We've The Prison Policy Initiative has added 22 new reports to the Research Library:

Conditions of Confinement

• That Time We Tried to Build the Perfect Prison: Learning from Episodes Across U.S. Prison HistoryPaywall :( by Ashley T. Rubin, December, 2022
  "While many of these endeavours are impressive...it is also possible to locate these ventures in a very long line of efforts to construct the perfect prison, a slippery goal that changes over time."

Drug Policy

• Overdose Prevention Centers: A Successful Strategy for Preventing Death and Disease by The Cato Institute, February, 2023
  "Federally legalizing all drugs would allow harm-reduction organizations to operate facilities where people can consume drugs more safely."
• Weighing the Impact of Simple Possession of Marijuana: Trends and Sentencing in the Federal System by United States Sentencing Commission, January, 2023
  "As of January 2022, no offenders sentenced solely for simple possession of marijuana remained in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons."

Economics of Incarceration

• Prioritization of carceral spending in U.S. cities: Development of the Carceral Resource Index (CRI) and the role of race and income inequality by Britt Skaathun et al, December, 2022
  "To our knowledge, this is the first study to consider the joint interaction of race and class on the prioritization of carceral systems over health and social support systems."

General

• Toward an Optimal Decarceration Strategy by Ben Grunwald, April, 2022
  "The public debate has focused almost exclusively on how we might decarcerate while minimizing any increases in crime and has, therefore, underappreciated the costs of prison itself. We should consider at least three more metrics..."

Mental Health

• Mental Health of Incarcerated Veterans and Civilians: Latent Class Analysis of the 2016 Survey of Prison InmatesPaywall :( by Emily R. Edwards et al, September, 2022
  "Classes were compared on Veteran status, military service-related variables, and treatment-related variables...Results attest to the importance of person-centered mental health care within correctional settings."

Police and Policing

• High-Frequency Location Data Shows That Race Affects the Likelihood of Being Stopped and Fined for Speeding by Pradhi Aggarwal et al, December, 2022
  "Relative to a white driver traveling the same speed, minorities are 24 to 33 percent more likely to be stopped for speeding and pay 23 to 34 percent more in fines."
• Police Diversion at Arrest: A Systematic Review of the LiteraturePaywall :( by Caroline Harmon-Darrow et al, November, 2022
  "Overall, police diversion programs were associated with reducing recidivism and lowering costs, although there is little association between program participation and improved behavioral health."
• The Social Costs of Policing by Vera Institute of Justice, November, 2022
  "[One study found that] people who were stopped and questioned or arrested by the police decreased their formal interactions with important social and welfare institutions such as medical, financial, civic, and educational institutions."

Poverty and wealth

• The Burden of Court Debt on Washingtonians by Vera Institute of Justice, January, 2023
  "At least 78 percent of people with legal-financial debt meet the state's indigency standard, yet courts routinely impose fines and fees at conviction averaging $695 for misdemeanor cases and $1,302 for felony cases."
• Broken Rules: Laws Meant to End Debtors' Prisons are Failing Nebraskans by ACLU of Nebraska, December, 2022
  "Observations from a combined 2,300+ bail and sentencing hearings show systemic disregard of laws meant to protect Nebraskans who are struggling financially."
• The Explosion of Unpaid Criminal Fines and Fees in North Carolina by Duke Law Center for Science and Justice, April, 2020
  "One in twelve adults in North Carolina currently have unpaid criminal court debt. This largely uncollectable debt may total well over one hundred million dollars."

Pretrial Detention

• Technical Violations and Their Effects on Pretrial/Bond Supervision Outcomes Paywall :( by Haley R. Zettler and Kelli D. Martin, June, 2022
  "While technical violations are associated with pretrial failure, the effects vary by violation type. Furthermore, the findings illustrate differences in risk factors for technical violations while on pretrial/bond supervision."
• Monitoring Pretrial Reform in Harris County: Second Report of the Court-Appointed Monitor by Independent Monitor for the Odonnell v. Harris County Decree, March, 2021
  "These data analyses show an overall decrease in the duration of pretrial detention: in more than 80% of the cases since 2017, defendants spent two days or fewer in jail before their release."

Privatization

• The Prison Industry Corporate Database by Worth Rises, October, 2022
  "The prison industry is worth over $80 billion and includes thousands of corporations. This is a database of corporations that do business with corrections and immigration detention in the U.S."

Probation and parole

• Are Supervision Violations Filling Prisons? The Role of Probation, Parole, and New Offenses in Driving Mass Incarceration by Michelle S. Phelps, H. N. Dickens, and De Andre' T. Beadle, January, 2023
  "These estimates suggest that although adults on community supervision constitute a substantial part of mass incarceration's growth, technical violations have not been a primary driver of prison populations."
• Commission to Examine Reestablishing Parole by State of Maine Legislature, December, 2022
  "The Commission reports on the history and current state of parole in Maine, as well as its recomendations for exploring options to reestablish a parole system in Maine."

Race and ethnicity

• Over-Incarceration of Native Americans: Roots, Inequities, and Solutions by Safety and Justice Challenge, July, 2022
  "Interventions meant to address over-incarceration of Native people should start at the tribal level. Tribes could impact disparity on a national level by providing supportive and restorative services for those involved in their own justice systems."

Recidivism and Reentry

• Homelessness and Contact with the Criminal Legal System among U.S. Combat Veterans: An Exploration of Potential Mediating FactorsPaywall :( by Ugur Orak et al, December, 2022
  "A large proportion (53.6%) of the association between homelessness and criminal legal system involvement was accounted for by indirect associations, most notably via drug use disorder (22.1%), moral injury (11.4%), and alcohol use disorder (10.7%)."
• Expungement of Criminal Convictions: An Empirical Study by J.J. Prescott and Sonja B. Starr, June, 2020
  "What has been missing from the debate is hard evidence about the effects and true potential of conviction expungement laws...It leaves policymakers almost entirely in the dark."

Trials

• Preempting Progress: States Take Aim at Local Prosecutors by Jorge Camacho et al, January, 2023
  "In the past three state legislative sessions, at least 28 preemption bills have been proposed in 16 states to undermine anti-carceral uses of prosecutorial discretion."

Youth

• Mapping Transformative Schools: From Punishment to Promise by National Juvenile Justice Network, December, 2022
  "Young people we talked to discussed the wide use of suspensions and expulsions for minor infractions, differences in suspensions and expulsions based on race and gender, and the lasting harm to students when they are suspended."