Research and data for criminal justice reform

Criminal Justice Research Library for July 15, 2021 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]]: Community Impact [[link removed]] Inmates May Work, But Don't Tell Social Security [[link removed]] by Stephanie Hunter McMahon, July, 2021

"Despite a prevailing requirement that inmates work and despite them being forced to work under threat of punishment, inmates are not "employees" or "workers" in the commonly understood sense." Harm Reduction at The Center of Incarceration [[link removed]] by Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia, April, 2021

"Even when the reality of trauma in correctional institutions is fully appreciated, policies often only focus on programs for people who are incarcerated, as if they are the problem, instead of on the system itself." Digitizing and Disclosing Personal Data: The Proliferation of State Criminal Records on the Internet [[link removed]] by Lageson, Sarah, Elizabeth Webster, and Juan Sandoval, December, 2020

"These digital disclosures...mean that criminal punishment now includes the deprivation of privacy as the justice system distributes personal information across the Internet." Conditions of Confinement [[link removed]] Louisiana Deaths Behind Bars: 2015 - 2019 [[link removed]] by Incarceration Transparency, June, 2021

"Prisons and jails should ideally have lower death rates than the general public due to the physical proximity of medical care behind bars, 24-hour staffing and supervision, and reduced probability of certain types of deaths, such as car accidents..." New data: State prisons are increasingly deadly places [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, June, 2021

"New data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that state prisons are seeing alarming rises in suicide, homicide, and drug and alcohol-related deaths." Economics of Incarceration [[link removed]] The People's Plan for Prison Closure [[link removed]] by Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), April, 2021

"Accomplishing our goal of closing ten prisons in five years will be hard. It will require political courage. But history is watching us..." Families [[link removed]] What families can expect to be charged under the new FCC rules [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, June, 2021

"A new order from the Federal Communications Commission lowers existing caps on rates and fees in the prison and jail telephone industry." Breaking the Cycle: Interrupting Generational Incarceration in Maine [[link removed]] by Place Matters Maine, 2015

"Black or African American and Native American or Indigenous children are disproportionately affected by parental incarceration in Maine." General [[link removed]] Prison Population Trends 2020 [[link removed]] by Massachusetts Department of Correction, May, 2021

"The MA DOC jurisdiction population's historic decline since 2012 (n=11,723) continued through to January 1st, 2021 (n=6,848)." Health impact [[link removed]] With over 2,700 deaths behind bars and slow vaccine acceptance, prisons and jails must continue to decarcerate [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, June, 2021

"Just because vaccines are increasingly available does not mean that the COVID-19 crisis in prisons and jails is over - far from it. Yet new data show more prisons and jails are returning to "business as usual."" Dead Man Waiting: A brief profile of deaths in Texas prisons among people approved for parole release [[link removed]] by Deitch, Michele, Destiny Moreno, and Alycia Welch, June, 2021

"The data reveals that a large number of people die in Texas prisons each year even though the Parole Board had already determined that these individuals were worthy of parole and no longer presented a risk to public safety." Jails [[link removed]] Smoke and mirrors: A cautionary tale for counties considering a big, costly new jail [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, July, 2021

"How law enforcement and jail architects almost duped taxpayers into approving a new jail far bigger than the county needs, by offering biased analysis and misleading arguments." Rise in jail deaths is especially troubling as jail populations become more rural and more female [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, June, 2021

"New data show record high deaths of people locked up in jail, as jail populations have shifted toward smaller, rural jails and growing numbers of women." Bottleneck: The Place of County Jails in California's COVID-19 Correctional Crisis [[link removed]] by Hadar Aviram, May, 2021

"The closure of prisons created a bottleneck in jails, jamming the flow of residents in and out of county facilities. This resulted in serious overcrowding, which was documented in several lawsuits brought on behalf of jail population." Freedom, Then the Press: New York Media and Bail Reform [[link removed]] by FWD.us, April, 2021

"Media outlets across New York played a major role in generating the fear and backlash that is driving the increase in the jail population and exposing thousands more people to the possibility of illness and death behind bars." Police and Policing [[link removed]] Policy Assessments [[link removed]] by Council on Crime and Justice Task Force on Policing, May, 2021

"Task Force members weighed the relative value of each proposal based on the best available research and on their professional expertise and lived experiences." Brutality in the Name of "Safety": Baton Rouge Parish Policing and Tactics [[link removed]] by The Promise of Justice Initiative, May, 2021

"With a jail population rate that is 66% higher than the national average, there is statistical proof that EBR readily weaponizes over-policing and incarceration to address what are in fact social and societal problems." Do Police Make Too Many Arrests? [[link removed]] by Cho, Sungwoo, Felipe Goncalves, and Emily Weisburst, April, 2021

"Because the observed decline in enforcement is concentrated among arrests for low-level offenses, we argue that low-level enforcement could be reduced at the margin without likely increases in crime." Citizens, Suspects, and Enemies: Examining Police Militarization [[link removed]] by Mitt Regan, March, 2021

"The conviction that police officers need [military-grade weapons] reflects a subtle cultural shift in the understanding of the nature of police work." Collective Bargaining Rights, Policing, and Civilian Deaths [[link removed]] by Cunningham, Jamein, Donna Feir, and Rob Gillezeau, March, 2021

"Using an event-study design, we find that the introduction of duty to bargain requirements with police unions has led to a significant increase in non-white civilian deaths at the hands of police during the late twentieth century." The role of officer race and gender in police-civilian interactions in Chicago [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Ba, Bocar A., Dean Knox, Jonathan Mummolo, and Roman Rivera, February, 2021

"Relative to white officers, Black and Hispanic officers make far fewer stops and arrests, and they use force less often, especially against Black civilians." Government Misconduct and Convicting the Innocent: The Role of Prosecutors, Police and Other Law Enforcement [[link removed]] by National Registry of Exonerations, September, 2020

"More than a third of all exonerations included misconduct by police officers, [and] nearly as many involved misconduct by prosecutors." Privatization [[link removed]] No Kickbacks [[link removed]] by Parole Illinois, June, 2021

"Through its "surcharges", "kickbacks", and denial of basic necessities, the IDOC is effectively siphoning millions of dollars from largely low income communities by preying on people's love for their incarcerated friend or family member." Recidivism and Reentry [[link removed]] A New Lease on Life [[link removed]] by Sentencing Project, June, 2021

"People convicted of homicide and other crimes of violence rarely commit new crimes of violence after release from long-term imprisonment." Sentencing Policy and Practices [[link removed]] Annual Report 2020 [[link removed]] by Sentencing Project, May, 2021

"The Sentencing Project continues to push for decarceration and vaccinations to save lives and help bring safety and humanity to the nation's overcrowded, inhumane, and unsafe places of detention." The Declining Significance of Race in Criminal Sentencing: Evidence from US Federal Courts [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Michael T Light, March, 2021

"Sentences [for white and Black people] became more equal almost entirely due to changes in observable case characteristics and not due to changes in the treatment of offenders." 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: People with incarcerated loved ones have shorter life expectancies and poorer health [[link removed]]

The negative health consequences of mass incarceration aren’t just felt by people behind bars. It is a burden also carried by the estimated 45% of people have an immediate family member who has been incarcerated.

Our latest briefing [[link removed]] makes clear, drastically reducing the number of people we lock up behind bars is imperative to public health.

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!

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