Collecting Data
Conducting Randomized Controlled Trials in State Prisons (2020)
State prisons nationwide house approximately 1,306,000 inmates, which is more than half (57%) of the total population of incarcerated individuals on any given day in the United States. The incarceration rate for those in state prisons increased from 87 sentenced inmates per 100,000 residents in 1970 to a peak of 447 sentenced inmates per 100,000 residents in 2008, more than a 400% increase. Since 2008, the state prison incarceration rate has decreased slightly, to 390 sentenced inmates per 100,000 residents. Approximately 562,000 inmates are admitted to state prisons each year, of which about two-thirds are sentenced by the court and...
Data-Informed Jails: Challenges and Opportunities (2020)
Jails are the entry point to the correctional system in the United States. There are approximately 3,100 jails in the United States, and on any given day, these facilities hold more than 745,000 individuals who are either awaiting trial or serving short sentences. Beyond serving their fundamental detention mission, jails have increasingly become a crucial resource for the larger community because they often serve the medical and behavioral health care needs of large numbers of disenfranchised individuals who come into contact with the justice system. As a result of the sheer number of individuals entering jails and the expanding scope...
Jail-Specific Data Analysis: Considerations for Jail Analysts (2020)
This paper highlights the basics of jail-specific analysis. It emphasizes the importance of linking data and information to the processes from which they are derived, and collecting data in forms amenable to analysis using readily available applications like worksheets and network mapping applications. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how descriptive statistics and basic analysis of the daily activities of jails can support safety and help measure and improve performance. The paper is organized in three parts. Part 1 provides a short overview of the role of jail analysis. Part 2 discusses the fundamentals of collecting information from...
Local Spending on Jails Tops $25 Billion in Latest Nationwide Data
To support state and local efforts to reduce jail spending and protect public safety, The Pew Charitable Trusts undertook an analysis of jail costs, using expenditure data for all U.S. localities, primarily from 2007 and 2017, and related criminal justice data. (See methodology for details on definitions and analyses.) Go to the report to read key findings.