Research and data for criminal justice reform

Criminal Justice Research Library for August 12, 2021 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]]: Education [[link removed]] Understanding the Landscape of Higher Education in Prison Survey 2018-2019 A Confidential Follow-up to the 2020 Annual Survey of Higher Education in Prison Programs [[link removed]] by Alliance for HIgher Education in Prison, July, 2021

"The survey aimed to illuminate program demographics, program funding, use of technology, student enrollment, and program data collection and evaluation, and the associated challenges and opportunities." See the five linked data briefs that describe the survey's findings. Families [[link removed]] Paternal Jail Incarceration and Birth Outcomes: Evidence from New York City, 2010-2016 [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Yi et al., April, 2021

"We found strong positive baseline associations (p < 0.001) between paternal jail incarceration during pregnancy with probabilities of all adverse outcomes examined." General [[link removed]] Building exits off the highway to mass incarceration: Diversion programs explained [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, July, 2021

"We envision the criminal justice system as a highway where people are heading toward the possibility of incarceration; depending on the state or county, this highway may have exit ramps in the form of diversion programs and alternatives to incarceration." Alcohol and Drug Use and Treatment Reported by Prisoners: Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2021

"Female state prisoners (58%) were more likely than male state prisoners (48%) to have met the criteria for having a substance use disorder in the 12 months prior to admission to prison." Slamming the Courthouse Door: 25 years of evidence for repealing the Prison Litigation Reform Act [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, April, 2021

"The PLRA should be repealed. It was bad policy in the 1990s -- and allowing it to continue today is even worse policy." Health impact [[link removed]] The Revelatory Nature of COVID-19 Compassionate Release in an Age of Mass Incarceration, Crime Victim Rights, and Mental Health Reform [[link removed]] by Jennifer A. Brobst, July, 2021

"Early COVID-19 compassionate release decisions reveal that courts continue to base early release decisions primarily on an assessment of public safety risk from crime, not community impact, crime victim impact, or even prisoner health." National Snapshot: Access to Medications For Opioid Use Disorder in U.S. Jails and Prisons [[link removed]] by Shelly Weizman, Joanna Perez, Isaac Manoff, Melissa Baney, and Taleed El-Sabawi, July, 2021

"In almost every state, some form of MOUD is available in at least one jail or prison, and only a handful of state departments of corrections have policies against offering MOUD in prisons." Jails [[link removed]] Empire State of Incarceration [[link removed]] by Vera Institute of Justice, May, 2021

"As bail setting practices changed and counties moved to release more people to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across the state, Black people were left behind." Police and Policing [[link removed]] Arrest Trends: Suburban Police Are Driving the Use of Arrests [[link removed]] by Vera Institute of Justice, May, 2021

"In principal cities, racial disparities in arrests persist but have dropped by more than 50 percent. This progress has not occurred elsewhere; racial disparities in arrests have increased in suburban cities." Reducing Policing's Footprint? Racial Disparities and Arrest Trends After Misdemeanor Decriminalization and Legalization in Denver and Philadelphia [[link removed]] by Vera Institute of Justice, May, 2021

"Arrests have declined by at least 40 percent for every decriminalized offense category in Philadelphia, with the steepest decreases in the years immediately following decriminalization." Pretrial Detention [[link removed]] On the Road to Freedom: An Abolitionist Assessment of Pretrial & Bail Reforms [[link removed]] by Critical Resistance, June, 2021

"While ending money bail is nonnegotiable for our movement, our goal is to weaken the state's power to jail, surveil, and punish." Probation and parole [[link removed]] Probation and Parole in the United States, 2019 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2021

"The probation population has declined each year since 2007; The parole population increased or stayed relatively the same each year since 2014." Punitive Surveillance [[link removed]] by Kate Weisburd, March, 2021

""Punitive surveillance" allows government officials and for-profit companies to track, record, search and analyze the location, biometric data and other meta-data of thousands of people on probation and parole, and is subject to almost no limitations." Race and ethnicity [[link removed]] The Intersection of Race and Algorithmic Tools in the Criminal Legal System [[link removed]] by Vincent M. Southerland, October, 2020

"[Algorithmic] tools, as currently designed and deployed in the current legal framework fail to correct or upend the racial inequity that pervades the criminal legal system." Recidivism and Reentry [[link removed]] Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 34 States in 2012: A 5-Year Follow-Up Period (2012-2017) [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2021

"Nearly half (46%) of prisoners released in 2012 returned to prison within 5 years for a parole or probation violation or a new sentence." Sexual offenses [[link removed]] Sexual Assaults Recorded by Law Enforcement, 2019 [[link removed]] by Bureau of Justice Statistics, July, 2021

"This report presents statistics on sexual assault victimizations that were reported to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in 2019 by law enforcement agencies in 20 states." Trials [[link removed]] The Evolving Science on Implicit Bias: An Updated Resource for the State Court Community [[link removed]] by National Center for State Courts, March, 2021

"Ultimately, judicial leadership must determine the goals of institutional efforts to address systemic and implicit biases." The New York State Trial Penalty: The Constitutional Right to Trial Under Attack [[link removed]] by National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, March, 2021

"By 1996 and every year after, 98% to 99% of misdemeanor convictions were obtained by plea. If someone is convicted in New York State, whether of a felony or a misdemeanor, it is overwhelmingly likely that they were convicted by plea rather than at trial." Models of Prosecutor-Led Diversion Programs in the United States and Beyond [[link removed]] by Kay L. Levine and Ronald F. Wright, May, 2020

"Prosecutor-led diversion programs create the greatest risk of abuse, because other governmental actors are not necessary to resolve a case. The prosecutor might operate the diversion program in a way that widens the net of social control..." Women [[link removed]] Pregnancy Prevalence and Outcomes in U.S. Jails [[link removed]] by Sufrin et al., May, 2020

"About 3% of admissions of females to U.S. jails are of pregnant people; extrapolating study results to national female jail admission rates suggests nearly 55,000 pregnancy admissions in 1 year." Opioid use disorder incidence and treatment among incarcerated pregnant women in the United States: results from a national surveillance study [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Sufrin et al., February, 2020

"Twenty-six per cent of pregnant women admitted to prisons and 14% to jails had OUD. One-third were managed through withdrawal. The majority who were prescribed MOUD were on methadone (78%, prisons; 81%, jails), not buprenorphine." Youth [[link removed]] Detention Diversion Advocacy Program (DDAP) Evaluation [[link removed]] by Moira DeNike, July, 2021

"The findings very clearly indicate that DDAP participants had a lower likelihood of any subsequent justice referrals and of any subsequent felony referrals as compared with a similarly-situated set of non-DDAP-served youth." DDAP is a juvenile diversion program in San Francisco, operated by the nonprofit organization, the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. Pregnancy Prevalence and Outcomes in 3 United States Juvenile Residential Systems [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Kim et al., February, 2021

"There were 71 admissions of pregnant adolescents reported over 12 months from participating JRS. At the time of the census, 6 of the 183 female adolescents (3.3%) were pregnant." Please support our work [[link removed]]

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Other news: Nine ways that states can provide better public defense [[link removed]]

One of the many reasons mass incarceration persists is because people too poor to afford their own lawyers are denied meaningful representation in court.

In this recent briefing [[link removed]], we provide nine questions you can ask to assess the strength of your state's public defense system.

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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