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Research about Criminal Justice Issues:

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Tuesday, May 18 2010:

Tuesday, April 6 2010:

Sunday, April 4 2010:

Wednesday, February 10 2010:

  • Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Illinois, Prison Policy Initiative. February, 2010. "Illinois’ reliance on flawed Census data is responsible for a large shift in political clout from the Chicago area to downstate regions and a significant distortion of power within counties that contain prisons."

Thursday, February 4 2010:

  • Bearing Witness Baltimore City’s Residents Give Voice to What’s Needed to Fix the Criminal Justice System, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. April, 2009. (Bearing Witness captures the perspectives of the people of Baltimore City impacted by the criminal justice system and their suggestions for alternatives to addressing social problems.)
  • Fact Sheet Response to 2008 FBI Uniform Crime Report, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. September, 2009. (The 2008 FBI Uniform Crime Report shows that during 2008, at a time in which prison and jail growth rates dropped, the United States experienced a 1.9 percent decline in violent crimes and a 0.8 percent decline in property crimes reported.)
  • Recommendations to the UN Forum on Minority Issues Human Rights Council [PDF] Sentencing Project. November, 2009. "The felony disenfranchisement laws, policies and practices of the United States deny the right to vote to a large segment of its minority population in a manner inconsistent with the general principles of international human rights law."
  • Jails in Indian Country, 2008 Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2009. "The report includes data on the number of adults and juveniles held, type of offense, number of persons confined on the last weekday of each month, average daily population, peak population, and admissions in June 2008."
  • Probation and Parole in the United States, 2008 Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2009. "The report examines… changes in the probation and parole populations, such as the number of entries and exits, the rate at which probationers and parolees exit supervision, changes in the populations within jurisdictions, and compositional changes."
  • Prisoners in 2008 Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2009. "These are the only comprehensive national-level data on prison admissions and releases."
  • Integration Debate Two Tiered Justice, [PDF] Marc Mauer, Sentencing Project. January, 2010. "[I]n the most profound betrayal of the promise of integration and opportunity, the United States has created a world-record prison population, fueled by policies that have exposed substantial portions of African Americans to the.. criminal justice system."
  • Racial Disparities in the Criminal Justice System [PDF] Sentencing Project. October, 2009. ([An] overview of the factors that contribute to racial disparity in the justice system, and recommend[ed] changes in policy and practice that could reduce these disparities without compromising public safety.)
  • Fact Sheet DOJ Report on Prisoners 2008, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. December, 2009. (The report shows that although the growth in imprisonment is down, the number of people in prison is still increasing, up more than 12,000 people from last year. This number continues to grow even as crime goes down.)
  • Pruning Prisons How Cutting Corrections Can Save Money and Protect Public Safety, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. May, 2009. (The United States spends spend billions to incarcerate people in prisons and jails with little impact on public safety, but redirecting funds to community-based alternatives will decrease prison populations, save money, and preserve public safety.)
  • Fact Sheet on FY2010 Department of Justice Budget [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. May, 2009. (The Factsheet on 2010 Department of Justice Budget finds that the 2010 DOJ budget directs more money to law enforcement than prevention with the likely long-term outcome being increased arrests, incarceration, and money spent on corrections.)
  • Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2009 Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2009. "This annual report examines crime occurring in school as well as on the way to and from school. It... provides the most current detailed statistical information on the nature of crime in schools and school environments and responses to violence and crime."
  • Sexual Victimization in Juvenile Facilities Reported by Youth, 2008-09 Bureau of Justice Statistics. January, 2010. "The report provides national-level and facility-level estimates of sexual victimization by type of activity, including youth-on-youth sexual contact, staff sexual misconduct, and level of coercion."
  • Back on Track Supporting Youth Reentry from Out-of-Home Placement to the Community, [PDF] Sentencing Project. November, 2009. "Presents promising practices and recommendations for federal leadership on youth reentry."
  • The Costs of Confinement Why Good Juvenile Justice Policies Make Good Fiscal Sense, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. May, 2009. (Cost of Confinement shows that states spend billions to imprison youth in secure facilities, but could save money, preserve public safety, and improve life outcomes for individual youth by redirecting the money to community-based alternatives.)
  • HIV in Prisons, 2007-08 Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2009. "Findings include the number of AIDS-related deaths in state and federal prisons, a profile of those inmates who died in state prison, and a comparison of AIDS rates between prison inmates and the general population."

Monday, January 4 2010:

Thursday, December 3 2009:

  • Locked Up Far Away: The Transfer of Immigrants to Remote Detention Centers in the United States, [PDF] Human Rights Watch. December, 2009.

Friday, November 20 2009:

Thursday, November 19 2009:

  • World Prison Population List. Eighth ed. Roy Walmsley, International Centre for Prison Studies, King's College London. February, 2007. "Over 9.8 million people are incarcerated, with over 30% held in the Unites States."

Thursday, November 5 2009:

  • Do More Prisoners Equal Less Crime? A Response to George Will Sentencing Project. June, 2008. "Will's selective use of data and limited vision provide an inaccurate portrayal of current criminal justice policy and its effects. [This piece] is an assessment of some of the key arguments raised in the column."
  • One in 31: The Long Reach of American Corrections, [PDF] The Pew Center on the States. March, 2009. "For eight geographically diverse states [...] 88% of the increase in corrections spending was directed towards prisons, which now consume nearly nine out of every ten state corrections dollars."
  • Still in Danger: The Ongoing Threat of Sexual Violence against Transgender Prisoners, [PDF] American Civil Liberties Union National Prison Project. 2005. ""Transgender women behind bars continue to report that they re housed in the general population in male facilities [...] and they continue to report that they are sexually assaulted in detention.""
  • African Americas, Health Disparities, and HIV/AIDS Recommendations for Confronting the Epidemic in Black America, [PDF] National Minority AIDS Counsel. December, 2006. "The U.S. Department of Justice found that in 2003 the AIDS rate among U.S. prisoners was three times that of the general population."
  • Minor Crimes, Major Waste: The Terrible Toll of America's Broken Misdemeanor Courts, [PDF] National Association of Criminal defense Lawyers. April, 2009. "...literally millions of accused misdemeanants, particularly those unable to hire private counsel, and disproportionately people of color, routinely are denied the due process to which the Constitution entitles them."

Thursday, October 29 2009:

  • Reaching too far, coming up short: How large sentencing enhancement zones miss the mark, Prison Policy Initiative. January, 2009. "Massachusetts cannot afford to preserve a law that fails to protect children while draining the state coffers and incarcerating Latinos and Blacks at a rate 26 to 30 times as frequently as Whites."
  • Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Massachusetts, Prison Policy Initiative. October, 2009. "Five of Massachusetts’ House districts meet federal minimal population requirements only because the state treats prisoners as residents of the district with the prison."
  • Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Oklahoma, Prison Policy Initiative. September, 2009. ([B]y relying on Census Bureau counts of prison populations to pad out legislative districts with prisons, Oklahoma is inflating the votes of residents who live near prisons at the expense of every other resident in the state.)
  • Phantom Constituents in Maine’s Regional School Unit 13: How the Census Bureau’s outdated method of counting prisoners harms democracy, Prison Policy Initiative. January, 2009. "The designers of the school board’s weighted voting system have given every group of 10 residents of Thomaston the same power over school district decisions as each group of 11 residents in the other towns."
  • Growth in Michigan's Corrections System: Historical and Comparative Perspectives, [PDF] Citizen's Research Counsel of Michigan. June, 2008. "Michigan’s prison population growth is the product of a combination of several different factors including: increases in felony dispositions, swelling prison commitments, higher recidivism rates, and an increased average prisoner length of stay."

Thursday, October 22 2009:

  • Female Victims of Violence [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. September, 2009. "The rate of intimate partner violence against females declined 53% between 1993 and 2008, from 9.4 victimizations per 1,000 females age 12 or older to 4.3 per 1,000. Against males, the rate declined 54%."
  • Crime Against People with Disabilities, 2007 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. October, 2009. "Age-adjusted rate of nonfatal violent crime against persons with disabilities was 1.5 times higher than the rate for persons without disabilities."
  • Profile of Intimate Partner Violence Cases in Large Urban Counties [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. October, 2009. (Most cases of intimate partner violence involved a charge of assault, either aggravated (12%) or simple (78%); an additional 5% were charged with intimidation, including stalking.)
  • Report Submitted to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights [PDF] Sentencing Project. September, 2009. "In the United States, nearly two million African Americans – or 8.25 percent of the African American population – are disenfranchised, a rate three times the national average."
  • The Modern-Day Poll Tax How Economic Sanctions Block Access to the Polls, [PDF] Sentencing Project. May, 2007. "Low-income individuals face felon voting bans when they are required to pay all the legal financial obligations associated with a conviction before regaining the right to vote, resulting in the de facto disenfranchisement of countless individuals."
  • Challenges to Felony Disenfranchisement Laws Past, Present, and Future, [PDF] Alabama Law Review. May, 2007. "[T]he best way to achieve the goal of abolition is to generate press and harness public outrage to bring about legislative change."
  • Barriers to Democracy A Petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for a Thematic Hearing on Felony Disenfranchisement Practice, [PDF] Sentencing Project. May, 2007. "The time is long overdue for the United States to follow the lead of its hemispheric neighbors and the broader international community, uphold treaties to which the United States is obligated, and take steps toward universal suffrage by reforming its crim"
  • Felon Disenfranchisement in Alaska and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 Alaska Law Review. December, 2006. "[A] case brought in Alaska [...] may well invalidate the state's practice of disenfranchising felons on the basis of its racially disproportionate impact."
  • Incarcerated Parents and their Children Trends 1991-2007, [PDF] Sentencing Project. February, 2009. "In 2007, 1.7 million minor children had a parent in prison, an 82% increase since 1991."
  • A Report on the Collateral Consequences of Criminal Convictions in Maryland [PDF] University of Maryland School of Law. 2009. "Despite the lasting and sometimes permanent effects that collateral consequences impose upon ex-offenders and their families, no formal mechanism exists for defendants in Maryland, or any other state, to be informed of these consequences."
  • Contract Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. September, 2009. "Contract trials in 2005 most commonly involved an individual suing a business (33%), followed by a business suing another business (25%)."
  • Registering Harm How Sex Offense Registries Fail Youth Communities, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. November, 2008. "Continued investments in registries put our families in danger with short-sighted policies that alienate people who are trying to safely re-enter the community." (See also the Wash Act Briefing Book here: http://www.justicepolicy.org/content-hmID=1811&smID=1581&ssmID=80.htm)
  • Moving Target A Decade of Resistance to the Prison Industrial Complex, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. September, 2009. "All modern day struggles for justice are implicated in criminal justice reform efforts because the current system magnifies all the ways in which the United States of America fails many of the people who live within its borders."
  • The Release Valve: Parole in Maryland, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. March, 2009. "[I]n 2007 [Maryland] spent approximately $1,422 per person on parole or probation, and $33,310 per person incarcerated."
  • Jailing Communities The Impact of Jail Expansion and Effective Public Safety Strategies, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. April, 2009. "In 2006, prison population growth was half what it was in 1996, but in recent years, jail population growth has exceeded that of prisons."
  • Judging Maryland Baltimore Judges on Effective Solutions to Working with Substance Abusers in the Criminal Justice System, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. March, 2009. "Judges recommend an increase in or expansion of residential care facilities and a more holistic ap- proach to helping substance abusers caught up in the criminal justice system."
  • Judging Maryland Baltimore Judges on Effective Solutions to Working with Substance Abusers in the Criminal Justice System, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. March, 2009. "Judges recommend an increase in or expansion of residential care facilities and a more holistic ap- proach to helping substance abusers caught up in the criminal justice system."

Thursday, October 8 2009:

  • Until They Die A Natural Death Youth Sentenced to Life Without Parole in Massachusetts, [PDF] Children's Law Center of Massachusetts. September, 2009. "Massachusetts [...] stands apart in giving the adult court exclusive jurisdiction over murder cases against children as young as 14 and then imposing a mandatory life without parole sentence for all first degree murder convictions."

Friday, October 2 2009:

Thursday, October 1 2009:

  • Interstate Transfer of Prison Inmates in the United States [PDF] National Institute of Corrections. February, 2006. "2,089 state-sentenced inmates were transferred between state prison systems, 345 transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and 2,466 transferred to privately operated prisons located outside the sending state as of July 1 2005."

Thursday, September 24 2009:

  • Criminal Victimization, 2008 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. September, 2009. "The violent crime rate declined by 41% and the property crime rate fell by 32% over the 10-year period."
  • PREA Data Collection Activities, 2009 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. July, 2009. "The National Inmate Survey (NIS) gathers data directly from inmates on the incidence of sexual assault in correctional facilities."
  • Expanding the Vote State Felony Disenfranchisement Reform, 1997-2008, [PDF] Sentencing Project. September, 2009. "A reform movement across the United States over the past eleven years has resulted in more than 760,000 citizens having regained their right to vote."
  • Smart on Crime Recommendations for the Next Administration and Congress, [PDF] 2009 Criminal Justice Transition Coalition. November, 2008. "The 2009 Criminal Justice Transition Coalition’s collaborative report identifying critical needs for federal policy reform for President-elect Barack Obama's agenda."
  • Criminal Justice Primer 2009 [PDF] Sentencing Project. February, 2009. "An overview of nine policy priorities in criminal and juvenile justice reform that address issues of reentry, sentencing, racial disparity and crime prevention."
  • No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America Sentencing Project. July, 2009. "A record 140,610 individuals are now serving life sentences in state and federal prisons, 6,807 of whom were juveniles at the time of the crime."
  • The Changing Racial Dynamics of the War on Drugs [PDF] Sentencing Project. April, 2009. "Reports a sharp decline in black incarceration for drug offenses for the first time in 25 years."
  • A Call to Action for Juvenile Justice [PDF] American Bar Association. October, 2008. "Juvenile justice advocates' transition document offers suggestions to the new admininstration."
  • Aviation Units in Large Law Enforcement Agencies, 2007 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. July, 2009. "In 2007, 92% of aviation units engaged in vehicle pursuits. Almost 90% of units performed counternarcotics missions, and about 80% conducted counterterrorism missions. Nearly 70% of units engaged in firefighting activities"
  • The State of Sentencing 2008 Developments in Policy and Practice, [PDF] Sentencing Project. February, 2009. "A nationwide budget crisis coupled with widespread prison overcrowding has led many states to address critical challenges in the areas such as sentencing, drug policy, parole revocation, racial justice, disenfranchisement, juvenile justice, and education."

Sunday, May 10 2009:

  • Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Victims of Crime [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. March, 2009. "From 2002 through 2006, the average annual rate of nonfatal violent victimization against Asians was about 11 violent victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older, compared to 24 per 1,000 persons for non-Asians."
  • Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2008 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 2009. "During the 2005–06 school year, 86 percent of public schools reported that at least one violent crime, theft, or other crime occurred at their school."
  • Cybercrime against Businesses, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. September, 2008. "The 3,247 businesses that incurred monetary loss from cybercrime lost a total of $867 million"
  • Survey of State Criminal History Information Systems, 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics. October, 2008.
  • The Rockefeller Drug Laws: Unjust, Irrational, Ineffective, [PDF] New York Civil Liberties Union. March, 2009. "New York’s mandatory-minimum drug sentencing scheme has [...] not reduced the availability of drugs or deterred their use; it has not made us safer." (This report documents the harms of mandatory-sentencing drug laws, focusing on their ineffectiveness and racial and fiscal impact. This report suggests a that rehabilitative approach to drug policy would be more sucessful.)
  • Parents in Prison and Their Minor Children [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. August, 2008. "Parents held in the nation’s prisons—52% of state inmates and 63% of federal inmates—reported having an estimated 1,706,600 minor children, accounting for 2.3% of the U.S. resident population under age 18."
  • Federal Justice Statistics, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. September, 2008. "In 2005, immigration (27%) was the most prevalent arrest offense followed by drug (24%) and supervision violations (17%)."
  • State and Local Law Enforcement Training Academies, 2006 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. February, 2009. "Of an estimated 57,000 recruits who entered basic training programs during 2005, 86% or 49,000, successfully completed their program and graduated from the academy."
  • Characteristics of State Parole Supervising Agencies, 2006 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. August, 2008. "Up to 16% of at-risk parolees in some agencies were re-incarcerated for a failed drug test."

Friday, April 24 2009:

  • Criminal Victimization, 2007 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2008. "Violent crime rates in 2007 (20.7 per 1,000 persons age 12 or older) were not significantly different from those in 2005 (21.1 per 1,000 persons)."
  • Stalking Victimization in the United States [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. January, 2009. "About half (46%) of stalking victims experienced at least one unwanted contact per week, and 11% of victims said they had been stalked for 5 years or more."
  • Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2007-08 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. January, 2009. "Most (83%) of the reported incidents involved allegations of sex trafficking. Labor trafficking accounted for 12% of incidents, and other or unknown forms of human trafficking made up 5%."
  • Jails in Indian Country, 2007 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2008. "Eighty-three jails in Indian country held an estimated 2,163 inmates at midyear 2007, up from 1,745 inmates held in 68 facilities at midyear 2004."
  • Prisoners in 2007 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2008. "At yearend 2007, federal and state prisons and local jails held just under 2.3 million inmates (2,293,157). The number of inmates incarcerated in prison or jail increased by 1.5% during the year."

Friday, April 17 2009:

  • Drug Courts: A Review of the Evidence, [PDF] Sentencing Project. April, 2009. "An analysis of research findings from 76 drug courts found a 10% reduction in rearrest."
  • Census of State and Federal Correctional Facilities, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. October, 2008. "The number of prisoners held in custody in state and federal correctional facilities increased 10% from 1,305,253 in 2000 to 1,430,208 in 2005."
  • Civil Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. October, 2008. "The total number of civil trials declined by over 50% from 1992 to 2005 in the nation’s 75 most populous counties."

Friday, January 2 2009:

  • The Effect of Community Reintegration on Rates of Recidivism: A Statistical Overview of Data for the Years 1971 Through 1985, [PDF] Massachusetts Department of Corrections. July, 1988. "individuals who had experienced a furlough prior to release from prison had significantly lower rates of recidivism than did individuals who had not experienced a furlough prior to release."
  • The Massachusetts Furlough Program: Position Paper, [PDF] Massachusetts Department of Corrections. May, 1987.

Wednesday, November 5 2008:

Friday, August 8 2008:

  • The Myth of Immigrant Criminality and the Paradox of Assimilation Incarceration Rates among Native and Foreign-Born Men (Spring 2007), Immigration Policy Center. 2007. "Among men age 18-39 (who comprise the vast majority of the prison population), the 3.5 percent incarceration rate of the native-born in 2000 was 5 times higher than the 0.7 percent incarceration rate of the foreign-born."
  • The Geography of Punishment: How Huge Sentencing Enhancement Zones Harm Communities, Fail to Protect Children, Prison Policy Initiative. July, 2008. "Our analysis found that less than a third (29%) of White Hampden County residents live in enhancement zones, but that more than half (52%) of Black and Latino residents live in school zones." (Finds zone law fails to move drug crimes away from schools while increasing racial disparities in sentencing.)
  • Sexual Violence Reported by Juvenile Correctional Authorities, 2005-06 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. July, 2008. "Sexual misconduct involving staff-on-youth accounted for 28 percent of all substantiated incidents, while staff sexual harassment of youth accounted for 8 percent." (Males were more likely to be victims of youth-on-youth sexual violence (73%) than victims of staff sexual violence (49%). Females were more likely to be victims of staff sexual violence (51%) than victims of youth-on-youth sexual violence (27%).)
  • Sexual Victimization in Local Jails Reported by Inmates, 2007 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. June, 2008. "An estimated 5.1% of female inmates, compared to 2.9% of male inmates, said they had experienced one or more incidents of sexual victimization." ("About 1.6% of inmates (12,100, nationwide) reported an incident involving another inmate, and 2.0% (15,200) reported an incident involving staff.")

Thursday, June 12 2008:

  • Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 2008. "More than three-fourths of felony defendants had a prior arrest history, with 53% having at least five prior arrest charges."
  • Disparity By Geography: The War on Drugs in America's Cities, The Sentencing Project. May, 2008. "Documents the growth in drug arrests at the city-level between 1980 and 2003 and the role of the "war on drugs" in expanding racial disparity in the criminal justice system."
  • Jail Inmates at Midyear 2007 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. June, 2008. "The total rated capacity of local jails at midyear 2007 reached 813,502 beds, up from an estimated 677,787 beds at midyear 2000."
  • Prison Inmates at Midyear 2007 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. June, 2008. "Between January and June 2007, the prison population increased by 1.6% (or 24,919 prisoners), compared to a 2% increase during the first six months of 2006."
  • Kids Count 2008 Data Book, The Annie E. Casey Foundation. June, 2008. "[In 2006] the ratio of rates of youth of color to white youth in custody was 3:1; and two out of three (66 percent) of all youth in custody were there due to a non-violent offense."
  • Medical Problems of Prisoners Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 2008. "An estimated 44% of state inmates and 39% of federal inmates reported a current medical problem other than a cold or virus."
  • HIV in Prisons, 2006 Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 2008. "The overall rate of estimated confirmed AIDS among the prison population (0.46%) was more than 2½ times the rate in the U.S. general population (0.17%)."

Sunday, March 23 2008:

  • Report to U.S. Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination that U.S. Census practices dilute votes of minority populationson, Demos and Prison Policy Initiative. December, 2007. (A report to the Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva on racially discriminatory redistricting practices violating Article 5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.)
  • Phantom Constituents in Tennessee's Boards of County Commissioners Prison Policy Initiative; Peter Wagner and JooHye DellaRocco. February, 2008. "[This report] identifies 10 Tennessee counties in which the use of flawed Census data to draw county commissioner districts has created substantial inequities in political power within the counties."

Thursday, February 28 2008:

  • One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008, The Pew Center on the States. February, 2008. "[F]or the first time in history, more than one in every 100 adults in America are in jail or prison-a fact that significantly impacts state budgets without delivering a clear return on public safety."
  • Campus Law Enforcement, 2004-05 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. February, 2008. "Three-quarters of campus law enforcement agencies used sworn officers with full arrest powers."

Wednesday, February 27 2008:

  • Crime, Corrections, and California: What Does Immigration Have to Do with It?, Public Policy Institute of California. February, 2008. "Immigrants are far less likely than the average U.S. native to commit crime in California.... Such findings suggest that longstanding fears of immigration as a threat to public safety are unjustified."

Tuesday, February 26 2008:

Sunday, February 17 2008:

  • How Crime in the United States Is Measured [PDF] Congressional Research Service. January, 2008. (An overview of crime data collection programs "used by Congress to inform policy decisions and allocate federal criminal justice funding to states.")
  • The Death Penalty in 2007: Year End Report, [PDF] Death Penalty Information Center. December, 2007. "Almost all (86%) of the executions in 2007 were in the South, and 62% of the executions took place in one state, Texas. Executions have declined 57% since 1999."
  • The State of Sentencing 2007: Developments in Policy and Practice, The Sentencing Project. January, 2008. "Confronted with the high cost of continued prison growth, policymakers in 18 states took steps during 2007 to review the effectiveness of their criminal justice systems or institute reforms to limit recidivism and sentence lengths..."
  • State Court Processing of Domestic Violence Cases [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. February, 2008. "Prosecuted domestic sexual assault defendants had a higher overall conviction rate (98%) than prosecuted non-domestic sexual assault defendants (87%)."

Monday, December 31 2007:

  • Race and Incarceration in Delaware: A Preliminary Consideration, [PDF] Thomas P. Eichler, Published by Delaware Center for Justice and Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League. 2007. "Delaware’s criminal justice system treats Blacks differently and far less favorably than similarly situated Whites. The data shows that the racial disparities in the criminal justice system are increasing."

Sunday, December 30 2007:

  • Criminal Victimization, 2006 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2007. "Males experienced higher levels of victimization than females. The rate of violent victimization for males was 26 violent victimizations per 1,000 males age 12 or older. Females experienced 23 violent victimizations per 1,000 females age 12 or older."
  • Federal Prosecution of Child Sex Exploitation Offenders, 2006 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2007. "The main sex exploitation offense referred to U.S. attorneys shifted from sex abuse (73%) in 1994 to child pornography (69%) in 2006."
  • The Death Penalty in 2007: Year End Report, Death Penalty Information Center. December, 2007. "Almost all (86%) of the executions in 2007 were in the South, and 62% of the executions took place in one state, Texas. Executions have declined 57% since 1999."
  • The Vortex: The Concentrated Racial Impact of Drug Imprisonment and the Characteristics of Punitive Counties, Justice Policy Institute. December, 2007. "The report documents racial disparities in the use of prison for drug offenses in 193 of the 198 counties that reported to government entities."
  • Prisoners in 2006 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2007. "During 2006 the number of women in prison increased by 4.5%, reaching 112,498 prisoners."
  • Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2007 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2007. "In 2005, 10 percent of male students in grades 9–12 reported being threatened or injured with a weapon on school property in the past year, compared to 6 percent of female students."
  • Probation and Parole in the United States, 2006 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2007. "The number of adult men and women in the United States who were being supervised on probation or parole at the end of 2006 reached 5,035,225. In 2006 the combined probation and parole populations grew by 1.8% or 87,852 persons."
  • Sexual Victimization in State and Federal Prisons Reported by Inmates, 2007 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2007. "Nationwide, about 2.1% of inmates reported an incident involving another inmate and 2.9% reported an incident involving staff."
  • Expert Report by Dr. Noel on Medical Care at Ely State Prison American Civil Liberties Union. December, 2007. "[T]he medical care provided at Ely State Prison amounts to the grossest possible medical malpractice, and the most shocking and callous disregard for human life and human suffering, that I have ever encountered in the medical profession..."

Saturday, December 1 2007:

  • I'd rather be Hanged for a Sheep than a Lamb The Unintended Consequences of 'Three-Strikes' Laws, [PDF] Radha Iyengar, Harvard University. October, 2007. "Among third-strike eligible offenders, the probability of committing violent crimes increased by 9 percentage points."
  • Justice, Where Art Thou? A Framework for the Future, Council on Crime and Justice. October, 2007. (This report analysies past and current incarceration trends in Minnesotra and makes projection through the year 2030.)
  • Housing and Public Safety Justice Policy Institute. November, 2007. "For populations who are the most at-risk for criminal justice system involvement, supportive or affordable housing has been shown to be a cost effective public investment."
  • Unlocking America: Why and How to Reduce America's Prison Population, [PDF] JFA Institute. November, 2007. "Not only are our lengths of imprisonment signifi cantly longer than they were in earlier periods in our penal history, but they are considerably longer than in most Western nations."
  • America's Cradle to Prison Pipeline Children's Defense Fund. October, 2007. "A Black boy born in 2001 has a 1 in 3 chance of going to prison in his lifetime; a Latino boy a 1 in 6 chance; and a White boy a 1 in 17 chance."
  • Cruel and Unusual: Sentencing 13- and 14-Year-Old Children to Die in Prison, [PDF] Equal Justice Initiative. November, 2007. "In many states, 13- and 14-year-olds are subjected to the harshest possible prison sentence... In most of these cases, the judges who imposed death in prison sentences on young children had no other legal option."
  • Real Impacts: The actual results of Rhode Island's new policy that charges 17-year-olds as adults, [PDF] Rhode Island Family Life Center. October, 2007. "[A]lthough it was not an explicit intention of the bill, one of the most important outcomes is that these juveniles will now have adult records, seriously limiting them as they become adults."
  • Juvenile Court Statistics 2003–2004 National Center for Juvenile Justice. March, 2007. "This Report describes delinquency cases handled between 1985 and 2004 by U.S. courts with juvenile jurisdiction and status offense cases handled between 1995 and 2004."
  • Jailing Juveniles: The Dangers of Incarcerating Youth in Adult Jails in America, [PDF] Campaign for Youth Justice. November, 2007. "The report “Jailing Juveniles” shows how difficult is it to keep children safe in adult jails. In fact, youth have the highest suicide rates of all inmates in jails... Youth in adult jails are also at great risk of physical and sexual assault."
  • Corrections Department: Review of Facility Planning Efforts and Oversight of Private Prisons and Health Programs, [PDF] Legislative Finance Committee (New Mexico). May, 2007. "Nationally, New Mexico places the highest percentage, about 42-44 percent, of inmates in private prisons. The national average is 6.5 percent."
  • An Analysis of the Performance of Federal Indigent Defense Counsel [PDF] National Bureau of Economic Research. June, 2007. "The federal indigent defense system relies on both salaried government workers... and hourly-wage earning court-appointed private [CJA] attorneys.... Defendants with CJA ... attorneys are... more likely to be found guilty and... receive longer sentences."

Friday, November 30 2007:

  • State Funding for Corrections in FY 2006 and FY 2007 National Conference of State Legislatures. May, 2007. "Nationally, FY 2006 general fund corrections spending grew 10 percent above FY 2005 levels."
  • Repaying Debts [PDF] Justice Center. October, 2007. "Financial pressures and paycheck garnishment resulting from unpaid debt can increase participation in the underground economy and discourage legitimate employment."

Monday, November 26 2007:

  • Identity Theft, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2007. "Ten percent of the households with incomes of $75,000 or higher experienced identity theft; that was about twice the percentage of households earning less than $50,000."
  • No Easy Answers: Sex Offender Laws in the US Human Rights Watch. September, 2007. "The evidence is overwhelming, as detailed in this report, that these laws cause great harm to the people subject to them. On the other hand, proponents of these laws are not able to point to convincing evidence of public safety gains from them."
  • Arrest-Related Deaths in the United States, 2003-2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. October, 2007. "Three-quarters of the law enforcement homicides reported to DCRP involved arrests for a violent crime. Public-order offenders accounted for 8% of homicides, followed by property (4%) and drug offenders (2%)."
  • Pretrial Release of Felony Defendants in State Courts [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2007. "Presents findings on the pretrial release phase of the criminal justice process using data collected from a representative sample of felony cases filed in the 75 largest U.S. counties in May during even-numbered years from 1990 to 2004." ("About 3 in 5 felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were released prior to the disposition of their case.")
  • State Court Organization, 1987-2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. October, 2007. "The report examines changes in the organization and operations of the Nation’s state trial and appellate courts [from 1987-2004]."

Monday, October 1 2007:

  • HIV in Prisons, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. September, 2007. "There were 22,480 state and federal inmates who were HIV infected or had confirmed AIDS on Dec. 31, 2005, which was a decrease from 22,936 at the end of 2004... [t]he 2005 decline was the sixth consecutive year the number has fallen."

Thursday, September 27 2007:

  • Death Penalty Sentencing: Research Indicates Pattern of Racial Disparities, [PDF] Government Accountability Office. February, 1990. "Our synthesis of the 28 studies shows a pattern of evidence indicating racial disparities in the charging, sentencing, and imposition of the death penalty...."
  • Washington State's Drug Courts for Adult Defendants: Outcome Evaluation and Cost-Benefit Analysis, Washington State Institute for Public Policy. March, 2003. "We found that the five adult drug courts generate $1.74 in benefits for each dollar of costs. Thus, adult drug courts appear to be cost-effective additions to Washington’s criminal justice system."
  • Criminal Justice in Massachusetts: Putting Crime Control First, BOTEC Analysis Corporation of Cambridge. October, 1996. "Opportunities to reduce crime are systematically neglected, as policy making is dominated by the need to appease the public's justifiable fear and anger and by a wide variety of organizational and professional interests and ideological postures."
  • The Criminal Justice System in Washington State: Incarceration Rates, Taxpayer Costs, Crime Rates, and Prison Economics, Washington State Institute for Public Policy. 2007. (In Washington state increasing the rate of incarceration reduces crime rates, however because of diminishing returns, the proportional decrease in crime is much lower now than it was in the 1980's.)
  • Driving Forced Behind Prison Growth: The Mass Media, Thomas Mathiesen, Professor of Sociology of Law at the University of Oslo. February, 1996. "Today, rationality is limited to "the secluded corners of the professional journals and meetings" while the media flood the public debate "with dire warnings by the police and sensational crime stories.""
  • Evidence-Based Juvenile Offender Programs: Program Description, Quality Assurance, and Cost, Washington State Institute for Public Policy. June, 2007. "Six juvenile offender programs identified by Institute as evidence-based are profiled through program descriptions, quality assurance information, and cost-benefit figures."
  • Benefits and Costs of Prevention and Early Intervention Programs for Youth Washington State Institute for Public Policy. July, 2004. "[S]ome prevention and early intervention programs for youth can give taxpayers a good return on their dollar."
  • Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising, [PDF] National Institute of Justice. July, 1998.
  • Evidence-based Treatment of Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Disorders: Potential Benefits, Costs, and Fiscal Impacts for Washington State, Washington State Institute for Public Policy. June, 2006. "Per dollar of treatment cost, we estimate that evidence-based treatment generates about $3.77 in benefits for people in Washington. Expressed as a return on investment, this is equivalent to roughly a 56 percent rate of return."
  • Correctional Industries Programs for Adult Offenders in Prison: Estimates of Benefits and Costs, Washington State Institute for Public Policy. January, 2005. "We find that correctional industries programs for adult offenders in prison can achieve a statistically significant reduction in recidivism rates, and that a reasonably priced program generates about $6.70 in benefits per dollar of cost."
  • Washington's Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative: An Evaluation of Benefits and Costs, Washington State Institute for Public Policy. January, 2005. "[O]ur overall finding is that [Drug Offender Sentencing Alternative] is an effective criminal justice policy for drug offenders but neutral for druginvolved property offenders."

Thursday, September 20 2007:

  • A 25-Year Quagmire: The War on Drugs and Its Impact on American Society, Sentencing Project. September, 2007. "Four of five (81.7%) drug arrests were for possession offenses, and 42.6% were for marijuana charges in 2005." ("Drug offenders in prisons and jails have increased 1100% since 1980. Nearly a half-million (493,800) persons are in state or federal prison or local jail for a drug offense...")

Wednesday, September 19 2007:

  • Education and Public Safety Policy Brief Justice Policy Institute. August, 2007. "Graduation rates were associated with positive public safety outcomes. Researchers have found that a 5 percent increase in male high school graduation rates would produce an annual savings of almost $5 billion in crime-related expenses."
  • Strengthening Criminal Justice System Practices in Chemung County, NY [PDF] Center for Governmental Research, Inc.. May, 2006. "[A]bout 125 defendants a year are released from jail after 45 days due to lack of timely prosecution. If the jail time for these individuals could be cut in half, almost 8 fewer persons would need to be housed in jail every night."

Tuesday, September 18 2007:

  • Black Victims of Violent Crime [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. August, 2007. "Blacks accounted for 13% of the U.S. population in 2005, but were victims in 15% of all nonfatal violent crimes and nearly half of all homicides."
  • Improving Criminal History Records in Indian Country, 2004-2006 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. July, 2007. "Describes the achievements of the Tribal Criminal History Records Improvement Program (T-CHRIP) which provides grants to federally recognized tribes to improve data sharing across tribal, state and national criminal records systems."
  • Who Survives on Death Row? An Individual and Contextual Analysis, American Civil Liberties Union. August, 2007. "The findings show that despite efforts to transcend an unfortunate racial past, residues of this fierce discrimination evidently still linger, at least when the most morally critical decision about punishment is decided."
  • Felony Sentences in State Courts, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. July, 2007. "Between 1994 and 2004, the number of felony convictions in State courts increased 24%."
  • The Whitaker Committee Report 20 Years On - Lessons Learned or Lessons Forgotten?, [PDF] Irish Penal Reform Trust. July, 2007. "It seems that it is not just the penal system, but the whole social system, that needs attention..."
  • Parole, Desistance from Crime, and Community Integration (2007) National Research Council of the National Academies. July, 2007. "[T]he first days and weeks out of prison are the riskiest for both releasees and the general public."
  • Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2006 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. August, 2007. "There were 2.91 allegations of sexual violence per 1,000 inmates held in prison, jail, and other adult correctional facilities in 2006, up from 2.46 per 1,000 inmates in 2004."

Sunday, September 16 2007:

Sunday, July 22 2007:

  • Implementation of “Kendra’s Law” Is Severely Biased [PDF] New York Lawyers For The Public Interest, Inc.. April, 2005. "There are major racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities throughout New York State in the implementation of “Kendra’s Law” [,which allows courts to mandate outpatient treatment for some people with mental illness]."

Saturday, July 21 2007:

  • Gang Wars: The Failure of Enforcement Tactics and the Need for Effective Public Safety Strategies, Justice Policy Institute. July, 2007. (There are fewer gang members in the United States today than there were a decade ago, and there is no evidence that gang activity is growing.)

Wednesday, July 18 2007:

Tuesday, July 10 2007:

Monday, July 2 2007:

  • Veterans in State and Federal Prison, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. May, 2007. "The percentage of veterans among State and Federal prisoners has steadily declined over the past three decades, according to national surveys of prison inmates conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics."
  • Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2006 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. June, 2007. "For the 12 months ending June 30, 2006, State systems reported a larger increase than the Federal system in the number of inmates housed in private prisons."
  • Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. June, 2006. "Although local police employment was up slightly nationwide from 2000 to 2004, 20 of the nation’s 50 largest local police departments saw a decline in sworn personnel during this period, including 6 of the 7 largest."

Sunday, July 1 2007:

  • Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics U. S. Sentencing Commission. 2006. "This Sourcebook contains descriptive statistics on the application of the federal sentencing guidelines and provides selected district, circuit, and national sentencing data."
  • Prisoner-assisted homicide: more 'volunteer' executions loom, Amnesty International. May, 2007. "Race and mental health appear to be the strongest predictors of who will waive their appeals - most "volunteers" are white males ... and many have a history of mental disorders.""
  • Death Penalty on the Decline Amnesty International. 2007. "The Annual Death Penalty Statistics... show a worldwide trend towards abolition with an encouraging 25 per cent decrease in executions and death sentences in 2006." (Overview of wold trends, includes links to facts and statistics.)
  • Cocaine and Federal Sentencing Policy [PDF] United States Sentencing Commission. May, 2007. "Federal cocaine sentencing policy... continues to come under almost universal criticism... and inaction in this area is of increasing concern to many, including the Commission."
  • Task Force on California Prison Crowding [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. August, 2006. "Essential services, procedures, and structures designed to reduce recidivism, break the intergenerational cycle of violence, and save taxpayer dollars for more positive expenditures will reduc[e] crime in our communities and enhanc[e] public safety."
  • California Corrections at the Crossroads [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. March, 2005. "California was once a leader in innovative corrections legislation and programming. However... the last twenty years... have left California with a huge and dysfunctional criminal justice system in woeful need of reform."
  • US Rates of Incarceration: A Global Perspective, [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. November, 2006. "Some individual US states imprison up to six times as many people as do." ("Crime rates do not account for incarceration rates.")
  • Attitudes of US Voters toward Youth Crime and the Justice System [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. February, 2007. "Approximately 7 in 10 feel that putting youth under age 18 in adult correctional facilities makes them more likely to commit future crime."
  • Youth Under Age 18 in the Adult Criminal Justice System [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. May, 2006. "Youth held in adult facilities are more likely to recidivate than similar offenders."
  • Hidden Challenges: Juvenile Justice and Education Issues Affecting Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Youth in Richmond, California, [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. March, 2006. "The intent of [this] report is to provide a detailed assessment of the status of Southeast Asian youth in Richmond. To this end, the report contains data from the areas of juvenile justice and education, with relevant demographic data provided for context"
  • Reforming Juvenile Justice Through Comprehensive Community Planning [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. March, 2004. "The experience [with Comprehensive Community Planning] suggests that there are productive ways in which the federal government can interact with and assist local initiatives."
  • Juvenile Justice in Florida: What Kind of Future?, [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. March, 2004. "The National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) conducted a study to determine the potential benefits to Florida of adopting a data-driven approach to juvenile corrections that is based on the best national research."
  • Stopping Sexual Assaults in Juvenile Corrections Facilities: A Case Study of the California Division of Juvenile Justice, [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. June, 2006. "Unchecked violence and sexual assault in juvenile facilities will lead to more tragedies and victims in the community." (Barry Krisberg, Ph.D.'s Testimony Before the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission)
  • Access Denied in Oregon [PDF] Partnership for Safety and Justice. November, 2006. "The astronomical growth of incarceration in the U.S. over the past 25 years has created a wide range of social challenges, not least of which is how to respond to formerly incarcerated people upon their re-entry into the community."
  • Impacts of Jail Expansion in New York State: A Hidden Burden, [PDF] Center for Constitutional Rights. May, 2007. "The growth in the number of people held in jail has not been caused by an increase in crime, as index crime reports decreased by 30 percent in the last decade in upstate and suburban New York overall." (Construction of new prisons in New York poses a financial, employment and environmental burden on communities.)
  • Community Survey on Public Safety [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. June, 2006. "Forty-three percent (43.8%) of survey respondents report feeling somewhat unsafe or unsafe in their neighborhood."
  • Attitudes of Californians toward Effective Correctional Policies [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. June, 2004. "By almost an 8 to 1 margin (63% to 8%), Californians favor using state funds to rehabilitate prisoners both during incarceration and after their release from prison as opposed to punishment only."
  • Attitudes of US Voters toward Prisoner Rehabilitation [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. April, 2006. "By strong majorities, US voters feel that a lack of life skills, the experience of being in prison, and obstacles to reentry are major factors in the rearrest of prisoners after release. Few thought that criminality is inherent."
  • Reducing the Incarceration of Women: Community-Based Alternatives, [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. December, 2006. "Typically nonviolent low-level offenders, women have been hit particularly hard by California's sentencing and correctional policies and practices."
  • A Rallying Cry for Change: Charting a New Direction in the State of Florida's Response to Girls in the Juvenile Justice System, [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. July, 2006. "Depression, trauma, anger, self-destructive behavior, or other mental health/clinical diagnoses were a factor for 79% of girls in residential and 84% of girls in non-residential programs."
  • The Spiral of Risk: Health Care Provision to Incarcerated Women, [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. March, 2006. "Female offenders commonly face a wide range of serious health problems.... Their health problems typically predate their involvement in the justice system, are often exacerbated while they are imprisoned, and continue to deteriorate after release."
  • Women in the Criminal Justice System Briefing Sheets, [PDF] Sentencing Project. May, 2007. "In state prisons in 1998, 23.6% of women were identified as mentally ill, compared to 15.8% of men, while in federal prisons the proportions were 12.5% of women and 7% of men."
  • The Nation's Most Punitive States for Women [PDF] National Council on Crime and Delinquency. July, 2007. "This Fact Sheet reports the latest state and national data available for women and girls involved in local and state corrections systems across the nation."

Wednesday, May 23 2007:

  • Through a Different Lens: Shifting the Focus on Illinois Drug Policy, An examination of states' solutions and applicability to Illinois, [PDF] Roosevelt University - Institute for Metropolitan Affairs. May, 2007. "[I]f $20 million of Illinois state dollars were invested in the model alternative to incarceration program, Illinois taxpayers have the potential to save between $50 and $150 million per year." (An overview of 20 years of changes in Illinois drug laws and how they led to ever-increasing levels of incarceration.)

Friday, May 11 2007:

  • New Jersey's Drug Courts, Special Probation and Proposal for Reform [PDF] The New Jersey Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing. April, 2007. "[P]rograms that combine comprehensive treatment, intensive supervision and judicial oversight cost substantially less than prolonged periods of imprisonment... the public benefits not only from the reduction in crime, but also from significant savings..."
  • Supplemental Report on New Jersey's Drug Free Zone Crimes & Proposal For Reform, [PDF] The New Jersey Commission to Review Criminal Sentencing. April, 2007. (The commission restates its findings from last year's report, emphasizing their reliability and significance. Adding new arguments, it urges the legislature to act on its recommendations to reduce the size of the drug free zones in New Jersey.)
  • Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in The United States Sentencing Project. April, 2007. "Overview of felony disenfranchisement policy and implications, includes state-by-state table illustrating the categories of persons disenfranchised due to a felony conviction."

Sunday, May 6 2007:

Sunday, April 29 2007:

  • Contacts between Police and the Public, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 2007. "In 2005 police searched 9.5 percent of stopped blacks and 8.8 percent of stopped Hispanics, compared to 3.6 percent of white motorists."

Wednesday, April 25 2007:

  • One Year Out: Experiences of Prisoners Returning to Cleveland, Urban Institute. April, 2007. "[D]escribes the lives of nearly 300 former prisoners at least [1 year] after release, including their ability to find stable housing and reunite with family, and identifies factors associated with getting a job, and avoiding substance use and [recidivism]"

Sunday, April 22 2007:

  • Foreign nationals in Michigan prisons: examining the costs, [PDF] Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending. April, 2006. "Michigan prisons currently house hundreds of people who are citizens of other countries at a cost of $30,000 each."
  • The high cost of denying parole: an analysis of prisoners eligible for release, [PDF] Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending. November, 2003. "Although other important factors exist, the single biggest reason for prison growth has been changed parole practices. Far more people who have served their minimum sentences and are, by law, eligible for release, are being denied parole."
  • No way out Michigan's parole board redefines the meaning of "life", [PDF] Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending. September, 2004. (When judges imposed a life sentence, they assumed that the prisoner would be parolled in 10-15 years, but in the 1990's the parol board started denying parol, in effect changing the sentence, contributing to overcrowding and increasing costs of prisons.)
  • When "life" did not mean life A Historical Analysis of Life Sentences Imposed in Michigan Since 1900, [PDF] Citizens Alliance on Prisons & Public Spending. September, 2006. "The historical record makes it indisputably clear that a life sentence in Michigan did not always mean "no release.""
  • Penny-Wise & Pound-Foolish: Assaultive offender programming and Michigan's prison costs, [PDF] Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending and American Friends Service Committee, Criminal Justice Program. April, 2005. (Michigan Department of Corrections offers assaultive offender programming for people in prison for assault, the report examines the administrative shortfalls of this program and proposes solutions.)

Thursday, April 19 2007:

  • Crime and the Nation's Households, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 2007. "Households in the West were more likely to experience one or more crimes compared to households in other regions."
  • Barriers to Employment: Prison Time, [PDF] Employment and Training Institute, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 2007. "The stigma of being an ex-inmate alone and the limitations it places on those released and expected to become gainfully employed are compounded by further legal sanctions placed on those who have spent time in correctional facilities."

Wednesday, April 11 2007:

  • Breaking the Barriers for Women on Parole Little Hoover Commission. December, 2004. "At the time of their arrest, half of these women were taking care of their children; two-thirds of those women were single parents." (This report looks at incarceration patterns for women in California and proposes solutions for the problems identified.)

Tuesday, April 10 2007:

  • Changing Direction? State Sentencing Reforms 2004-2006, [PDF] The Sentencing Project. March, 2007. "The report... identifies that the most popular approach for reducing prison crowding -- implemented by 13 states -- was the diversion of low-level drug offenders from prison to drug treatment programs."
  • The Housing Landscape for Returning Prisoners in the District Urban Institute. March, 2007. "This report examines the housing landscape of prisoner reentry in the District of Columbia through an analysis of neighborhoods that had high rates of returning prisoners and a survey of housing-related providers."
  • Impact and Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Maryland Reentry Partnership Initiative, Urban Institute. February, 2007. "This study evaluates the impact of the Maryland Reentry Partnership Initiative (REP) on crime in Baltimore between 2001 and 2005."
  • Informing and Engaging Communities Through Reentry Mapping Urban Institute. January, 2007. "This brief is designed to equip organizations with strategies for effectively disseminating local reentry-related mapping and analysis findings and engaging community members on the topic of reentry."

Tuesday, March 27 2007:

  • U. S. Sentencing Commission 2006 Annual Report United States Setencing Commission. 2006. "During 2006, the racial/ethnic composition (of federal offenders sentenced) was - White 29.1 percent; Black 23.8 percent; and Hispanic 43.1 percent."

Friday, March 23 2007:

  • The Consequences Aren't Minor: The Impact of Trying Youth as Adults and Strategies for Reform, [PDF] Campaign for Youth Justice. March, 2007. "Despite the data, surveys report that the public believes the juvenile crime rate is increasing and that youth account for a large proportion of overall crime. In reality, national statistics show that more than 80% of all crimes are committed by adults." ("The report urges policy makers to take advantage of the shift in public opinion and new adolescent brain development research that inspired the Supreme Court to end the death penalty for minors.")

Sunday, March 11 2007:

  • Georgia's Aging Inmate Population Georgia Department of Corrections. June, 2004. "Georgia, with a prison population in excess of 47,000 inmates has the sixth largest prison system in the nation. At the end of FY 2002 4,025 inmates, or nearly one in ten were 50 or older."
  • Solving California's Corrections Crisis: Time is Running Out, Milton Marks. January, 2007. "California's correctional system is in a tailspin that threatens public safety and raises the risk of fiscal disaster." (An overview of the current state of the California corrections system, with recommendations.)
  • Public Safety, Public Spending: Forecasting America's Prison Population 2007-2011, [PDF] Public Safety Performance Project of The Pew Charitable Trusts. February, 2007. "This report provides forecasts for prison populations and incarceration rates for all 50 states."
  • Reconsidering Incarceration: New Directions for Reducing Crime, Vera Institute of Justice. January, 2007. "An increase in the number of police per capita, a reduction in unemployment, and increases in real wage rates and education have all been shown to be associated with lower rates of crime."
  • The Myth of Immigrant Criminality and the Paradox of Assimilation: Incarceration Rates among Native and Foreign-Born Men, American Immigration Law Foundation. February, 2007. "[F]or every ethnic group without exception, incarceration rates among young men are lowest for immigrants, even those who are the least educated."
  • Addressing Key Criminal Justice Issues in the 21st Century [PDF] The Correctional Association of New York. February, 2007. "This special report presents some of our top reform proposals for the state's new administration to consider and the benefits they will provide for people caught up in the criminal justice system and for society as a whole."
  • And Justice for Some: Differential Treatment of Youth of Color in the Justice System, [PDF] The National Council on Crime and Delinquency. January, 2007. "This report details the accumulated disadvantage for youth of color as they move through the juvenile justice system and, too often, into the adult system."
  • Understanding California Corrections [PDF] California Policy Research Center. May, 2006. (An overview of the current trends in the California corrections system, with recommendations.)

Sunday, January 21 2007:

Thursday, January 18 2007:

  • Prison Needle Exchange: Lessons from a Comprehensive Review of International Evidence and Experience (Second Edition, 2006), Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. April, 2006. "The report provides a comprehensive review of the evidentiary and legal basis for prison needle exchange programs."

Saturday, January 13 2007:

  • New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commision Report [PDF] New Jersey Death Penalty Study Commision. January, 2007. "There is no compelling evidence that the New Jersey death penalty rationally serves a legitimate penological intent."
  • Governor's Ex-Offender Final Report [PDF] Governor's Ex-Offender Task Force (Florida). November, 2006. "Within three years of release, over a quarter of those people will go back to prison for a new crime. This rate of recidivism is unacceptably high and unacceptably expensive."
  • The Culture of Prison Sexual Violence [PDF] National Institute of Justice; Mark S. Fleisher, Jessie L. Krienert. November, 2006. "A majority of inmates reported that inmates' safety -- protection from physical and sexual assault, was the personal responsibility of inmates, independent of institution efforts to protect them."

Friday, December 29 2006:

  • 2006 Crime and Justice Index [PDF] Chicago Metropolis 2020. October, 2006. "This Index presents data on crime trends and justice patterns in the region over time. It also explores specific policy issues and some promising practices intended to address seemingly intractable problems in the criminal justice systems."

Thursday, December 28 2006:

Friday, December 22 2006:

  • Models for Change: Building Momentum for Juvenile Justice Reform, Justice Policy Institute. December, 2006. "This brief tells the story of how the four Models for Change states -- Pennsylvania, Illinois, Louisiana, and Washington -- are already moving to reform and reshape their own state juvenile justice systems."
  • Testing Incapacitation Theory: Youth Crime and Incarceration in California, [PDF] Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. July, 2006. "Between 1980 and 2004, the rate of juvenile incarceration in California fell by nearly 50 percent."
  • Restructuring Juvenile Corrections in California: A Report to the State Legislature, [PDF] Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice. September, 2005. "This report... present[s] research findings showing how structural changes require closing structurally outdated large correctional institutions in favor of smaller county or regionally based facilities."

Thursday, December 21 2006:

  • The Death Penalty in 2006: Year End Report, [PDF] Death Penalty Information Center. December, 2006. "Executions dropped to their lowest level in 10 years as many states grappled with problems related to wrongful convictions and the lethal injection process."
  • Defining the Disparity -Taking A Closer Look: Do Drug Use Patterns Explain Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Drug Arrests in Minnesota, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. April, 2002. "For African American males the reported drug use rate was 51% greater than White males, while the arrest rate was 400% higher nationally and 1000% higher in Minnesota."
  • Children of Incarcerated Parents [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. January, 2006. "Results indicate that children and caregivers often had limited support systems, faced social isolation and encountered barriers with the criminal justice system and correctional institutions."
  • The Collateral Effects of Incarceration on Fathers, Families, and Communities, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. April, 2006. "Incarcerating large numbers of men from one community is seen as a threat to both individual and community economic stability."
  • African American Males in the Criminal Justice System [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. 2002. "In 2000, 37.2% of the state's prisoners were African American. By comparison only 3.5% of the population of Minnesota was African American."
  • Searching for Justice: American Indian Perspectives on Disparities in Minnesota's Criminal Justice System, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. August, 2005. "This report indicates that in one county, while American Indians make up only 11.5% of the population, they account for over 50% of the arrest rates."
  • Hennepin County Disproportionate Minority Contact Study Examining Extended Jurisdiction Juvenile and Adult Certification Cases, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. October, 2005. "[R]ace was not significant when considering the disposition of Extended Jurisdiction Juvenile or Adult Certification motioning. Instead, weapons and firearms appear to be the most influential factor in both motioning and dispositions."
  • Reducing Racial Disparity While Enhancing Public Safety: Key Findings and Recommendations, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. 2006. "The racial disparity in Minnesota's justice system is exceptionally high compared to other states. From arrest to imprisonment, the disparity is over twice the national average."
  • An Analysis of Racial Disproportionality in Juvenile Confinement An Analysis of Disproportionate Minority Confinement in the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention Center, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. August, 2006. "The major findings show that all nine police departments studied refer a disproportionate number of minority juveniles to the JDC."
  • Root Causes and Solutions to Disparities for Hispanics/Latinos in the Juvenile Justice System, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. May, 2005. "Statistical analysis indicated that Hispanic/Latino youth were over represented in the juvenile system by 227% in 1990 and by 92% in 2000."
  • The Juvenile Offender Study: A Retrospective Examination of Youth Offenders, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. April, 2006. "This study was undertaken to identify and examine interventions with juvenile offenders whose criminal behavior continued into adulthood."
  • Minnesota Statewide Racial Profiling Study [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. September, 2003. "Results show that law enforcement officers stopped and searched Black, Latino, and American Indian drivers at greater rates than White drivers, yet found contraband on Blacks, Latinos, and American Indians at lower rates than in searches of White drivers."
  • Traffic Stop Audit Project An Institutional Ethnography of Traffic Stop Policy and Practice in the Minneapolis Police Department, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. April, 2006. "The distinction between traffic law enforcement stops (e.g. speeding) and investigative stops is often blurred. Law enforcement stops are often made for investigative purposes rather than expressed criminal intent."
  • Low Level Offenses in Minneapolis: An Analysis of Arrests and their Outcomes, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. October, 2004. (The diperate treatment of Black and White people is greater at the hand of the police than in the courts.)
  • Identifying the HIV/AIDS/STD-related Needs of African American Ex-Offenders [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. April, 2003. "Health effects associated with incarceration exacerbate existing health disparities in the larger African American community."
  • East Side of St. Paul: Crime Related Needs Assessment, [PDF] Council on Crime and Justice. February, 2003. "In order to assess the needs of racial/ethnic communities experiencing heightened criminal activity within their neighborhoods, five focus groups were undertaken: African American, Hmong, Hispanic/Latino, Native American, and Caucasian." ("Focus group participants were asked to discuss their perceptions of the causes of crime, the effectiveness of police responses, the impact of crime and imprisonment on community stability, racial tension, and youth.")

Monday, December 18 2006:

  • Education as Crime Prevention: The Case for Reinstating Pell Grant Eligibility for the Incarcerated, [PDF] Bard Prison Initiative. 2003. "This report illustrates the overwhelming consensus among public officials that postsecondary education is the most successful and cost-effective method of preventing crime."

Sunday, December 17 2006:

  • Evaluation of Milwaukee's Judicial Oversight Demonstration Urban Institute. May, 2006. "Judicial Oversight Demonstration (JOD) was associated with a reduced rate of arrest for domestic violence, an indication of gains in victim safety."
  • Mapping Prisoner Reentry: An Action Research Guidebook, Urban Institute. November, 2006. "This guidebook provides information on how interested parties can understand and address prisoner reentry at the local level through mapping and data analysis."
  • Prisoner Reentry: Addressing the Challenges in Weed and Seed Communities, Urban Institute. September, 2006. "This report [illustrates] the various ways that Weed and Seed sites are focusing on prisoner reentry and working with partner organizations to reduce recidivism and create safer, healthier communities."
  • Instituting Lasting Reforms for Prisoner Reentry in Philadelphia Urban Institute. June, 2006. "Those with multiple periods of incarceration were more likely to be black, single and have more dependents." ("This report examines the prisoner reentry phenomenon in the city of Philadelphia, focusing on the return of prisoners from the Philadelphia Prison System (PPS).")
  • Prisoner Reentry and Community Policing Urban Institute. April, 2006. "[D]espite the fact that correctional spending has increased from approximately $9 billion to $60 billion during the past 20 years, prisoners are less prepared for reentry than in the past..."
  • Cleveland Prisoners' Experiences Returning Home Urban Institute. September, 2006. "This research brief is intended to serve as a foundation for policy discussions about how released prisoners can successfully reintegrate into their communities, whether in Cleveland or in similar cities around the country."
  • Community Residents' Perceptions of Prisoner Reentry in Selected Cleveland Urban Institute. March, 2006. "This report presents findings from community focus group discussions in three Cleveland neighborhoods that are home to a large number of returning prisoners."
  • Ohio Prisoners' Reflections on Returning Home Urban Institute. January, 2006. "The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction released 28,177 individuals from prisons across the state in 2004, nearly six times the number of prisoners released in 1980."
  • Texas Prisoners' Reflections Returning Home Urban Institute. October, 2005. "In 2002, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice released 58,949 people from prisons and state jails across the state, nearly six times the number of prisoners released in 1980."
  • Addressing Sexual Violence in Prisons Urban Institute. October, 2006.

Sunday, December 10 2006:

  • Capital Punishment, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. December, 2006. "Of those under sentence of death, 56% were white, 42% were black, and 2% were of other races. Fifty-two women were under sentence of death in 2005, up from 47 in 1995."

Sunday, December 3 2006:

  • Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2006 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics. December, 2006. "The percentage of public schools experiencing one or more violent incidents increased between the 1999-2000 and 2003-04 school years, from 71 to 81 percent."

Saturday, December 2 2006:

  • Survey of State Procedures Related to Firearm Transfers, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2006. "The report summarizes issues about State procedures, including persons prohibited from purchasing firearms, restoration of rights of purchase to prohibited persons, permits, prohibited firearms, waiting periods, fees, and appeals."

Friday, December 1 2006:

  • Probation and Parole in the United States, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2006. "In 2005 the Nation's parole population grew 1.6%. This was an increase of 12,556 parolees during the year."
  • Prisoners in 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2006. "State prisons were operating between 1% below and 14% above capacity; Federal prisons were operating at 34% above capacity."
  • Recent Trends in New Hampshire's Prison Population [PDF] New Hampshire Center for Public Policy Studies. June, 2006. "Parole revocation is the main factor driving prison admissions, and most revocations are not due to new crimes. In 2002... 66 percent were for technical violations."
  • Evidence-Based Public Policy Options to Reduce Future Prison Construction, Criminal Justice Costs, and Crime Rates, Washington State Institute for Public Policy. October, 2006. "We find that some evidence-based programs can reduce crime, but others cannot. Per dollar of spending, several of the successful programs produce favorable returns on investment."
  • Estimated Prevalence of Felons Among the Oklahoma Adult Population [PDF] Oklahoma Criminal Justice Resource Center. September, 2006. "Nearly one in seven adult males and one in every 30 adult females in Oklahoma have either been to prison or supervised on probation."
  • Alabama Sentencing Commission 2006 Report [PDF] Alabama Sentencing Commission. January, 2006. "Of Alabama's inmate population, almost 1 out of 3 inmates are sentenced as an habitual offender."
  • Jails in Indian Country, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2006. "At midyear 2004 jails in Indian country held 1,745 inmates; 39% of inmates were confined for a violent offense."
  • Welfare and Punishment: The relationship between welfare spending and imprisonment, [PDF] Crime and Society Foundation. 2006. "[W]e find that countries that spend a greater proportion of GDP on welfare have lower imprisonment rates and that this relationship has become stronger over the last 15 years."
  • The Dangers of Detention: The Impact of Incarcerating Youth in Detention and Other Secure Facilities, Justice Policy Institute. November, 2006. "[I]ncarcerated youth have higher recidivism rates than youth supervised in other kinds of settings."
  • Turning Jails into Prison: Collateral Damage from Kentucky's War on Crime, [PDF] Criminal Justice Policy Foundation. January, 2006. "Our best estimate is that on average, substance abuse treatment costs $1,583 and is associated with a societal benefit of $11,487, representing a 7:1 ratio of benefits to costs."

Monday, November 20 2006:

  • HIV in Prisons, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2006. "The overall rate of confirmed AIDS among the prison population (0.50%) was more than 3 times the rate in the U.S. general population (0.15%)." (Although the percentage of prisoners with HIV has decresed, problems remain.)
  • Medical Problems of Jail Inmates [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2006. "More than a third of jail inmates reported having a current medical problem."

Thursday, November 16 2006:

  • Background Checks for Firearm Transfers, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2006. "The Firearm Inquiry Statistics Program is an ongoing data collection effort focusing on the procedures and statistics related to background checks in selected States."

Wednesday, November 8 2006:

  • Toxic Sweatshops: How UNICOR Prison Recycling Harms Workers, Communities, the Environment, and the Recycling Industry, [PDF] Prison Activist Resource Center. October, 2006. "UNICOR facilities repeatedly failed to provide proper recycling procedures to captive laborers and staff supervisors."

Tuesday, November 7 2006:

  • Felony Disenfranchisement in the Commonwealth of Kentucky [PDF] League of Women Voters of Kentucky. October, 2006. "Kentucky has the highest African American disenfranchisement rate in the country with nearly one of every 4 African Americans ineligible to vote. This rate is nearly triple the national African American disenfranchisement rate."

Monday, October 30 2006:

  • Cracks in the System: Twenty Years of the Unjust Federal Crack Cocaine Law, [PDF] ACLU. October, 2006. "Although there are more white cocaine users, national drug enforcement and prosecutorial policies and practices have resulted in inner city communities of color being targeted almost exclusively."

Saturday, October 28 2006:

  • Florida Death Penalty Assessment Report American Bar Association. September, 2006. "[R]esearch establishes that many Florida capital jurors do not understand their role and responsibilities when deciding whether to impose a death sentence."
  • Correctional Officer Recruits and the Prison Environment: A Research Framework, Correctional Service of Canada. January, 2004. "This study is based... on ground-breaking, large-scale research, which is a first in this corrections related field." (Part 1 in a 3-Part report series following Canadian Correctional Officers through training and first year on the job.)
  • Correctional Officer Recruits During the College Training Period: An Examination, [PDF] Correctional Service of Canada. October, 2005. "[A]n interest in interpersonal relations appears to be the best motivation for anyone wishing to engage in correctional work." (Part 2 in a 3-Part report series following Canadian Correctional Officers through training and first year on the job.)
  • Correctional Officers and Their First Year: An Empirical Investigation, [PDF] Correctional Service of Canada. November, 2005. (Part 3 in a 3-Part report series following Canadian Correctional Officers through training and first year on the job.)

Thursday, October 12 2006:

  • Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoners, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2006. "Among drug dependent or abusing prisoners, 40% of State and 49% of Federal inmates took part in drug abuse treatment or programs since admission to prison." (Presents data from the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities on prisoners' prior use, dependence, and abuse of illegal drugs.)
  • Ethical Considerations for Research Involving Prisoners Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, Board on Health Sciences Policy. 2006. (A review of current research practices regarding prison subjects with recommendations.)
  • Cruel and Degrading: The Use of Dogs for Cell Extractions in U.S. Prisons, Human Rights Watch. October, 2006. "The use of dogs to threaten and attack prisoners to facilitate cell extractions has been a well-kept secret, even in the world of corrections."

Wednesday, October 11 2006:

Tuesday, October 3 2006:

  • Federal Prosecution of Human Trafficking, 2001-2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. October, 2006. "Between 2001 and 2005, U.S. attorneys investigated 555 suspects in matters involving violations of Federal human trafficking statutes."
  • When Men Murder Women: An Analysis of 2004 Homicide Data, [PDF] The Violence Policy Center. September, 2006. "[O]ffers both national and state-by-state statistics from FBI Supplementary Homicide Report data including charts listing the number and rate of female homicides by state and a chart ranking each state by rate."

Saturday, September 30 2006:

  • Progress and Challenges: An analysis of drug treatment and imprisonment in Maryland from 2000 to 2005, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. September, 2006. "Crime trends since 2000 appear to support the argument that treatment does more than imprisonment to reduce crime."

Friday, September 29 2006:

  • Custody and Control Conditions of Confinement in New York's Juvenile Prisons for Girls, Human Rights Watch. September, 2006. "[G]irls experience abusive physical restraints and other forms of abuse and neglect, and are denied the mental health, educational, and other rehabilitative services they need."
  • California Youth Crime Declines: The Untold Story, [PDF] Center on Juvenile & Criminal Justice. September, 2006. "Juvenile crime rates in California are at 30-year lows."

Tuesday, September 19 2006:

  • Re-Entry and Reintegration: The Road to Public Safety [PDF] New York State Bar Association, Special Committee on Collateral Consequences of Criminal Proceedings. May, 2006. "Countless families are affected: over ten million children have parents who were imprisoned at some point in the children's lives. In addition, disparate racial and economic impacts are well-documented."

Friday, September 15 2006:

Monday, September 11 2006:

  • Criminal Victimization, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. September, 2006. "For most crimes, aggregated rates for the period 2004-05 were unchanged from the previous two year period 2002-03, while minor declines were seen for some forms of robbery and simple assault without injury."

Friday, September 8 2006:

  • Saving Futures, Saving Dollars The Impact of Education on Crime Reduction and Earnings, [PDF] Alliance for Excellent Education. September, 2006. "[A]bout 75 percent of America's state prison inmates,almost 59 percent of federal inmates, and 69 percent of jail inmates did not complete high school."

Thursday, September 7 2006:

  • World Female Imprisonment List (Women and girls in penal institutions, including pre-trial detainees/remand prisoners), [PDF] International Centre for Prison Studies, King's College. September, 2006. "More than half a million women and girls are held in penal institutions throughout the world... [a]bout a third of these are in the United States of America."
  • Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. September, 2006. "Female inmates had higher rates of mental health problems than male inmates (State prisons: 73% of females and 55% of males; Federal prisons: 61% of females and 44% of males; local jails: 75% of females and 63% of males)."

Tuesday, September 5 2006:

Friday, August 11 2006:

  • Abandoned & Abused: Orleans Parish Prison in the Wake of Hurricane Katrina, ACLU National Prison Project. August, 2006.

Tuesday, August 8 2006:

  • Federal Law Enforcement Officers, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. August, 2006. "Women accounted for 16% of Federal officers in 2004. A third of Federal officers were members of a racial or ethnic minority in 2004. This included 17.7% who were Hispanic and Latino, and 11.4% who were black or African American."

Monday, August 7 2006:

  • Violent Felons in Large Urban Counties [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. August, 2006. "Eight-one percent of violent felons were sentenced to incarceration with 50% going to prison and 31% to jail. Nineteen percent received a probation term without incarceration."

Wednesday, August 2 2006:

  • Prosecutors in State Courts, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. July, 2006. "Most prosecutors (95%) relied on State operated forensic laboratories to perform DNA analysis, with about a third (34%) also using privately operated DNA labs."

Tuesday, August 1 2006:

  • Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 40 of the Covenant, [PDF] United Nations - Human Rights Committee. July, 2006. (The UN expresses numerous concerns about the state of civil and political rights in the United States)
  • Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. July, 2006. "[There were] 885 [substantiated] incidents of sexual violence in 2005... 38% of allegations involved staff sexual misconduct; 35% inmate-on-inmate nonconsensual sexual acts; 17%, staff sexual harassment; and 10% inmate-on-inmate abusive sexual contact."

Sunday, July 30 2006:

  • Evaluating the Effectiveness of Supermax Prisons Urban Institute. March, 2006. "[This report] suggests grounds for skepticism as well as concerns about the fiscal and human costs of [supermax prisons]. At the same time, it is clear that states and wardens believe supermax prisons can be effective correctional management tools..."
  • Supermax Prisons: Overview and General Considerations, [PDF] National Institute of Corrections. January, 1999.

Monday, July 24 2006:

Sunday, July 23 2006:

Thursday, July 13 2006:

Sunday, June 25 2006:

  • Citizen Complaints about Police Use of Force [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. June, 2006. "Large State and local law enforcement agencies... received more than 26,000 citizen complaints about officer use of force during 2002. This total figure resulted in [an] overall rate[] 6.6 complaints per 100 full-time sworn officers."

Friday, June 23 2006:

  • Juvenile Residential Facility Census, 2002: Selected Findings, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. June, 2006. "13% of facilities did not have an in-house mental health professional evaluate youth."

Monday, June 19 2006:

  • Preliminary Annual Uniform Crime Report, 2005 Federal Bureau of Investigation. June, 2006. "Preliminary figures indicate that, as a whole, law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation reported an increase of 2.5 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention in 2005 when compared to figures reported for 2004."

Wednesday, June 14 2006:

  • Drugs and crime in Ireland Overview 3, [PDF] Health Research Board. May, 2006. (The report examines the perceived and actual links between drugs and crime in Ireland.)
  • The Next Big Thing? Methamphetamine In the United States, [PDF] Sentencing Project. June, 2006. "This report examines the development of methamphetamine as the"

Monday, June 12 2006:

  • Law Enforcement and Arab American Community Relations After September 11, 2001: Engagement in a Time of Uncertainty, [PDF] Vera Institute of Justice. June, 2006. "Although community members also reported increases in hate victimization, they expressed greater concern about being victimized by federal policies and practices than by individual acts of harassment or violence."
  • So Long as They Die: Lethal Injections in the United States, Human Rights Watch. April, 2006. "[P]prisoners in the United States are executed by means that the American Veterinary Medical Association regards as too cruel to use on dogs and cats."
  • Harmful Drug Law Hits Home: How Many College Students Have Lost Their Financial Aid Due to Drug Convictions?, [PDF] Students for Sensible Drug Policy. May, 2006.
  • Losing the Right to Vote: Perceptions of Permanent Disenfranchisement and the Civil Rights Restoration Application Process in Kentucky, [PDF] Sentencing Project, Elizabeth A. Wahler. April, 2006.
  • Treated Like Trash: Juvenile Detention in New Orleans Before, During, and After Hurricane Katrina, [PDF] Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana. May, 2006. "In their own words, a harrowing tale of escape, mismanagement and neglect unfolds, illustrating deep problems in New Orleans' system of juvenile justice and how we treat children in New Orleans."
  • Characteristics of Drivers Stopped by Police, 2002 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. June, 2006. "Among traffic stops of young male drivers in 2002, 11% were physically searched or had their vehicle searched by police. Among these young male drivers who were stopped, blacks (22%) and Hispanics (17%) were searched at higher rates than whites (8%)."
  • The Punitiveness Report-Hard Hit: The Growth in the Imprisonment of Women, 1977-2004, Women's Prison Association - Institute on Women & Criminal Justice. May, 2006.

Thursday, June 8 2006:

Monday, May 22 2006:

Wednesday, May 3 2006:

Monday, May 1 2006:

Saturday, April 22 2006:

Thursday, April 20 2006:

Wednesday, April 19 2006:

  • Crime and the Nation's Households, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 2006. "Both violent and property crimes declined between 1994 and 2004."
  • Proposition 36: Five Years Later Justice Policy Institute. April, 2006. "California Sees Greatest Drop in Drug Prisoners among Large State Prison Systems since Prop. 36 [was] enacted."
  • Report to the Legislature of the State of Illinois: The Illinois Pilot Program on Sequential Double-Blind Identification Procedures, [PDF] Illinois State Police. March, 2006. "The data collected shows that the sequential double-blind method led to a lower rate of suspect identifications as well as a higher rate of known false errors."

Sunday, April 16 2006:

Sunday, April 2 2006:

  • Identity Theft, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 2006. "The report, based on interviews with 40,000 household residents drawn to be nationally representative, describes age, race, and ethnicity of the household head; household income; and location of the household (urbanicity)."

Friday, March 31 2006:

  • Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. June, 2006. "[D]raws on reliable data and relevant research to provide a comprehensive and insightful view of juvenile crime across the nation."

Tuesday, March 28 2006:

  • Disparity by Design: How drug-free zone laws impact racial disparity - and fail to protect youth, Justice Policy Institute. March, 2006. "[D]rugfree zone laws... are not effective in reducing the sale or use of drugs, or in protecting school children - and the role these laws play to increase unwarranted racial disparity is well documented."

Thursday, March 9 2006:

  • Black Male Incarceration Rates and the Relatively High Rate of AIDS Infection Among African-American Women and Men, [PDF] Goldman School of Public Policy, UC Berkeley. July, 2005. "Our results reveal that the higher incarceration rates among black males over this period explain a substantial share of the racial disparity in AIDS infection between black women and women of other racial and ethnic groups."

Saturday, March 4 2006:

Friday, February 17 2006:

  • Why the Census Bureau can and must start collecting the home addresses of incarcerated people, Prison Policy Initiative. February, 2006. "Counting prisoners as residents of the prison location causes unexpected distortions in Census data for rural communities and creates significant burdens on state and local legislative data users who rely on the Census for redistricting purposes."

Thursday, February 9 2006:

  • Mandatory Justice: The Death Penalty Revisited, The Constitution Project. February, 2006. "[P]rovides a list of specific and innovative tactics for improving the fairness and reliability of capital punishment systems in the United States."
  • Treatment Instead of Prisons: A Roadmap for Sentencing and Correctional Policy in Wisconsin, [PDF] Justice Strategies. January, 2006. "Absent a major investment of tax dollars in treatment services, however, we found that the state is likely to face mounting prison populations pressures in coming years due to growth in nonviolent admissions and revocations of post-release supervision."

Monday, February 6 2006:

  • Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2002 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. February, 2006. "Eighty-two percent of defendants were male, including 90% or more of those charged with rape (99%), a weapons offense (96%), murder (93%), or robbery (90%). The percentage of female defendants increased from 14% in 1990 to 18% in 1998..." (Presents data collected from a representative sample of felony cases filed in the Nation's 75 largest counties during May 2002.)

Friday, January 20 2006:

Wednesday, January 18 2006:

  • Human Rights in the Heartland: An assessment of social, economic, civil, and political rights in the Midwest, [PDF] Heartland Alliance. December, 2005. "Historically, the U.S. has been a beacon of hope for those seeking safety and opportunity, but our nation falls short of its potential in assuring a full complement of human rights - civil, political, social, economic, and cultural."
  • Blind Justice: Juries Deciding Life and Death With Only Half the Truth, [PDF] Death Penalty Information Center. October, 2005. "How Death Penalty Jurors are Unfairly Selected, Manipulated, and Kept in the Dark"
  • Rethinking the Consequences of Decriminalizing Marijuana [PDF] The JFA Institute. November, 2005.
  • The Prison Inside the Prison: Control Units, Supermax Prisons, and Devices of Torture, [PDF] American Friends Service Committee. 2003.

Thursday, December 22 2005:

Tuesday, November 29 2005:

Sunday, November 20 2005:

  • Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2005 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. November, 2005. "Annually, from 1999 through 2003, teachers were the victims of approximately 183,000 total nonfatal crimes at school, including 119,000 thefts and 65,000 violent crimes."

Friday, November 18 2005:

Thursday, November 17 2005:

  • Annual Report - Fiscal Year 2005 [PDF] State of Missouri Public Defender Commission. October, 2005. "[B]y 2005 trial division attorneys average 298 cases, 27% more than the 1989 caseload standard.... At 17%, the Department's attorney turnover rate is simply too high."
  • Broken Justice: The Death Penalty in Alabama, [PDF] ACLU. October, 2005. "At least 30 current death row prisoners have no lawyer. Alabama's death row occupants are overwhelmingly poor -- 95 percent are indigent -- and minority."

Sunday, November 13 2005:

Wednesday, November 9 2005:

  • A 'Crazy-Quilt' of Tiny Pieces: State and Local Administration of American Criminal Disenfranchisement Law, [PDF] Alec Ewald, Sentencing Project. November, 2005.

Thursday, November 3 2005:

Wednesday, November 2 2005:

  • No Turning Back: Promising Approaches to Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities Affecting Youth of Color in the Justice System, Building Blocks for Youth. October, 2005.

Sunday, October 30 2005:

Monday, October 24 2005:

Saturday, October 22 2005:

  • A Primer: Three Strikes - The Impact After More Than a Decade, Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) - California's Nonpartisan Fiscal and Policy Advisor. October, 2005.

Tuesday, October 18 2005:

Sunday, October 16 2005:

Friday, October 14 2005:

  • The Rest of Their Lives: Life without Parole for Child Offenders in the United States, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. October, 2005. "there are currently at least 2,225 people incarcerated in the United States who have been sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in prison for crimes they committed as children"

Wednesday, October 5 2005:

Tuesday, October 4 2005:

  • Studies of Voting Behavior and Felony Disenfranchisement Among Individuals in the Criminal Justice System in New York, Connecticut, and Ohio, [PDF] Sentencing Project. September, 2005. (Prisoners with felony convictions "often believed that their criminal justice involvement still disenfranchised them, even though the majority of those persons we interviewed were eligible to vote at the time.")
  • Still In Danger: The Ongoing Threat of Sexual Violence against Transgender Prisoners, [PDF] Stop Prisoner Rape and ACLU National Prison Project. September, 2005.

Thursday, September 29 2005:

  • Criminal Victimization, 2004 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. September, 2005. "The rate of violent crime dropped 9% from the period 2001-02 to the period 2003-04." (Presents victimization rates for 2004.)

Tuesday, September 27 2005:

  • Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor... A Report on Due Process Issues in the Handling of Immigration Detainees in Massachusetts, [PDF] Detention Working Group - Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild. July, 2005.

Thursday, September 22 2005:

  • Department of Corrections: It Needs to Better Ensure Against Conflicts of Interest and to Improve Its Inmate Population Projections, [PDF] California State Auditor - Bureau of State Audits. September, 2005. (The report found conflict-of-interest problems in no-bid contracts for re-opening prisons. The decision to re-open the facilities, were in turn based on population calculations that were not made through statistically valid forecasting methods.)

Sunday, September 18 2005:

  • Unlocking the Future: Detention Reform in the Juvenile Justice System, [PDF] Coalition for Juvenile Justice. 2003. "Juvenile court jurisdictions... needlessly sweep into locked detention many young people with mental health, substance abuse and family problems - most of whom are 15 years or younger, nonviolent, and disproportionately youth of color."
  • Childhood on Trial The Failure of Trying and Sentencing Youth in Adult Criminal Court, [PDF] Coalition for Juvenile Justice. 2005. "Report that identifies the public safety and rehabilitative failures of our nation's widespread"
  • Chicago Communities and Prisoner Reentry Urban Institute. September, 2005.

Tuesday, September 13 2005:

Saturday, September 10 2005:

  • Missouri Vehicle Stops 2004 Annual Report, Missouri Attorney General's Office. 2005. (A response to)
  • Death Row U.S.A. Summer 2005, [PDF] NAACP LDF. May, 2005.
  • Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track, [PDF] Advancement Project. 2005. "Examination of the emergence of zero tolerance school discipline policies and how these policies have pushed students away from an academic track to a future in the juvenile justice system."
  • Getting Away with Torture? Command Responsibility for the U.S. Abuse of Detainees, Human Rights Watch. April, 2005.
  • Deterring Staff Sexual Abuse of Federal Inmates Office of the Inspector General. April, 2005. "This report examines sexual abuse of federal inmates by correctional staff and the current law's impact on deterrence of staff sexual abuse"

Friday, September 9 2005:

Thursday, September 8 2005:

  • A Look At The Impact Schools [PDF] Drum Major Institute. June, 2005. "...the Impact Schools initiative has brought increased police and security presence into 22 New York City middle and high schools..." (The report shows that low income, over-crowding and race are as characteristic of the schools as their crime-rates.)
  • Accountability Audit: Review of Audits of the California Youth Authority, 2000-2003, [PDF] California Office of the Inspector. January, 2005.
  • Community Based Management Pilot Programs for Youth with Mental Illness... Program Evaluation Report: Year Three, Colorado Department of Public Safety. January, 2005. (Scroll down to this report.)

Wednesday, September 7 2005:

  • Efficacy and Impact: The Criminal Justice Response to Marijuana Policy in the United States, Justice Policy Institute. August, 2005.
  • Adult and Juvenile Correctional Population Projections Fiscal Years 2005-2010, [PDF] Legislative Budget Board. January, 2005. (Texas prison population projections: the adult prison population is projected to increase, while probation population decreases, in juvenile populations both groups projected to grow.)
  • First Semi-Annual Report [PDF] Arizona Department Of Juvenile Corrections - Consultant's Committee. March, 2005. (Results of a CRIPA investigation into conditions in Arizona's juvenile correctional facilities.)

Tuesday, September 6 2005:

Wednesday, August 31 2005:

Tuesday, August 30 2005:

Sunday, July 31 2005:

Tuesday, June 28 2005:

Sunday, June 19 2005:

Tuesday, April 26 2005:

Monday, April 25 2005:

Saturday, March 19 2005:

Thursday, March 17 2005:

Tuesday, March 15 2005:

Tuesday, February 15 2005:

  • Barred for Life: Voting Rights Restoration in Permanent Disenfranchisement States, [PDF] Sentencing Project. January, 2005.

Monday, January 31 2005:

Wednesday, January 26 2005:

Tuesday, January 11 2005:

Friday, December 17 2004:

Wednesday, December 15 2004:

  • Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Nevada, Prison Policy Initiative and Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada. December, 2004.

Tuesday, December 14 2004:

Tuesday, December 7 2004:

Saturday, December 4 2004:

Tuesday, November 16 2004:

Monday, November 8 2004:

Monday, November 1 2004:

  • Prison Needle Exchange: Lessons from a Comprehensive Review of International Evidence and Experience, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. October, 2004.

Sunday, October 31 2004:

Sunday, October 17 2004:

Thursday, October 7 2004:

  • Actual Constituents: Students and Political Clout in New York, Prison Policy Initiative. October, 2004. (how students are counted in the Census, why that makes sense (as opposed to how prisoners are counted) and why it makes no sense at all for some counties to discourage students from voting locally)
  • No Refuge Here: A First Look at Sexual Abuse in Immigration Detention, [PDF] Stop Prisoner Rape. October, 2004.

Friday, October 1 2004:

  • The Right to Vote: The Campaign to Restore the Voting Rights of Persons Convicted of a Felony and Sentenced to Probation in Connecticut, [PDF] DemocracyWorks. September, 2004.
  • 3 Strikes & You're Out: An examination of 3-Strike Laws 10 years after their Enactment, Justice Policy Institute. September, 2004.
  • The Front Line Building Programs That Recognize Families' Role in Reentry, [PDF] Vera Institute of Justice. September, 2004.

Saturday, September 25 2004:

  • Incarceration and Enfranchisement: International Practices, Impact and Recommendations for Reform, [PDF] Brandon Rottinghaus, International Foundation for Election Systems. June, 2003.

Thursday, September 23 2004:

Tuesday, September 21 2004:

Thursday, August 26 2004:

  • Swing States: Crime, Prisons and the Future of the Nation, Justice Policy Institute. August, 2004.

Tuesday, August 24 2004:

Tuesday, August 3 2004:

Sunday, August 1 2004:

Wednesday, July 28 2004:

Monday, July 26 2004:

Monday, July 19 2004:

Wednesday, July 14 2004:

Wednesday, July 7 2004:

  • Death Row U.S.A. Spring 2004, [PDF] NAACP LDF. April, 2004.
  • Death Row U.S.A. Winter 2004, [PDF] NAACP LDF. January, 2004.
  • Treatment or Incarceration: National and State Findings on the Efficacy and Cost Savings of Drug Treatment Versus Imprisonment, Justice Policy Institute. March, 2004.
  • Strengthening Public Safety, Increasing Accountability, and Instituting Fiscal Responsibility in the Department of Correction, [PDF] Governor's Commission on Corrections Reform. June, 2004. (Massachusetts, the Harshbarger Commission)

Tuesday, July 6 2004:

Sunday, May 30 2004:

Saturday, May 29 2004:

Tuesday, April 13 2004:

  • Too big to ignore: How counting people in prisons distorted Census 2000, Prison Policy Initiative. April, 2004.

Monday, March 15 2004:

Saturday, March 13 2004:

Friday, March 12 2004:

Wednesday, March 10 2004:

Tuesday, March 9 2004:

  • Still Striking Out: Ten Years of California's Three Strikes, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. March, 2004.
  • Lockdown New York: Disciplinary Confinement in New York State Prisons, [PDF] Correctional Association. October, 2003.

Monday, March 8 2004:

Sunday, March 7 2004:

Saturday, February 28 2004:

Tuesday, February 10 2004:

Wednesday, January 28 2004:

Tuesday, January 27 2004:

Sunday, January 25 2004:

Tuesday, January 6 2004:

Thursday, January 1 2004:

  • Justice in Jeopardy: Report of the American Bar Association Commission on the 21st Century Judiciary, [PDF] American Bar Association. June, 2003.

Wednesday, December 31 2003:

Friday, December 26 2003:

  • Corrections Corporation of America: A Critical Look at the First 20 Years, Grassroots Leadership, [PDF] Grassroots Leadership. December, 2003. "explores continuing operational and financial problems; questions CCA's long-term viability as states reassess prison policies"

Saturday, December 20 2003:

Friday, December 19 2003:

Wednesday, December 17 2003:

  • Punishing at the Polls: The Case Against Disenfranchising Citizens with Felony Convictions, [PDF] Alec Ewald, Demos. December, 2003.

Monday, December 8 2003:

Sunday, December 7 2003:

Thursday, November 27 2003:

Wednesday, November 19 2003:

Tuesday, November 18 2003:

Saturday, November 8 2003:

  • Cost and Benefits? The Impact of Drug Imprisonment in New Jersey, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. November, 2003.
  • Smart On Crime: Positive Trends in State-Level Sentencing and Corrections Policy, [PDF] Families Against Mandatory Minimums. November, 2003.

Monday, November 3 2003:

  • Maine: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings, [PDF] American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center. October, 2003.
  • Pennsylvania: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings, [PDF] American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center. October, 2003.
  • Maryland: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings, [PDF] American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center. October, 2003.
  • Washington: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings, [PDF] American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center. October, 2003.
  • Montana An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings, [PDF] American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center. October, 2003.
  • North Carolina: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings, [PDF] American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center. October, 2003.

Tuesday, October 28 2003:

Friday, October 24 2003:

Wednesday, October 22 2003:

  • Consensus Project Report Criminal Justice / Mental Health Consensus Project. June, 2002. (project coordinated by the Council of State Governments (CSG))
  • Ill-Equipped: U.S. Prisons and Offenders with Mental Illness, Human Rights Watch. October, 2003.

Monday, October 20 2003:

  • Correctional Health: The Missing Key to Improving the Public's Health and Safety, [PDF] Massachusetts Public Health Association. October, 2003.

Tuesday, September 23 2003:

Sunday, September 21 2003:

Saturday, September 20 2003:

Wednesday, September 17 2003:

Tuesday, September 16 2003:

Wednesday, September 3 2003:

Friday, August 29 2003:

Thursday, August 28 2003:

Tuesday, August 26 2003:

Monday, August 25 2003:

  • Criminal Victimization, 2002 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. August, 2003. (Overall violent victimization and property crime rates are the lowest recorded since recording began in 1973)
  • Upstate New York's Population Plateau: The Third-Slowest Growing 'State', [PDF] Brookings Institution. August, 2003. "Nearly 30 percent of new residents in Upstate New York in the 1990s were prisoners."

Saturday, August 23 2003:

  • Incarcerated America: Backgrounder, Human Rights Watch. April, 2003.
  • Breaking the Rules: Who suffers when a prosecutor is cited for misconduct?, Center for Public Integrity. June, 2003. (includes online database of cases)

Wednesday, August 20 2003:

Tuesday, August 19 2003:

Monday, August 18 2003:

Friday, August 15 2003:

Friday, August 8 2003:

Saturday, August 2 2003:

  • Dollars and Sentences: Legislators' Views on Prisons, Punishment, and the Budget Crisis, [PDF] Vera Institute of Justice. July, 2003.

Monday, July 28 2003:

Tuesday, July 22 2003:

Tuesday, July 15 2003:

Monday, July 14 2003:

Tuesday, July 8 2003:

Wednesday, July 2 2003:

Sunday, June 8 2003:

Saturday, June 7 2003:

  • A Call for Justice: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings in Louisiana, American Bar Association. December, 1995.
  • More Than Meets the Eye: Rethinking Assessment, Competency and Sentencing for a Harsher Era of Juvenile Justice, American Bar Association. August, 1997.
  • Beyond the Walls: Improving Conditions of Confinement for Youth in Custody, [PDF] American Bar Association. January, 1998.
  • Selling Justice Short: Juvenile Indigent Defense in Texas, [PDF] Texas Appleseed. October, 2000.
  • Justice by Gender: The Lack of Appropriate Prevention, Diversion and Treatment Alternatives for Girls in the Juvenile Justice System, American Bar Association. May, 2001.

Friday, June 6 2003:

Thursday, June 5 2003:

Wednesday, June 4 2003:

Tuesday, June 3 2003:

Sunday, June 1 2003:

  • Lethal Indifference: The Fatal Combination of Incompetent Attorneys and Unaccountable Courts, [PDF] Texas Defender Service. 2002.

Sunday, May 18 2003:

Tuesday, May 6 2003:

Monday, May 5 2003:

  • Beyond Locked Doors: Abuse of Refugee Women at the Krome Detention Facility, [PDF] Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children. October, 2002.
  • Forgotten Prisoners: A Follow-Up Report on Refugee Women Incarcerated in York County, Pennsylvania, [PDF] Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children. July, 1998.
  • Innocents in Jail: INS Moves Refugee Women from Krome to Turner Guilford Knight CC, Miami, [PDF] Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children. June, 2001. (follow-up to Behind Locked Doors)

Sunday, May 4 2003:

Friday, May 2 2003:

Thursday, May 1 2003:

  • Abuse of Women in Custody: Sexual Misconduct and Shackling of Pregnant Women, Amnesty International. 2000. (includes a detailed state by state survey)

Monday, April 21 2003:

Friday, April 18 2003:

Tuesday, April 8 2003:

Sunday, March 23 2003:

  • Drug Use and Justice 2002: An Examination of California Drug Policy Enforcement, [PDF] Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. December, 2002.
  • Justice Cut Short: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings in Ohio, American Bar Association. March, 2003.
  • Aftercare as afterthought: Re-entry and the California Youth Authority, [PDF] Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. August, 2002.
  • Seeking Balance: Reducing Prison Costs in Times of Austerity, Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice. February, 2003.
  • Assembly Line Justice: Mississippi's Indigent Defense Crisis, [PDF] NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. February, 2003.

Monday, March 10 2003:

Sunday, March 9 2003:

Friday, March 7 2003:

Wednesday, February 26 2003:

Monday, February 24 2003:

Wednesday, February 19 2003:

Thursday, February 13 2003:

Wednesday, January 29 2003:

Sunday, January 26 2003:

Thursday, January 16 2003:

Saturday, January 11 2003:

Friday, January 10 2003:

Thursday, January 9 2003:

Wednesday, January 1 2003:

  • Dignity Denied: The Experience of Murder Victims' Family Members Who Oppose the Death Penalty, [PDF] Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation. August, 2002.
  • Common Sense Says ... That people on Death Row often had the state's worst lawyers at trial., Common Sense Foundation. October, 2002. "More than one in six current death row inmates was represented at trial by lawyers who have been disciplined by the North Carolina State Bar"
  • Victimisation in Seventeen Industrialised Countries: Key-findings from the 2000 international Crime Victims Survey, the Hague, Ministry of Justice. 2000.
  • OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. April, 2002. "frequently updated" (provides basic information on juvenile crime and victimization and on youth involved in the juvenile justice system. Data in the six topics (left menu) provide ... statistical answers to the most frequently asked questions)
  • Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 1999 National Report, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. September, 1999.
  • UNICOR 2001 Annual Report [PDF] Bureau of Prisons. 2002. (UNICOR is the trade name for the federal prison industries)

Sunday, December 29 2002:

Thursday, December 19 2002:

Monday, December 16 2002:

  • The Children Left Behind: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings in Louisiana, American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center and Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana. June, 2001.
  • Kentucky-Advancing Justice: An Assessment of Access to Counsel in Juvenile Delinquency Proceedings, American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center and the Children's Law Center. September, 2002.

Sunday, December 15 2002:

  • Georgia: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings, American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center and the Southern Center for Human Rights. August, 2001.
  • Virginia: An Assessment of Access to Counsel and Quality of Representation in Delinquency Proceedings, American Bar Association Juvenile Justice Center and the Mid-Atlantic Juvenile Defender Center. October, 2002.

Sunday, December 8 2002:

Wednesday, December 4 2002:

Wednesday, November 27 2002:

Saturday, November 23 2002:

Friday, November 22 2002:

Wednesday, November 13 2002:

Saturday, November 9 2002:

Monday, November 4 2002:

Friday, November 1 2002:

Wednesday, October 30 2002:

Sunday, October 13 2002:

Wednesday, September 25 2002:

Monday, September 23 2002:

Friday, September 20 2002:

Thursday, September 19 2002:

Monday, September 9 2002:

  • Criminal Victimization 2001: Changes 2000-2001 with Trends 1993-2001, [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. 2002. (dropped 10% in 2001; to half the rate it was in 1973 when the survey began)

Saturday, September 7 2002:

Friday, September 6 2002:

Wednesday, September 4 2002:

Tuesday, September 3 2002:

  • Guns and Crime: Handgun Victimization, Firearm Self-Defense, and Firearm Theft, [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 1994.
  • German and American Prosecutions: An Approach to Statistical Comparison, [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. February, 1998. "charging, conviction, and sentencing rates for selected crimes"

Monday, September 2 2002:

Thursday, August 29 2002:

  • Cellblocks or Classrooms?: The Funding of Higher Education and Corrections and Its Impact on African American Men, [PDF] Justice Policy Institute. August, 2002. "State spending on prisons grows at 6 times the rate of higher education"

Tuesday, August 27 2002:

  • Reflections on the Crime Decline: Lessons for the Future?, [PDF] Urban Institute. August, 2002. (builds upon the work of The Crime Drop in America, edited by Alfred Blumstein and Joel Wallman)

Sunday, August 25 2002:

Sunday, August 11 2002:

Tuesday, August 6 2002:

Thursday, August 1 2002:

Wednesday, July 31 2002:

Tuesday, July 30 2002:

  • Prisoners in 2001 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. July, 2002. "State prison population drops in second half of 2001-Federal inmate growth continues"

Sunday, July 28 2002:

  • Explorations in Inmate-Family Relationships Norman Holt, Donald Miller, California Department of Corrections. January, 1972. "The central finding of this research is the strong and consistent positive relationship that exists between parole success and maintaining strong family ties while in prison."
  • Rural Prisons: An Update [PDF] Calvin Beale, Department of Agriculture, Rural Development Perspectives. February, 1996. "nonmetro counties continued to acquire prisons at a rate dramatically out of proportion to the percentage of the Nation's population that lives in such areas."
  • Factories with Fences: The History of Federal Prison Industries, [PDF] Bureau of Prisons. May, 1996.

Sunday, July 21 2002:

Friday, July 19 2002:

  • Third-Party Involvement in Violent Crime 1993-99, [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. July, 2002. (Third parties include bystanders, other victims, household members, police officer, officers, instigators, or any combination of these.)
  • ¿Dónde Está la Justicia? A Call to Action on behalf of Latino and Latina Youth in the U.S. Justice System, Building Blocks for Youth. July, 2002. (Available in English and Spanish)

Friday, July 5 2002:

Thursday, July 4 2002:

Monday, July 1 2002:

Sunday, June 30 2002:

  • The brotherhood: Racism and intimidation among prison staff at Indiana Correctional Facility-Putnamville, [PDF] Kelsey Kauffman. July, 2001.

Wednesday, June 26 2002:

Saturday, June 22 2002:

Friday, May 17 2002:

Monday, May 13 2002:

  • Drug War Facts [Website] Common Sense for Drug Policy. May, 2002. (Summaries with footnotes of major research on the war on drugs. Read individual chapters or download the whole thing)
  • Police Departments in Large Cities, 1990-2000 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. May, 2002. (Police per capita up 7% over the decade)

Saturday, May 11 2002:

Thursday, May 2 2002:

  • A Contributing Influence: The Private-Prison Industry and Political Giving in the South, [PDF] Institute on Money in State Politics. April, 2002.

Tuesday, April 30 2002:

Monday, April 22 2002:

  • Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in New York, Prison Policy Initiative. April, 2002. (Study of the effect of counting urban prisoners as rural residents for purposes of state legislative redistricting)

Wednesday, April 10 2002:

  • Analysis of new Justice Department report, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2001, [PDF] Sentencing Project. April, 2002.
  • New Justice Department Study:  As Some State Prison Populations Decline, Federal Prison Population Grows, Justice Policy Institute. April, 2002. "While Some State Prison Populations Decline, Federal Lock-up Boom Continues As States Find Alternatives for Nonviolent and Drug Offenders, Federal Imprisonment of Non-Citizens and Drug Offenders Grows"
  • Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2001 [PDF] Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 2002.

Monday, April 8 2002:

Saturday, April 6 2002:

Saturday, March 30 2002:

Friday, March 22 2002:

Sunday, March 10 2002:

  • Weighing the Watchmen: Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of Outsourcing Correctional Services, Reason Public Policy Institute. January, 2002. (See critique at
  • Changing Minds The Impact of College in a Maximum Security Prison, Graduate Center of CUNY & Women in Prison at Bedford Hills CF, NY. September, 2001.
  • Stanford Prison Experiment A Simulation Study of the Psychology of Imprisonment, [Website] Philip G. Zimbardo, Stanford University. 1971.
  • Life Sentences: Denying Welfare Benefits to Women Convicted of Drug Offenses, [PDF] Sentencing Project. February, 2002.

Monday, March 4 2002:

  • Race and Incarceration in the United States Human Rights Watch. February, 2002. "first state-by-state incarceration rates for whites, blacks and Latinos based on actual correctional facility counts" (Note the links to the report and tables on the right)

Tuesday, February 12 2002:

Thursday, February 7 2002:

Friday, February 1 2002:

Thursday, January 31 2002:

  • From Cell to Street: A Plan to Supervise Inmates After Release, [PDF] MassINC. January, 2002. (Free registration required)

Wednesday, January 23 2002:

Monday, January 21 2002:

  • Survey on Drug Use and Drug Policy [PDF] Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. September, 2001. "voter attitudes and opinions toward issues relating to drug abuse and drug policy in Colorado"

Saturday, January 19 2002:

Saturday, January 5 2002:

Friday, December 21 2001:

Thursday, December 20 2001:

Wednesday, December 19 2001:

Tuesday, December 11 2001:

  • No return to execution: The US death penalty as a barrier to extradition, Amnesty International. November, 2001. "overview of the emerging global consensus against capital punishment" (One more reason for the USA to abolish the death penalty is that its increasingly isolated resort to this punishment is undermining international cooperation on law enforcement)

Thursday, November 29 2001:

Wednesday, November 21 2001:

Sunday, November 11 2001:

Friday, November 9 2001:

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