Criminal Justice Research Library

We've added 24 new reports on COVID-19, policing, the death penalty, and more.

We've added 24 new reports to the Research Library: COVID-19

The Novel Coronavirus and Enforcement of the New Separate System in Prisons by Michael Klein et al, March, 2022
"All regions report that they gave more [COVID-19] protections to officers as compared with inmates. Several regions also show substantial differences between the policy responses for these two groups."
Canary in the Coal Mine: A Profile of Staff COVID Deaths in the Texas Prison System by Alexi Jones, Michele Deitch, and Alycia Welch, Prison and Jail Innovation Lab, February, 2022
"A total of 78 TDCJ employees have died from COVID... With 26 deaths for every 10,000 TDCJ employees, Texas has the highest rate of staff deaths among the largest prison systems in the country and the second highest rate of death nationwide."
"My Greatest Fear is To Be a Lab Rat For the State": COVID-19 and Vaccine Hesitancy in NYS Prisons by Correctional Association of New York, January, 2022
"Of 166 respondents, 42.7% said that DOCCS administering the vaccine would make them less likely to accept the vaccine (n=71)."
Prisons, Nursing Homes, and Medicaid: A COVID-19 Case Study in Health Injustice by Mary Crossley, 2021
"This essay highlights the experiences of Black people and disabled people, and how societal choices have caused them to experience the brunt of the pandemic. It will focus on prisons and nursing homes--institutions that emerged as COVID-19 hotspots."

Death Penalty

A Statistical Overview of the Kentucky Death Penalty by Frank R. Baumgartner, January, 2022
"Race may be the most powerful driving factor in Kentucky's death penalty. But the racial disparities laid out here, extreme as they are, are not the only flaws in the system."

Economics of Incarceration

Justice-Involved Individuals and the Consumer Financial Marketplace by Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, January, 2022
"People exiting jail or prison face frequent fees for the prepaid cards they often have no choice but to receive...even market-rate fees on a prepaid product would burden this vulnerable class of people relative to receiving cash or checks."
Debt to Society: The Role of Fines & Fees Reform in Dismantling the Carceral State by Wesley Dozier and Daniel Kiel, September, 2021
"Between 2005 and 2017, the Tennessee General Assembly passed forty-six bills that increased the amount of debt owed by individuals who make contact with the criminal legal system."

Health impact

Recidivism and mortality after in-jail buprenorphine treatment for opioid use disorder Paywall :( by Elizabeth A. Evans, Donna Wilson, and Peter D. Friedmann, February, 2022
"Among incarcerated adults with opioid use disorder, risk of recidivism after jail exit is lower among those who were offered buprenorphine during incarceration."
Association Between Assistance With Medicaid Enrollment and Use of Health Care After Incarceration Among Adults With a History of Substance Use by Marguerite E. Burns et al, January, 2022
"After implementation of [Medicaid] enrollment assistance, the likelihood of any outpatient visit increased by 7.7 percentage points, a relative change of 47.8% receiving this service within 30 days of release."

Police and Policing

Massachusetts Uniform Citation Data Analysis Report by Salem State University, Worcester State University, February, 2022
"Hispanic motorists, followed by African American/Black motorists are most likely to receive a criminal citation whereas motorists in the Other race category, followed by White motorists were least likely to receive a criminal citation."

Poverty and wealth

The High Cost Of A Fresh Start: A State-by-State Analysis of Court Debt As a Bar To Record Clearing by National Consumer Law Center and Collateral Consequences Resource Center, February, 2022
"In almost every jurisdiction we studied, outstanding court debt is a barrier to record clearing in at least some cases, either rendering a person entirely ineligible for relief or making it difficult for them to qualify."
Access Denied: Eliminating Barriers and Increasing Economic Opportunity for Justice-Involved Individuals by Collateral Consequences Resource Center, September, 2021
"The [Small Business Administration] continues to impose extensive criminal record-related restrictions in its general small business loan programs, frustrating lawful efforts by entrepreneurs and employees with criminal histories."

Pretrial Detention

The Civil Rights Implications of Cash Bail by U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, January, 2022
This report examines pretrial incarceration trends, constitutional and legal concerns regarding pretrial and bail practices, an analysis of the role of the federal government regarding bail practices, and an in-depth investigation of four jurisdictions.
Broken Rules: How Pennsylvania Courts Use Cash Bail to Incarcerate People Before Trial by ACLU Pennsylvania, December, 2021
"The average statewide bail amount was $38,433 -- more than half the average household income in Pennsylvania."

Race and ethnicity

Losing Years Doing Time: Incarceration Exposure and Accelerated Biological Aging among African American AdultsPaywall :( by Mark T. Berg et al, October, 2021
"Incarceration exposure predicted accelerated aging, leaving formerly incarcerated African American individuals biologically older than their calendar age."

Recidivism and Reentry

From Reentry to Reintegration: Criminal Record Reforms in 2021 by Collateral Consequences Resource Center, January, 2022
"The title of this report emphasizes the continuum from reentry to the full restoration of rights and status represented by reintegration."
The Effect of Prison Industry on Recidivism: An Evaluation of California Prison Industry Authority (CALPIA) by James Hess and Susan F. Turner, Center for Evidence-Based Corrections, November, 2021
"CALPIA participants were significantly less likely to be arrested at one, two and three years post release [compared to waitlisted people]."
Driver's License Suspension for Unpaid Fines and Fees: The Movement for Reform by Joni Hirsch and Priya Sarathy Jones, Fines and Fees Justice Center, September, 2021
"In Florida, 72% of all driver's licenses suspension notices are issued for nonpayment of fines and fees. That is nearly 1.2 million suspension notices in Florida alone."

Trials

Reimagining Judging by Nancy Gertner and the Square One Project, January, 2022
"Judges are not alone in resisting reform-- some prosecutors, police, politicians, and even the media share responsibility. But in many ways judicial resistance to change is more difficult to address, clothed as it is in citations to precedent..."
The Challenge of Imposing Just Sentences Under Mandatory Minimum Statutes: A Qualitative Study of Judicial PerceptionsPaywall :( by Esther Nir and Siyu Liu, July, 2021
"[Judges] perceive that mandatory minimums often strip away the flexibility they need to craft appropriate sentences in individual cases, leading to punishments that are unduly harsh."

Women

Availability of Medications for the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder Among Pregnant and Postpartum Individuals in US Jails by Carolyn Sufrin, Camille T. Kramer, Mishka Terplan et al, January, 2022
"A substantial proportion of US jails did not provide access to MOUD to pregnant people with OUD. Although most jails reported continuing to provide MOUD to individuals who were receiving medication before incarceration, few jails initiated MOUD.."
Community Relationship Quality and Reincarceration Following Rural Drug-Using Women's Reentry From Jail Paywall :( by Martha Tillson et al, January, 2022
"Women who were reincarcerated during the 12-month postrelease period (43.4%) were younger, less employed, more likely to have used illicit drugs, and reported lower-quality community relationships at 12-month follow-up."

Youth

Student Arrests in Allegheny County Schools: The Need for Transparency and Accountability by ACLU Pennsylvania, January, 2022
"Black students with disabilities (served under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) accounted for 2.3% of total student enrollment, but 8.4% of students referred to law enforcement and 9.1% of students who were arrested."
Can Restorative Justice Conferencing Reduce Recidivism? Evidence From the Make-It-Right Program (Working Paper) by Yotam Shem-Tov, Steven Raphael and Alissa Skog, January, 2022
"Assignment to [a restorative justice program] reduces the probability of a rearrest within six months by 19 percentage points, a 44 percent reduction relative to the control group...the reduction in recidivism persists even four years after randomization."

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