Site Network: Prisonsucks.com | Prison Policy Initiative | Prisoners of the Census

Items added to the research database more than 14 days ago:

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 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 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 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 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."
  • Prisoners in 2006 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 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."
  • Sexual Victimization in State and Federal Prisons Reported by Inmates, 2007 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..."
  • Probation and Parole in the United States, 2006 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."
  • 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."

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 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 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 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 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 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...."
  • 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."
  • 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."

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." ("Unsentenced inmates fueled growth in the average jail population between 2001 and 2005: up by 51%, while the overall daily jail population grew 31%.")

Tuesday, September 18 2007:

  • Black Victims of Violent Crime 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 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 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..."
  • Sexual Violence Reported by Correctional Authorities, 2006 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."
  • 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."

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. ""The myth of a growing gang menace has been fueled by sensational media coverage and misuse of law enforcement gang statistics, which gang experts consider unreliable for the purpose of tracking local crime trends."" (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 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 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 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.)
  • 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 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."
  • 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."
  • 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:

  • 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."
  • 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.)

Sunday, May 6 2007:

Sunday, April 29 2007:

  • Contacts between Police and the Public, 2005 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 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." ("Current research on the relationship between incarceration and crime provides confusing and even contradictory guidance for policymakers." This report tries to make sense of the findings, and how to use them in creating policy.)
  • 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."
  • 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."
  • 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."

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."
  • 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.")
  • 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."

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."
  • Addressing Sexual Violence in Prisons Urban Institute. October, 2006.
  • 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."

Sunday, December 10 2006:

  • Capital Punishment, 2005 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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:

  • 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."
  • Drug Use and Dependence, State and Federal Prisoners, 2004 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.)

Wednesday, October 11 2006:

Tuesday, October 3 2006:

  • Federal Prosecution of Human Trafficking, 2001-2005 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 "next big thing" in drug threats by analyzing drug use rates through a series of different measures, investigating the role of the media in perpetuating the "epidemic" language..."

Monday, June 12 2006:

  • Law Enforcement and Arab American Community Relations After September 11, 2001: Engagement in a Time of Uncertainty, 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."
  • 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 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%)."
  • 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.
  • 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 Bureau of Justice Statistics. April, 2006. "Both violent and property crimes declined between 1994 and 2004."
  • 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."
  • 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."

Sunday, April 16 2006:

Sunday, April 2 2006:

  • Identity Theft, 2004 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 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"
  • The Prison Inside the Prison: Control Units, Supermax Prisons, and Devices of Torture, [PDF] American Friends Service Committee. 2003.
  • Rethinking the Consequences of Decriminalizing Marijuana [PDF] The JFA Institute. November, 2005.

Thursday, December 22 2005:

Tuesday, November 29 2005:

Sunday, November 20 2005:

  • Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2005 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 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:

  • 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.)
  • Efficacy and Impact: The Criminal Justice Response to Marijuana Policy in the United States, Justice Policy Institute. August, 2005.

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:

  • Don't Mind If I Take a Look, Do Ya? An Examination of Consent Searches and Contraband Hit Rates at Texas Traffic Stops, [PDF] Texas Criminal Justice Coalition. February, 2005. (2005 Racial Profiling Report)
  • Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission Annual Report 2003, [PDF] Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission. March, 2004. (An increasing number of people on probation or parole who have not committed new crimes are being sent to prison for breaking their release conditions)
  • The Role of Specialty Mental Health Courts in Meeting the Needs of Juvenile Offenders , Judge David L. Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. September, 2004.
  • Cost-Saving or Cost-Shifting: The Fiscal Impact of Prison Privatization in Arizona, [PDF] Private Corrections Institute. February, 2005.