriers created by evidence rules, even if defendants often are effectively dissuaded from exercising their right to trial and the rules are never applied." Women [[link removed]] Women's Pathways Into and Out of Jail in Buncombe County [[link removed]] by Vera Institute of Justice, November, 2022

"Very high bond amounts present an insurmountable challenge, leaving women with no other option but pretrial incarceration. Many women with bond amounts less than $10,000 found this sum impossible to pay, even when required to post only 10 percent..." Youth [[link removed]] A Statewide Analysis of the Impact of Restitution and Fees on Juvenile Recidivism in Florida Across Race & Ethnicity [[link removed]] by Alex R. Piquero, Michael T. Baglivio, and Kevin T. Wolff, February, 2023

"The current study demonstrates youth assigned fees evidence significantly higher recidivism than similarly situated youth not assigned fees, as measured by an adjudication for a new criminal offense committed within 365 days." Please support our work [[link removed]]

Our work is made possible by private donations. Can you help us keep going? We can accept tax-deductible gifts online [[link removed]] or via paper checks sent to PO Box 127 Northampton MA 01061. Thank you!

Other news: Punishment Beyond Prisons: Incarceration & Supervision by State [[link removed]]

When it comes to ranking U.S. states on the harshness of their criminal justice systems, incarceration rates only tell half of the story. 3.7 million people nationwide are on probation and parole, and several of the seemingly "less punitive" states put vast numbers of their residents under these other, deeply flawed forms of supervision.

In this recent report [[link removed]], we crunched the numbers to show how these programs too often serve as revolving doors bask to incarceration.

New data on HIV in prisons during the COVID-19 pandemic [[link removed]]

While rates of HIV diagnoses in the U.S. have steadily declined for decades, people in prisons are still living with the virus at disproportionately high rates.

In this new briefing [[link removed]], we review data that examines the twin epidemics of HIV and mass incarceration in the time of COVID.

Please support our work [[link removed]]

Our work is made possible by private donations. Can you help us keep going? We can accept tax-deductible gifts online [[link removed]] or via paper checks sent to PO Box 127 Northampton MA 01061. Thank you!

Our other newsletters General Prison Policy Initiative newsletter ( archives [[link removed]]) Ending prison gerrymandering ( archives [[link removed]])

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