The death penalty has historically been used to communicate moral outrage, retribution, and fear about the murders of certain victims. A new study used data from first degree murder cases in Pennsylvania to examine the role of victims’ gender and race in prosecutors’ decisions to seek and retract the death penalty, and juries’ and judges’ […]
Concern has grown about prison systems’ use of extended solitary confinement as a way to manage violent and disruptive incarcerated people. A new study identified groups that are more likely to be placed in extended solitary management (ESM). The study found that individuals sent to ESM differed considerably from the rest of the prison population […]
As efforts to reverse mass incarceration rise, so does the need to supervise more individuals in the community. Faced with heightened demand, corrections agencies increasingly use risk assessment to allocate supervision and treatment resources efficiently and improve public safety. A new study examined the time individuals have spent without being arrested or returning to prison, […]
In recent years, many juvenile courts have adopted in-home detention with electronic monitoring tethers as an alternative to institutional incarceration. A new study examined whether this approach reduces recidivism among girls involved in the juvenile justice system. The study found that tethers failed to reduce reoffending among the girls; in fact, they may be harmful […]
In 2007, the Los Angeles mayor’s office launched a program to respond to gang violence. A new study estimated the effect of the program on violent and property crime. The study found that violent crime dropped in areas where the program offered services, but property crime did not decline. The success of the program, which […]
Passed in 2018, the First Step Act sought to address re-entry challenges for inmates in the federal prison system. The legislation called for developing an assessment tool to identify inmates for release who had the lowest likelihood of recidivism. A new study assessed how the tool was developed and is used, finding that a greater […]
Past studies on whether incarcerated people with mental illness are more likely to be placed in solitary confinement have yielded mixed results. A new study examined the issue in one state’s prisons, taking into account factors related to incarcerated men and the facilities where they were imprisoned. It found that having a mental illness was […]
Amid a sharp economic downturn in 2008, police departments around the United States experienced budget shortfalls that required them to enact cutbacks. A new study examined the effects on crime of budget shortfalls in two New Jersey cities—one of which laid off more than 10 percent of its police force while the other averted layoffs. […]
In the past decade, many law enforcement agencies have adopted the use of body-worn cameras (BWCs) to improve police conduct, accountability, and transparency, especially when it comes to using force. But it is not yet known whether BWCs actually reduce officers’ use of force. A new meta-analysis examined 30 studies of law enforcement use of […]
Although U.S. crime rates have dropped significantly since the mid-1990s, rates of incarceration peaked in 2008, and still remain high. The standard explanation for this pattern is that all people exposed to the criminal justice system today are treated more harshly than before. A new study using 45 years of incarceration data from North Carolina […]