38 new reports on policing, pretrial detention, and more.

Criminal Justice Research Library for December 29, 2022 Bringing you the latest in empirical research about mass incarceration

We've The Prison Policy Initiative has added 38 new reports to the Research Library [[link removed]]: COVID-19 [[link removed]] New data confirms that prisons neglected COVID-19 mitigation strategies, putting public health at risk [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, October, 2022

"Although crowded living spaces like prisons are generally hotspots for infection transmission, only some departments of corrections followed guidance from public health officials while others ignored even the most basic recommendations." Justice Diseased is Justice Denied: Coronavirus, Court Closures, and Criminal Trials [[link removed]] by Ryan Shymansky, May, 2020

"Courts closing their doors to the public and delaying jury trials are doing so for admirable reasons...Yet these reasons alone do not render the Sixth Amendment meaningless." Conditions of Confinement [[link removed]] Cruel and Usual: Contaminated Water in New York State Prisons [[link removed]] by Shannon Haupt and Phil Miller, July, 2022

"The lack of thorough and consistent testing of water quality in prisons, [and] significant obstructions of due process for incarcerated people who raise complaints about the water, allows prisons to minimize and deny any presence of contaminated water." A Deliberate Difference?: The Rights of Incarcerated Individuals Under the New Mexico State Constitution [[link removed]] by Carson Thornton Gonzalez, July, 2022

"This Comment...encourages practitioners to be creative in their approach to prison conditions litigation under the [2021 New Mexico Civil Rights Act]." Unjust Isolation: The Diminishing Returns of Solitary Confinement of Pregnant Women and California's Need to Regulate It [[link removed]] by Richard Lee, July, 2021

"When all the risk factors of pregnant prisoners intersect, it puts them in an especially ill-equipped position to protect themselves mentally against the potential harms of solitary confinement." Crime and Crime Rates [[link removed]] Violent crime and public prosecution: A Review of Recent Data on Homicide, Robbery, and Progressive Prosecution in the United States [[link removed]] by University of Toronto Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, October, 2022

"We find that neither having a "progressive" prosecutor nor a "middle" prosecutor had an effect on homicide or larceny compared to "traditional" prosecutors during this time (2018 to 2021)." The Victim/Offender Overlap and Criminal System Reform [[link removed]] by Cynthia Godsoe, May, 2022

"Beyond definitions of what is criminal, recognizing the [victim/offender] overlap complicates and even undercuts traditional rationales for punishment...while also strengthening the calls for a different approach to preventing and redressing harm." Disability [[link removed]] Autism and the Criminal Justice System: Policy Opportunities and Challenges [[link removed]] by International Society for Autism Research, April, 2022

"Inclusive research practices that meaningfully involve and partner with neurodiverse minority groups are needed to generate policy change in the criminal justice system, which excessively and disparately harms minority communities." Education [[link removed]] The Well-Being Impacts Associated with College in Prison: A Comparison of Incarcerated and Non-Incarcerated Students Who Identify as Women [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Sarah Y. Moore and Tanya Erzen, November, 2022

"[The students'] measures of well-being, coping, and academic engagement were significantly better than the matched non-incarcerated sample for most measures." The state prison experience: Too much drudgery, not enough opportunity [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, September, 2022

"The Survey data reveal that only 43% of people in state prisons have participated in educational programming (even though 62% had not completed high school upon admission)." Families [[link removed]] Both sides of the bars: How mass incarceration punishes families [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, August, 2022

"Nearly half (47%) of the approximately 1.25 million people in state prison are parents of minor children, and about 1 in 5 (19%) of those children is age 4 or younger." Felon Disenfranchisement [[link removed]] Jail-based polling locations: A way to fight voter disenfranchisement [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, October, 2022

"In the June 2022 primary, roughly 25% of people detained at the [Cook County, Ill.] jail cast their ballots. This location was so successful that people at the jail actually voted at a higher rate than registered voters in Chicago (20%)." General [[link removed]] Winnable criminal justice reforms in 2023 [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, November, 2022

"This list offers policymakers and advocates straightforward solutions that would have the greatest impacts on reducing incarceration and ameliorating harms experienced by those with a conviction history, without further investments in the carceral system." Health impact [[link removed]] Mortality in a Multi-State Cohort of Former State Prisoners, 2010-2015 [[link removed]] by U.S. Census Bureau Center for Economic Studies, February, 2022

"We found that non-Hispanic white former prisoners were more likely to die within five years after prison release and more likely to die in the initial weeks after release compared to racial minorities and Hispanics." LGBT [[link removed]] New data LGBT people across all demographics are at heightened risk of violent victimization [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, November, 2022

"Lesbian and gay people experienced 44 victimizations per 1,000 people, which was more than twice the victimization rate of straight people (19 per 1,000 people). Bisexual people experienced victimization at almost seven times the rate of straight people." Mental Health [[link removed]] Working in "a meat grinder": A research roundup showing prison and jail jobs aren't all that states promise they will be [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, May, 2022

"A 2016 paper studying correctional officers in Michigan estimated that 34% of participants had PTSD, 36% had depression, and 25% had both." Police and Policing [[link removed]] Traffic Safety [[link removed]] by Center for Policing Equity, September, 2022

"Racially biased enforcement sets into motion a cascade of interrelated harms for millions of people: unaffordable fines and fees, mounting debt, driver's license suspensions, lost employment, unnecessary arrests, and even injury or death." Poverty and wealth [[link removed]] Surviving austerity: Commissary stores, inequality and punishment in the contemporary American prison [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Tommaso Bardelli, Zach Gillespie and Thuy Linh Tu, August, 2022

"Prison commissary stores constitute a crucial mechanism for extending financial extraction inside carceral institutions, siphoning millions of dollars each year from impoverished households." See also the authors' guest post on the same topic here [[link removed]]. Pretrial Detention [[link removed]] Louisiana Justice: Pre-trial, Incarceration, & Reentry [[link removed]] by Incarceration Transparency and Public Welfare Foundation, November, 2022

"This report significantly expands understanding of the state's practice of confining almost half of the prison population in local jails...creating political and financial incentives at the local level to build larger and higher-capacity facilities." Pretrial Electronic Monitoring in San Francisco [[link removed]] by California Policy Lab, November, 2022

"The use of pretrial EM increased more than twenty-fold between 2017 and 2021." Coming Up Short: The Unrealized Promise of In Re Humphrey [[link removed]] by UCLA School of Law and UC Berkeley Law, October, 2022

"The California Supreme Court ruled...that setting bail at an amount that a person cannot afford to pay is unconstitutional...18 month after it was decided, [Humphrey] remains unmet." All profit, no risk: How the bail industry exploits the legal system [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, October, 2022

"While this report details the many legal advantages bail companies have secured for themselves, we conclude that "fixing" the system is not a viable option." Electronic Monitoring Fees: A 50-State Survey of the Costs Assessed to People on E-Supervision [[link removed]] by Fines and Fees Justice Center, September, 2022

"At least 26 states have statutes or rules that impose fees to cover the costs of an EM program without specifying an amount, allowing [a company] to set any fee it deems appropriate, with little to no oversight to check such decisions." Does Public Health Start Within Jails? A New Incentive for Reform of Wisconsin's Bail System [[link removed]] by Mahmood N. Abdellatif, July, 2022

"There is a growing impetus for states like Wisconsin to reduce their incarcerated populations by enacting sensible bail reforms that effectively consider a detainee's real threat to their communities or likelihood to abscond." Privatization [[link removed]] State of Phone Justice 2022: The problem, the progress, and what's next [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, December, 2022

"Our data, from December 2021, show that per-minute rates have been steadily falling over the last ten years, a result of action at both the FCC and at the state and local levels." Mail scanning: A harsh and exploitative new trend in prisons [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, November, 2022

"We found 14 state prison systems that are scanning all incoming mail, but we're confident that this number is an undercount, because we couldn't verify the status of mail scanning in some other states." Probation and parole [[link removed]] Parole, Victim Impact Evidence, and Race [[link removed]] by Alexis Karteron, May, 2022

"There is reason for concern that victim participation in the parole release process reinforces racial disparities within the criminal legal system." Legal Ruralism and California Parole Hearings: Space, Place, and the Carceral Landscape [[link removed]] by Kathryne M. Young, December, 2020

"[Parole] commissioners report that prisons' location in rural areas affects the rehabilitative resources available, which are seen as an important aspect of their readiness for release." Race and ethnicity [[link removed]] The Proliferation of Criminal Background Check Laws in the United States [[link removed]]Paywall :( by David McElhattan, January, 2022

"Panel analyses provide the strongest support for a model of racial classification, with the rate of background check adoption increasing as African-Americans represent larger shares of state criminal record populations." Race and the Jury: How the Law is Keeping Minorities off the Jury [[link removed]] by Stephanie Adamakos, May, 2016

"Federal statute requires that registered-voters lists be used as source lists, but many states supplement with Department of Motor Vehicle records of people with licenses...whites are more likely to be included in both of these source lists." Recidivism and Reentry [[link removed]] Jail-based reentry programming to support continued treatment with medications for opioid use disorder: Qualitative perspectives and experiences among jail staff in Massachusetts [[link removed]] by Atsushi Matsumoto et al, November, 2022

"Coordination of medications for opioid use disorder post-release continuity of care requires training supporting staff in reentry planning...and bridging partnerships between in-jail MOUD programs and community providers." Why states should change Medicaid rules to cover people leaving prison [[link removed]] by Prison Policy Initiative, November, 2022

"Legislation like [the Medicaid Reentry Act] would vastly expand access to healthcare after incarceration, closing the dangerous healthcare coverage gap and reducing preventable deaths and health problems that occur shortly after release." America's Paper Prisons: The Second Chance Gap [[link removed]] by Colleen Chien, December, 2020

"Among a host of petition-based second chance opportunities, to shorten sentences, restore one's vote, and clear one's criminal convictions, only a small fraction (less than 10 percent) of those eligible for relief actually received it." Sentencing Policy and Practices [[link removed]] Kids Are Not So Different: The Path from Juvenile Exceptionalism to Prison Abolition [[link removed]]Paywall :( by Emily Buss, June, 2022

"We should abandon, not extend, the separate juvenile-exceptionalist system and instead incorporate our understanding of youth into a single system that takes account of human development over the life course." Trials [[link removed]] Justice Delayed: The Complex System of Delays in Criminal Court [[link removed]] by Kat Albrecht et al., July, 2022

"This Article demonstrates not only that case delay is a significant social and legal problem, but also that the leadership of the Circuit Court...[must rethink] the way in which Cook Count's criminal courts conduct business." Youth [[link removed]] Racial and Ethnic Disparities at the Front Door of Massachusetts' Juvenile Justice System: Understanding the Factors Leading to Overrepresentation of Black and Latino Youth Entering the System [[link removed]] by Massachusetts Juvenile Justice Policy and Data Board, November, 2022

"[Racial] disparities are largest at the "front door" of the system-- the arrest and application for delinquency complaint stage. These early disparities matter." Diversion: A Hidden Key to Combating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Juvenile Justice [[link removed]] by Sentencing Project, August, 2022

"Of the youth referred to juvenile or family courts for delinquency each year, just 7% are accused of serious violent offenses...[most] youth accused of delinquency should be diverted rather than arrested and formally processed in a juvenile court." Double Punished: Locked Out of Opportunity [[link removed]] by Bellwether Education Partners, June, 2022

"In many states, we found that multiple agencies are involved in supporting juvenile justice education, creating a system of fragmented responsibility." 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: State of Phone Justice 2022: The problem, the progress, and what's next [[link removed]]

At a time when the cost of a typical phone call is approaching zero, why are incarcerated people and their families charged so much?

In this new report [[link removed]] we look at data from all 50 states and more than 3,000 jails to understand how much families pay and how companies are finding new ways to price-gouge them through an expanding array of non-phone products.

Webinar: Fighting Jail Expansion [[link removed]]

Across the country, communities are fighting against plans to expand the carceral system by building new jails. On January 10th at noon EST, we're hosting a webinar that will bring together activists that have led these efforts to share the strategies they employed and highlight resources that are available to others leading similar campaigns.

Register to attend the webinar here [[link removed]].

11 of our most important reports, briefings, and tools in 2022 [[link removed]]

Didn’t catch everything we published in 2022? We’ve curated a list of some of our best work from this year.

From a deep dive into bail companies to new tools for advocates, in this blog post [[link removed]] we highlight some of our most impactful work in 2022.

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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