26 new reports on jails, drug policy, COVID, and more.

Criminal Justice Research Library for September 7, 2023 Bringing you the latest in empirical research about mass incarceration

We've The Prison Policy Initiative has added 26 new reports to the Research Library [[link removed]]: COVID-19 [[link removed]] Systemic Failures: Conditions in California State Prisons During the Covid-19 Pandemic [[link removed]] by Prison Accountability Project at UCLA School of Law, June, 2023

"According to respondents, the [California Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation] ignored over 80 percent of incarcerated people's requests for medical care and failed to protect people with pre-existing conditions from COVID-19." COVID-19 amplified racial disparities in the US criminal legal system [[link removed]] by Brennan Klein, C. Brandon Ogbunugafor, Benjamin J. Schafer et al, April, 2023

"States with fewer short-term prison sentences (Maine, Maryland, Missouri, Oregon and Wyoming) did not show the same racial disparity we found nationally." Community Impact [[link removed]] Moving Justice Forward: A Blueprint for the Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice [[link removed]] by Center for Justice Innovation, January, 2023

"Stakeholders expressed great interest in piloting and eventually expanding the use of restorative justice practices in local courts." Conditions of Confinement [[link removed]] Cruel and Usual: An Investigation into Prison Abuse at USP Thompson [[link removed]] by The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights & Urban Affairs, Uptown People's Law Center, and Levy Firestone Muse LLP, July, 2023

"Hundreds of people held in in the Federal Bureau of Prisons' (BOP) Special Management Unit (SMU) endured years of unconstitutional and abusive conditions." Digital inequalities in time of pandemic: COVID-19 exposure risk profiles and new forms of vulnerability [[link removed]] by Laura Robinson, Jeremy Schulz, Aneka Khilnani et al, June, 2020

"...Restrictions imposed in the name of security already sharply curtail communication beyond prison walls, yet...fresh provision for digital communication might deliver outsized benefits." This article covers digital and social inequalities for many groups, including older adults, gig workers, and incarcerated people. Drug Policy [[link removed]] "All carrots and no stick": Perceived impacts, changes in practices, and attitudes among law enforcement following drug decriminalization in Oregon [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Hope M. Smiley-McDonald, Peyton R. Attaway, Lynn D. Wenger, Kathryn Greenwell, Barrot H. Lambdin, and Alex H. Kral, August, 2023

"Law enforcement interviewees expressed frustration that they could not use drug possession as a "tool" for investigations to pursue and build cases, establish probable cause, and impose what they believed necessary for social order." Economics of Incarceration [[link removed]] The Criminalization of Poverty in Kentucky: How Economic Crises and Flawed Reforms Fueled an Incarceration Boom [[link removed]] by Vera Institute of Justice, August, 2023

"By turning to criminal legal fines and fees to fund court and jail operations, jurisdictions across Kentucky create a vicious cycle that traps people in poverty and makes it more difficult for people to lead stable lives after incarceration." The Cost of Doing Business: Why Criminal Justice Reform Is the Right Investment to Strengthen Mississippi's Economy and Workforce [[link removed]] by FWD.us, June, 2023

"Each year, Mississippi's economy -- especially its small businesses -- lose an estimated $2.7 billion in earnings due to criminal convictions." Families [[link removed]] SMH: The rapid & unregulated growth of e-messaging in prisons [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, March, 2023

"Per-minute pricing [on tablet use] acts as a literacy tax, making it far more expensive for people who struggle to read and respond to messages." General [[link removed]] Where people in prison come from: The geography of mass incarceration in Louisiana [[link removed]] by Voice of the Experienced, the Redistricting Data Hub (Spencer Nelson and Peter Horton), and the Prison Policy Initiative, July, 2023

"The city of New Orleans has an imprisonment rate of 652 per 100,000 residents, but 19 of the city's 72 neighborhoods have imprisonment rates above 1,000 per 100,000. It is not a coincidence that many of these neighborhoods are predominately Black." Jails [[link removed]] Jails in Indian Country, 2022 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, May, 2023

"Indian country jails admitted 5,570 persons during June 2022, a 4% decline from the 5,780 admissions during June 2021." Poverty and wealth [[link removed]] Reducing Multigenerational Poverty in New York Through Sentencing Reform [[link removed]] by Jared Trujillo, November, 2023

"New York led the national charge in enacting harsh sentencing laws, while simultaneously shrinking its social safety net." Pretrial Detention [[link removed]] High stakes mistakes: How courts respond to "failure to appear" [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, August, 2023

"We find that, on balance, "failure to appear" policies are about punishment, not improving appearance rates." Assessing the Effectiveness of Pretrial Special Conditions Full Findings from the Pretrial Justice Collaborative [[link removed]] by Chloe Anderson, Erin Valentine, and Daron Holman, June, 2023

"The analysis found that being released on [electronic monitoring] or sobriety monitoring did not significantly improve court appearance rates." Findings and Policy Solutions from New Hanover, Orange, and Robeson Counties [[link removed]] by North Carolina Court Appearance Project, April, 2022

"About 1 in 6 jail bookings in project counties occurred solely because of a failure to appear." Pretrial Detention, Release, and Bail Practice in Oregon [[link removed]] by Oregon Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, June, 2021

"There is a lack of data collected by Oregon's county and municipal jails...there are 16 different jail management systems across the state." Removing Barriers to Pretrial Appearance Lessons Learned from Tulsa County, Oklahoma, and Hennepin County, Minnesota [[link removed]] by Urban Institute, June, 2021

"Most respondents agreed or strongly agreed that Court Ride [in Hennepin Cty, Minn.] had reduced barriers to court appearance (87.51%) and FTA rates for their clients (78.13%), and that it had reduced the number of their clients in custody (64.51%)." Probation and parole [[link removed]] Office of the Public Defender Parole Project: Revised Report [[link removed]] by New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, September, 2021

"From January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2019, 445 people who were sentenced to life in prison appeared before the Parole Board...39 applicants (8.76%) were paroled." Collaborating Across the Walls: A Community Approach to Parole Justice [[link removed]] by Michelle Lewin and Nora Carroll, October, 2017

"Many applicants appear before the Board numerous times, often on nine or ten occasions, before they are granted release, forcing them to languish in prison for many years longer than their minimum sentence." Race and ethnicity [[link removed]] Violent Victimization by Race or Hispanic Origin, 2008-2021 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2023

"The rate of robbery victimization for black (2.8 per 1,000) and Hispanic persons (2.5 per 1K) was higher than for white persons (1.6 per 1K), but the rate of simple assault was higher for white persons (13.3) than black (11.3) or Hispanic (10.6) persons." Sentencing Policy and Practices [[link removed]] Sentencing Decisions for Persons in Federal Prison for Drug Offenses, 2013-2018 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2023

"The number of people in federal prison for drug offenses decreased 24% during the 5-year period from fiscal yearend 2013 to fiscal yearend 2018." Trials [[link removed]] Inequitable and Undemocratic: A Research Brief on Jury Exclusion in Massachusetts and a Multipronged Approach to Dismantle It [[link removed]] by Katy Naples-Mitchell and Haruka Margaret Braun, Roundtable on Racial Disparities in Massachusetts Criminal Courts, June, 2023

"A conservative estimate of 95,000 people are disqualified from jury service [in Massachusetts] because of a felony conviction within seven years, a pending felony charge, or current incarceration at any given time." Women [[link removed]] In Prison, Discipline Comes Down Hardest On Women [[link removed]] by Joseph Shapiro, Jessica Pupovac, and Kari Lydersen, October, 2018

"In 13 of the 15 states we analyzed, women get in trouble at higher rates than men. The discrepancies are highest for more minor infractions of prison rules." Youth [[link removed]] Incarceration of Youths in an Adult Correctional Facility and Risk of Premature Death [[link removed]] by Ian A. Silver, Daniel C. Semenza, and Joseph L. Nedelec, July, 2023

"Approximately 8% of youths incarcerated in adult correctional facilities were estimated to die by the age of 39 years. In comparison, just over 2% of youths without legal system contact before [age 18] were estimated to have died by the age of 39 years." Only Young Once: The Urgent Need for Reform of Louisiana's Youth Justice System [[link removed]] by Southern Poverty Law Center, July, 2023

"Incarcerating a young person in Louisiana for one year ($156,570) is more expensive than the annual costs of enrollment in Louisiana public schools, Tulane University, and Louisiana State University combined ($118,571)." Juveniles Incarcerated in U.S. Adult Jails and Prisons, 2002-2021 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, June, 2023

"In 2021, local jails had custody of 1,960 juveniles while state and federal adult prisons held 290." 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: The aging prison population: Causes, costs, and consequences [[link removed]]

New Census Bureau data show the U.S. population is getting older — and at the same time, our prison populations are aging even faster.

In this new briefing [[link removed]], we examine the inhumane, costly, and counterproductive practice of locking up older adults and provide data from all 50 states to show where prison populations are aging the fastest.

High stakes mistakes: How courts respond to “failure to appear” [[link removed]]

Research shows that while most people who miss court are not dangerous or evading justice, the way courts treat “failure to appear” may make our communities less safe.

In this new briefing [[link removed]] we examine the punishments in all 50 states for "failure to appear" and what advocates are doing to change this.

Welcome, Emmett Sanders! [[link removed]]

This summer, we welcomed Emmett Sanders [[link removed]] as our new Policy and Advocacy Associate. In this role, he will provide technical assistance and support to advocates and organizers engaging in criminal legal reform efforts at the state and local levels.

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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