Research Library

Our mission is to empower activists, journalists, and policymakers to shape effective criminal justice policy, so we go beyond our original reports and analyses to curate a database of virtually all the empirical criminal justice research available online.

Tips: If you know what you are looking for, you may also search the database. We also have an email newsletter (at right)(at bottom) for new research library updates.

  • COVID-19 (80) Research on the pandemic’s impact on prisons and jails
  • Community impact (110) Research on the impact of the criminal legal system on housing, schools, employment, neighborhoods, and more
  • Conditions of confinement (275) Research on prison and jail conditions such as solitary confinement, labor, discipline, food, and more
  • Courts and trials (165) Research on prosecutors, judges, public defense, court caseloads, and more
  • Crime (286) Curated research on crime, crime rates, and victimization
  • Death penalty (154) Information and data on capital punishment and executions
  • Disability (31) Research on the prevalence of, and challenges faced by, people with disabilities in the criminal legal system
  • Drug policy and treatment (178) Research on punishing and treating drug use in the criminal legal system
  • Economics of incarceration (180) Research on the economic drivers and consequences of mass incarceration
  • Education (134) Curated research on education programs in prisons and the school-to-prison pipeline
  • Families (157) Information and data on the criminal legal system’s impacts on families
  • Felony disenfranchisement and voting rights (93) Information about laws barring people from the polls because of criminal convictions
  • General (167) Broad-based research and information about the criminal legal system
  • Gun control (45) Information and data about gun violence, firearms, and gun control policy
  • Health and healthcare (216) Research on access to healthcare, chronic and infectious disease, mortality, and more
  • Immigration (72) Research on the incarceration and detainment of immigrants
  • Incarceration rates and trends (338) Research documenting the growth of prison and jail populations
  • International incarceration (45) Curated research on incarceration trends worldwide, and how they compare to the U.S.
  • Jails (290) Research on jail populations, jail conditions, jail construction, and more
  • LGBTQ (26) Information and data on the mass criminalization and incarceration of LGBTQ+ people
  • Mental health (89) Research on the prevalence and treatment of mental illness in the criminal legal system
  • Policing (272) Information and data on arrests, traffic stops, law enforcement interactions, and more
  • Poverty and wealth (160) Research on fines, fees, debt, and the criminalization of poor people
  • Pretrial detention (130) Research on the costs and outcomes of detaining people before trial
  • Prison gerrymandering (20) Research on prison-based gerrymandering (see also www.prisonersofthecensus.org)
  • Privatization (104) Information and data on how private companies exploit incarcerated people and their families
  • Probation and parole (128) Information about community supervision policies, conditions, violations, and more
  • Public opinion (50) Research on public perceptions of crime, prison, reform, and more
  • Racial and ethnic disparities (185) Research and statistics on racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal legal system
  • Reentry and recidivism (254) Information and research on the challenges and outcomes for people released from incarceration, including collateral consequences
  • Sentencing policy (143) Research on the rise and impact of excessive criminal sentences
  • Sex-related convictions (17) Research about the unique punishment of sex-related crimes through registries, civil commitment, and other means
  • Women and gender (143) Information and data on gender disparities in the criminal legal system
  • Youth and juvenile justice (399) Research about youth in the criminal legal system

Enter one word from the title, author or topic to search the library:

Advanced search options or view entire database by the date added.


Some of the most recently added reports are:

Friday, May 16 2025:

  • Natural hazards and prisons Protecting human rights of people in prison in disaster prevention, response and recovery, Penal Reform International. December, 2021. "People in prison are largely dependent on prison staff to ensure their health and safety during disasters. Unlike people in the community, they cannot make their own decisions to evacuate to safer areas or to stock up on basic supplies."
  • Myths and Realities: Prosecutors and Criminal Justice Reform, Brennan Center for Justice. October, 2024. "Our analysis also finds no clear relationship between the pro-reform prosecutorial approach and the incidence of crime."
  • Only One In Twenty Justice-Referred Adults In Specialty Treatment For Opioid Use Receive Methadone Or Buprenorphine, Noa Krawczyk et al. December, 2017. "Only 4.6 percent of justice-referred clients received agonist treatment, compared to 40.9 percent of those referred by other sources."
  • Demographic Profiles of New Hampshire: A Focus on Incarceration, New Hampshire Center for Justice and Equity. April, 2024. "Despite the lack of data on facility-level demographics across NH, what is reported indicates that NH incarcerates people of color at disproportionately high rates compared to White populations, mirroring national trends."
  • Criminal Justice System Involvement Among U.S. Military Veterans: Prevalence, Correlates, and Mental Health Burden, Paywall :( Andrew W. Meisler, Mayumi O. Gianoli, and Robert H. Pietrzak. January, 2025. "Justice system involvement [in a nationally representative sample of veterans] was associated with racial/ethnic minority, lower income/education, combat, and other lifetime traumas."
  • Economic Booms and Recidivism, Ozkan Eren and Emily Owens. 2023. "We estimate that a ten thousand dollar increase in the per capita value of energy production is associated with a 2.8% reduction in the 1-year recidivism of ex-offenders relative to those released into other counties or at different times."

Tuesday, May 6 2025:

  • Where Do You Go When Your Prison Cell Floods? Inadequacy of Current Climate Disaster Plans of US Departments of Correction, Morgan Maner et al. October, 2022. "Most state and DOC emergency management (EM) plans do not outline how to protect the safety of incarcerated populations and carceral staff. Common themes across state and DOC-level EM plans include resident labor and use of materials."
  • The Prisoner Trade, Emma Kaufman. April, 2020. "Today, prisoners have no right to be incarcerated in the state where they were convicted, and prison officials may trade prisoners -- either for money or for other prisoners -- across state lines."
  • The Hidden Crisis: How Poverty Drives Crime in Rural Oklahoma, Oklahomans for Criminal Justice Reform. February, 2025. "In Oklahoma City & Tulsa, violent crime is more likely to involve a gun, a stranger, and occur outside the home. Meanwhile, in smaller communities, violent crime is more likely to involve a family member, use personal weapons, and occur inside the home."
  • The Rikers Island Longitudinal Study: Research Report, Samantha Plummer and Jaclyn Davis, Columbia Justice Lab. October, 2024. "The Rikers Island Longitudinal Study [from 2019 to 2021] aimed to understand how defendants' experiences in the pretrial process affected and were affected by their social and economic life conditions."
  • Seizing the Safety Net: Collecting Criminal Justice Debt With Tax Refund Offsets, National Consumer Law Center. January, 2025. "The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is intended to increase employment in the formal labor market by increasing incentives...However, seizure of the EITC undermines this incentive, exacerbat[ing] existing pressure to drop out of the formal labor market."
  • Caged Birds and Those That Hear Their Songs: Effects of Race and Sex in South Carolina Parole Hearings, David M.N. Garavito, Amelia Courtney Hritz, and John H. Blume. January, 2024. "The parole board was significantly less likely to grant parole to incarcerated men compared to women and to Black people compared to white people...Black men were least likely to be granted parole, whereas white women were the most likely."


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