What’s New
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Paid in Full: A Plan to End Money Injustice in New Orleans by Vera Institute of Justice
June 14: Research Library: Pretrial Detention
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Why haven’t presidential candidates proposed to end the criminalization of poverty? The Democratic candidates are missing an opportunity to pitch sweeping criminal justice reform as an economic justice issue.
June 12: Prison Policy Initiative Blog
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BJS fuels myths about sex offense recidivism, contradicting its own new data A new government report reinforces harmful misconceptions about people convicted of sex offenses. Here’s our take on how to parse the data.
June 6: Briefings
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Do Private Prisons Affect Criminal Sentencing? by Christian Dippel and Michael Poyker
June 6: Research Library: Privatization
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Prosecutors and Frequent Utilizers: How Can Prosecutors Better Address The Needs of People Who Frequently Interact with the Criminal Justice and Other Social Systems? by Institute for Innovation in Prosecution at John Jay College
June 6: Research Library: Community Impact
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Does Locked Up Mean Locked Out? The Effects of the Anti-Drug Act of 1986 on Black Male Students’ College Enrollment by Tolani Britton
June 6: Research Library: Drug Policy
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Justice “cost points”: Examination of privatization within public systems of justice by Alexes Harris, Tyler Smith, Emmi Obara
June 4: Research Library: Privatization
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Levers of Change In Parole Release And Revocation by Robina Institute of Criminal Law and Criminal Justice
June 4: Research Library: Probation and parole
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Aggressive Policing and Academic Outcomes: Examining the Impact of Police “Surges” in NYC Students’ Home Neighborhoods by Joscha Legewie, Chelsea Farley, Kayla Stewart
June 4: Research Library: Police and Policing
Featured report
Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie
Every day, 53,000 youths in the U.S. are locked up as a result of justice system involvement. Using our “whole pie” approach, we offer a snapshot of where these youth are confined and why, and we explain how tens of thousands of youth who could be better served in their communities still end up in confinement. We find that at least 1 in 3 confined youth are being held pretrial or for the most minor offenses - many in facilities indistinguishable from adult prisons and jails.
Unpacking mass incarceration
Learn about the national prison crisis and how we can begin to turn the tide on mass incarceration. Then, drill down to your state.
If our work is new to you, you might want to check out our 2017-2018 annual report.
Recommended Reading:
Jails and bail: Our research
One out of three people behind bars is in a local jail. Our research drives jail reform.
$1/minute to talk to Dad?
State governments must act to protect families from the predatory jail telephone industry.
Compare your state's use of the prison to the world at large
Criminal justice policy in every region of the United States is out of step with the rest of the world.
Prison Gerrymandering Project
We are leading the movement to protect our democracy from the Census Bureau's prison miscount.