Reports 2023
Seeking shelter from mass incarceration: Fighting criminalization with Housing First
by Brian Nam-Sonenstein, September 11, 2023
Providing unconditional housing with embedded services can reduce chronic homelessness, reduce incarceration, and improve quality of life – especially for people experiencing substance use disorder and mental illness.
Housing is one of our best tools for ending mass incarceration. It does more than put a roof over people’s heads; housing gives people the space and stability necessary to receive care, escape crises, and improve their quality of life. For this reason, giving people housing can help interrupt a major pathway to prison created by the criminalization of mental illness, substance use disorder, and homelessness.
3 reports presented at there August 10th meeting of the Probation Oversight Commission:
- Report on Electric Monitoring
- Report on the Movement of Youth from Central Juvenile Hall (CJH) and Barry J. Nidorf Juvenile Hall (BJNJH)
- Progress update from the L.A. County Probation Oversight Commission on strategic planning goals, important topics, POC’s Model of Change, and staff recommended focus areas for the current fiscal year
Beyond Bars: A Path Forward from 50 Years of Mass Incarceration in the United States
Edited by the Sentencing Project,August 1, 2023
To mark the 50-year mass incarceration crisis in the United States, a new book, “Beyond Bars: A Path Forward from 50 Years of Mass Incarceration in the United States,” has been released, offering a compelling vision for criminal legal reform. The book delves deeply into the roots of the American criminal legal system as it meticulously examines one of the most critical issues of our time and presents practical solutions for a more just and equitable future.
The First Step Act: Ending Mass Incarceration in Federal Prisons
The Sentencing Project, By Ashley Nellis, Ph.D. and Liz Komar, August 22, 2023
In 2018, Congress passed and then-President Donald Trump signed into law the bipartisan First Step Act, a sweeping criminal justice reform bill designed to promote rehabilitation, lower recidivism, and reduce excessive sentences in the federal prison system. Lawmakers and advocates across both political parties supported the bill as a necessary step to address some of the punitive excesses of the 1980s and 1990s.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) reports promising results thus far.
High stakes mistakes: How courts respond to “failure to appear”
Prison Policy Initiative, by Brian Nam-Sonenstein, August 15, 2023
Research shows that while most people who miss court are not dangerous or evading justice, the way courts treat “failure to appear” may make our communities less safe.
People miss court for many reasons outside of their control. They can’t miss work, they don’t have childcare, or they don’t understand court instructions. Yet they are routinely seen through the eyes of the law and the media as fugitives from justice who threaten our communities, and met with unduly harsh punishments.
The aging prison population: Causes, costs, and consequences
Prison Policy Initiative, by Emily Widra, August 2, 2023
New Census Bureau data show the U.S. population is getting older — and at the same time, our prison populations are aging even faster. In this briefing, we examine the inhumane, costly, and counterproductive practice of locking up older adults.
Serving Our Vulnerable Populations:
Los Angeles County Adult Residential Facilities and Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly
Brilliant Corners releases a new research study that examines some of the most vital housing resources in our community – Adult Residential Facilities (ARFs) and Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs). ARFs and RCFEs provide housing and enhanced support for a broad range of individuals with diverse care needs. They also offer customized assistance and community-based housing to individuals dealing with mental illness, seniors requiring supportive services, and individuals from these groups who have experienced homelessness – representing a crucial and distinct housing opportunity for some of our most vulnerable community members, and serving as an integral component of the housing support continuum. In recent years, in an effort to stem the loss of these critical housing resources, LA County and local stakeholders have been working to preserve and expand the supply of Adult Residential Facilities and Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly.
An important report that we missed last year
Police are not primarily crime fighters, according to the data
Reuters, By Hassan Kanu, November 2, 2022
A new report adds to a growing line of research showing that police departments don’t solve serious or violent crimes with any regularity, and in fact, spend very little time on crime control, in contrast to popular narratives.
In 2019, 88% of the time L.A. County sheriff’s officers spent on stops was for officer-initiated stops rather than in response to calls. The overwhelming majority of that time – 79% – was spent on traffic violations. By contrast, just 11% of those hours was spent on stops based on reasonable suspicion of a crime.
Effective Alternatives to Youth Incarceration
The Sentencing Project, written by Richard Mendel
Report identifies six alternative to youth incarceration program models that consistently produce better public safety outcomes than incarceration, with far less disruption to young people’s healthy adolescent development at a fraction of the cost.
States of Incarceration: The Global Context 2021
Prison Policy Initiative, by Emily Widra and Tiana Herring
Not only does the U.S. have the highest incarceration rate in the world; every single U.S. state incarcerates more people per capita than virtually any independent democracy on earth. To be sure, states like New York and Massachusetts appear progressive in their incarceration rates compared to states like Louisiana, but compared to the rest of the world, every U.S. state relies too heavily on prisons and jails to respond to crime.
The incarceration rates in every U.S. state are out of line with the entire world, and we found that this disparity is not explainable by differences in crime or “violent crime.” In fact, there is little correlation between high rates of “violent crime” and the rate at which the U.S. states lock people up in prisons and jails.
LAPD arrested Black and Latino people disproportionately in recent years, city controller stats show
By City News Service, July 26, 2023
The Los Angeles Police Department arrested Black and Hispanic/Latino people at a “disproportionate rate” — an average of 78.26% of all arrests from 2019 to 2022, when such residents make up 56% of the city’s population, according to a report released this week by City Controller Kenneth Mejia.
Mejia’s office released a map and analysis of nearly 300,000 arrests by the LAPD in the past four years.
Investing in Supportive Pretrial Services: How to Build a “Care First” Workforce in Los Angeles County
Vera Institute of Justice, June 2023
In March 2020, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors adopted the “care first, jails last” vision, a transformative framework for safety grounded in support and services as alternatives to incarceration or bail. Three years have passed and people of color, people experiencing homelessness, and those with unmet mental health needs continue to languish in county jails. County staff attribute implementation delays to a shortage of community-based behavioral health workers. The Vera Institute of Justice’s conversations with community-based providers—detailed in this brief—document how the COVID-19 pandemic, long-standing difficulties with contracting, and chronic underinvestment in infrastructure have resulted in the current workforce shortage.
Left to Die in Prison:
Emerging Adults 25 and Younger Sentenced to Life without Parole
The Sentencing Project, By Ashley Nellis, Ph.D. and Niki Monazzam, June 7, 2023
Two in five people sentenced to life without parole were 25 and under at the time of their conviction, despite irrefutable evidence that their younger age contributes to diminished capacity to comprehend the risk and consequences of their actions.
The Impacts of Climate Change on Incarcerated People in California State Prisons
Ella Baker Center For Human Rights, By Aishah Abdala, Abhilasha Bhola, Guadalupe Gutierrez, Eric Henderson & Maura O’Neill, June 2023
This series of climate hazards has made it evident that the effects of climate change will continue to intensify, have the greatest impact on already vulnerable populations, and, most critically, the California carceral system is not prepared to respond to climate hazards in or near prisons.
Effective Alternatives to Youth Incarceration
The Sentencing Project, By Richard Mendel, June 28, 2023
Report identifies six alternative to youth incarceration program models that consistently produce better public safety outcomes than incarceration, with far less disruption to young people’s healthy adolescent development at a fraction of the cost.
California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness
UCSF Report, June 2023, by Margot Kushel, MD and Tiana Moore, PhD
The California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH), conducted by The University of California, San Francisco Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI), is the largest representative study of homelessness in the United States since the mid-1990s. The study provides a comprehensive look at the causes and consequences of homelessness in California and recommends policy changes to shape programs in response.
Punishment Beyond Prisons 2023: Incarceration and supervision by state
Prison Policy Initiative, by Leah Wang, May 2023
The U.S. has a staggering 1.9 million people behind bars, but even this number doesn’t capture the true reach of the criminal legal system. It’s more accurate to look at the 5.5 million people under all of the nation’s mass punishment systems, which include not only incarceration but also probation and parole.
2022 Protected And Served? Report
It’s no secret that the criminal legal system has always been used as a weapon to surveil, police, criminalize, discriminate, and harass LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV.
This is especially true for people who hold multiple marginalized identities such as transgender people of color. This is why 10 years ago, we launched our first-ever Protected and Served? Report, which revealed the alarming rates of misconduct, abuse, and discrimination LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV experience in the criminal legal system.
Today, Lambda Legal, in partnership with Black and Pink National, is releasing Protected and Served? 2022, a new report, consisting of quantitative data and personal stories gathered from more than 2,500 community members who participated in our survey about their experiences with the criminal legal system including police and other law enforcement, courts, prisons, jails, schools, and other government agencies.
Incarcerated Women and Girls
SMH: The rapid & unregulated growth of e‑messaging in prisons
Prison Policy Initiative, By Mike Wessler, March 2023
A technology that, until recently, was new in prisons and jails has exploded in popularity in recent years. Our review found that, despite its potential to keep incarcerated people and their families connected, e-messaging has quickly become just another way for companies to profit at their expense.
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2023
Prison Policy Alliance, By Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, March 14, 2023
Can it really be true that most people in jail are legally innocent? How much of mass incarceration is a result of the war on drugs, or the profit motives of private prisons? How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed decisions about how people are punished when they break the law? These essential questions are harder to answer than you might expect. The various government agencies involved in the criminal legal system collect a lot of data, but very little is designed to help policymakers or the public understand what’s going on. As public support for criminal justice reform continues to build — and as the pandemic raises the stakes higher — it’s more important than ever that we get the facts straight and understand the big picture.
Reports 2022
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State of Phone Justice 2022:
The problem, the progress, and what's next
Blog Post: Prison Policy Initiative, by Wanda Bertram, January 19, 2023
Unique Pilot Program Shows Success In Expanding Racial and Economic Diversity in San Francisco Jury Pools
Talent Needs of L.A. Area Tech Employers
Employment of Systems-Involved Angelenos: Challenges, Aspirations and Tech Sector Potential
The Social Costs of Policing
Vera Institute of Justice, November 2022
Publication Highlights
- Ignoring the social costs of policing can mislead policymakers about the effectiveness of policing in improving community safety and well-being.
- Exposure to routine police activities can have an adverse effect on the health of residents in communities.
- Being arrested—without a subsequent conviction or any continuing criminal legal system involvement—can itself cause economic harm and lead to lower employment prospects.
REPORT: Violent crime and public prosecution
Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, By Todd Foglesong, Ron Levi et al., October 20, 2022
A review of recent data on homicide, robbery, and progressive prosecution in the United States
This report analyzes recent data on homicide and robbery to understand whether there is a relationship between violent crime and “progressive prosecution.” We pooled data on recorded crime from 65 major cities, conducted a statistical regression of trends in violent crime as well as larceny in two dozen cities, and compared the incidence of homicide before and after the election of progressive prosecutors in Philadelphia, Chicago, and Los Angeles, cities where we are conducting on-going research on changes in criminal justice. We also compared trends in recorded crime across all counties in Florida and California since 2015. We find no evidence to support the claim that progressive prosecutors were responsible for the increase in homicide during the pandemic or before it. We recommend that further statistical analyses of data on violent crime be supplemented by qualitative research and direct evidence about the practices of prosecutors in cities that recorded divergent patterns in homicide.
How Many People Are Spending Over a Decade in Prison?
Key findings:
- In 2019, over half of the people in U.S. prisons – amounting to more than 770,000 people – were serving sentences of 10 years or longer – a huge jump from 2000.
- Nearly one in five people in U.S. prisons—over 260,000 people—had already served at least 10 years in 2019. This is an increase from 133,000 people in 2000—which represented 10% of the prison population in that year.
- In California, 29% of imprisoned people had already served at least 10 years in 2019. In Washington, DC, the level was even higher in 2020, at 39%.
- Over 770,000 people in U.S. prisons were serving sentences of 10 years or longer in 2019—56% of the total prison population. This is an increase from 587,000 people in 2000—which represented 44% of the prison population in that year.
Where people in prison come from:
The geography of mass incarceration in California
Voting in Jails: Advocacy Strategies to #UnlocktheVote
The Sentencing Project, July 27, 2022
Every year, hundreds of thousands of eligible incarcerated voters are unable to cast their ballot due to misinformation, institutional bureaucracy and de-prioritization among government officials. This advocacy brief highlights strategies to improve ballot access for incarcerated people who are legally eligible to vote.
Where People in Prison Come From: The geography of mass incarceration
Prison Policy Initiative, July 2022
report logoWhat communities do people who are incarcerated come from? It's a simple question, with huge implications, that until recently was impossible to answer. However, thanks to recent reforms to end prison gerrymandering in more than a dozen states, the data is finally available to answer it.
We partnered with organizations in each of these states to collect this data, and we're making it available to advocates, researchers, organizers, journalists, and others. Our hope is that they'll use it to better understand how mass incarceration harms communities and correlates with other measures of community well-being.
Nothing But Time: Elderly Americans Serving Life Without Parole
The Sentencing Project, June 23, 2022, by Ashley Nellis, Ph.D.
Almost half of the people serving life without parole are 50 years old or more and one in four is at least 60 years old.
California Sentencing Institute
From the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
An interactive map presenting detailed crime and incarceration numbers, rates, and trends for California and each of its 58 counties.
READ MORE
Chronic Punishment: The unmet health needs of people in state prisons
Prison Policy Initiative, By Leah Wang, June 2022
Over 1 million people sit in U.S. state prisons on any given day. These individuals are overwhelmingly poor, disproportionately Black, Native, Hispanic, and/or LGBTQ, and often targeted by law enforcement from a young age, as we detailed recently in our report Beyond the Count. And all too often, they are also suffering from physical and mental illnesses, or navigating prison life with disabilities or even pregnancy. In this, the second installment of our analysis of a unique, large-scale survey of people in state prisons, we add to the existing research showing that state prisons fall far short of their constitutional duty to meet the essential health needs of people in their custody. As a result, people in state prison are kept in a constant state of illness and despair.
The Red City Defund Police Problem
The Third Way, June 8, 2022, by Jim Kessler and Kylie Murdock
In recent years, Republicans have tagged Democrats as the party of “defund the police”... But is the Republican charge even remotely true? It has been taken as a given by much of the media just as Democrats have been pigeon-holed as soft on crime and being responsible for rampant crime across the country. Yet as our March 2022 report showed, the 25 states that voted for Donald Trump had a murder rate 40% higher than the 25 states that voted for Joe Biden. And 8 of the 10 states with the highest murder rates not only voted for Donald Trump, they voted Republican in every presidential election this century. Is the Democrats’ defund the police portrait as inaccurate as its soft on crime portrait?
Working in “a meat grinder”:
by Prison Policy Initiative, May 9, 2022
A research roundup showing prison and jail jobs aren’t all that states promise they will be
No wonder prisons and jails face constant understaffing and that communities increasingly resist new facilities: Decades of research show that the physical and mental health problems associated with correctional officers' jobs are inherent to the work, and that new prisons and jails fail to deliver on promises of economic development.
Second Chance Pell: Five Years of Expanding Higher Education Programs in Prisons
2016–2021
Vera Institute of Justice, May 2022
The Second Chance Pell Experimental Sites Initiative, launched by the U.S. Department of Education in 2015, provides need-based Pell Grants to people in state and federal prisons. The initiative examines whether expanding access to college financial aid increases incarcerated adults’ participation in postsecondary educational opportunities.
Beyond the Count
Prison Policy Initiative, April 13, 2022
This new Report uses demographic data to show the social disadvantage of people locked up in state prisons.
People in prisons have endured disadvantage and poverty all the way back to childhood, the Prison Policy Initiative's new report shows.
High Road Labor Market Analysis: Behavioral Health Services Sector
A new labor market analysis of the behavioral health services sector by WERC identifies peer workforce and trauma-informed practices as important to meeting behavioral health needs in Los Angeles. The analysis offers concrete recommendations for both increasing access to quality jobs for workers with high barriers to employment and addressing critical worker shortages in the sector.
The Red State Murder Problem REPORT
The Third Way, March 15, 2022 by Kylie Murdock and Jim Kessler
The rate of murders in the US has gone up at an alarming rate. But, despite a media narrative to the contrary, this is a problem that afflicts Republican-run cities and states as much or more than the Democratic bastions.
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2022
Prison Policy Initiative, By Wendy Sawyer and Peter Wagner, March 14, 2022
Can it really be true that most people in jail are legally innocent? How much of mass incarceration is a result of the war on drugs, or the profit motives of private prisons? How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed decisions about how people are punished when they break the law? These essential questions are harder to answer than you might expect. The various government agencies involved in the criminal legal system collect a lot of data, but very little is designed to help policymakers or the public understand what’s going on. As public support for criminal justice reform continues to build — and as the pandemic raises the stakes higher — it’s more important than ever that we get the facts straight and understand the big picture.
Diversion Programs, Explained
Vera Institute of Justice, April 28, 2022, By Akhi Johnson and Mustafa Ali-Smith
Diversion is a broad term referring to “exit ramps” that move people away from the criminal legal system, offering an alternative to arrest, prosecution, and a life behind bars. Although incarceration was historically believed to improve public safety, research suggests that it is ineffective in doing so and has a minimal impact, if any, on reducing crime. Instead, diversion programs target the underlying problems that led to the criminalized behavior in the first place.
College-in-prison program found to reduce recidivism significantly
Inaugural ATI Impact Report
- Spent more than 430 hours holding meetings to engage community leaders and the public – including 130 hours focused on Care First Community Investment (formerly known as Measure J).
- Supported the expansion of Alternative Crisis Response, building the foundation for the forthcoming 988 number to replace 911 and a law-enforcement response for mental health crisis calls.
- Invested in the countywide expansion of Youth Diversion & the Rapid Diversion Court Program, working to divert juveniles and individuals with mental health or substance use disorders into care-first models.
- Piloted programs such as ATI Pre-Filing Diversion & the ATI Incubation Academy.
The first evaluation of the Returning Citizens Stimulus project has been published!
LARRP played a large role in implementing this program in LA.
A few highlights:
- Despite launching RCS on a large scale with almost no time for planning, the program operated smoothly overall. A notable achievement, particularly in the context of the pandemic.
- Participants reported that RCS helped them feel some level of financial stability in the period following incarceration. Most said that they spent the RCS funds on essential expenses such as rent, groceries, and clothing, and on personal care to prepare themselves for employment.
- Participants said RCS helped them find, secure, and maintain employment, partly because of the built-in connection to existing reentry programs and partly because it gave them money needed to prepare for working.
On the Brink of Closure
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice (CJCJ) November 2021
On the brink of closure, California’s Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) requires critical attention. DJJ’s inherent flaws and high costs led state leaders to heed long-standing calls for the closure of its youth correctional institutions in favor of local alternatives, a process known as juvenile justice realignment. DJJ stopped most youth admissions as of July 1, 2021 and will close its doors by June 30, 2023. California’s counties must avoid replicating the state’s problematic prison-like environment, lack of oversight, and disparate impacts on youth of color at the local level. DJJ’s failures, and consequential downfall, should stand as a warning. Repeating these failures locally will endanger our most vulnerable youth.
Reports 2021
Building exits off the highway to mass incarceration: Diversion programs explained
Prison Policy Initiative By Leah Wang and Katie Rose Quandt, July 20, 2021
We envision the criminal justice system as a highway on which people are heading toward the possibility of incarceration; depending on the state or county, this highway may have exit ramps in the form of diversion programs and alternatives to incarceration.
Reducing Homelessness for People with Behavioral Health Needs Leaving Jails and Prisons
Report by The Council on Criminal Justice and Behavioral Health (CCJBH) and the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center. February 2021
Homelessness is a longstanding problem in California, as it is in much of the U.S. While homelessness has many root causes, including
an overall lack of affordable housing and lack of coordination between social service systems, incarceration is a major risk factor. Nationally, people who are formerly incarcerated are almost 10 times more likely to experience homelessness than the general public.
In turn, people with behavioral health conditions, such as mental illnesses and substance use disorders, face increased risk of incarceration, compounding their already elevated risk of experiencing homelessness. Indeed, people with behavioral health conditions make up a significant proportion of California’s jail and prison populations; available data suggest that roughly one-third of people in the state’s prisons and jails have some level of mental health diagnosis.
The causes of the connections between homelessness, behavioral health conditions, and involvement with the criminal justice system are many. However, they are rooted in the deinstitutionalization of mental health care in the 1970s and 80s. This change came without a corresponding increase in the housing and community-based services needed to support people with mental illnesses living independently and resultedin an “institutional circuit” between shelters, jails, and emergency rooms.
The Justice Equity Services Index
Prosecutor Lobbying in the States,
2015-2018
The Prosecutors and Politics Project, June 2021
An Important New Study Looks At The Relationship Between Prosecutors & Politics, Including The Actions Of California’s Lobbyist District Attorneys
A new study by the “Prosecutors and Politics Project,” a research initiative at the University of North Carolina School of Law, looks at the role of prosecutors in the nation’s state criminal justice systems, with a focus on their their “political power,” specifically the power of DAs as lobbyists pushing for or against proposed legislation.
Addressing the Drivers of Criminal Justice Involvement to Advance Racial Equity
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Proceedings of a Workshop—in Brief (2021)
The Committee on Reducing Racial Inequalities in the Criminal Justice System of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in March 2021 as part of its exploration of ways to reduce racial inequalities in criminal justice outcomes in the United States. This workshop, the second in a series of three, enabled the committee to gather information from a diverse set of stakeholders and experts to inform the consensus study process. Speakers discussed the numerous interrelated factors that shape racial inequalities in the criminal justice system. Presentations focused on issues and promising solutions in health and well-being, in both neighborhood and opportunity contexts, as well as in youth-serving systems, as they relate to reducing racial inequality. This publication highlights the presentations of the workshop.
Reinstating Common Sense: How driver's license suspensions for drug offenses unrelated to driving are falling out of favor
Prison Policy Initiative Report: A misguided federal law from the War on Drugs threatened states with reduced highway funding if states did not begin automatically suspending the driver's license of anyone convicted of a drug offense, even in cases unrelated to driving. These license suspensions, which last at least 6 months, struggle to find and keep employment for lack of transportation because of these needless license suspensions. Our new research found that more than 190,000 driver's licenses are suspended every year for non-driving drug offenses, and illustrates why this policy sets people up to fail.
Slamming the Courthouse Door: 25 years of evidence for repealing the Prison Litigation Reform Act
Prison Policy Initiative, by Andrea Fenster & Margo Schlanger, April 26, 2021
Twenty-five years ago today, in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The “PLRA,” as it is often called, makes it much harder for incarcerated people to file and win federal civil rights lawsuits. For two-and-a-half decades, the legislation has created a double standard that limits incarcerated people’s access to the courts at all stages: it requires courts to dismiss civil rights cases from incarcerated people for minor technical reasons before even reaching the case merits, requires incarcerated people to pay filing fees that low-income people on the outside are exempt from, makes it hard to find representation by sharply capping attorney fees, creates high barriers to settlement, and weakens the ability of courts to order changes to prison and jail policies.
What Jails Cost
A Look at Spending in America’s Large Cities
Vera Institute of Justice
There were more than 10 million jail bookings in 2019.- Nationally, jails cost taxpayers $25 billion per year.
- Jail employee payroll accounts for 73 percent of jails’ budgets.
The 2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress
US Department of Housing and Urban Development
January 2021
Some of the key findings:
On a single night in 2020, roughly 580,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States.
- For the fourth consecutive year, homelessness increased nationwide....
The Possibility Report
From Prison to College Degrees in California
The Campaign for College Opportunity
February 2021
The Sentencing Project, Jan. 22, 2021, by Nazgol Ghandnoosh
Following a nearly 700% increase between 1972 and 2009, the U.S. prison population declined 11% in the subsequent 10 years. At this rate of decline it will take 57 years — until 2078 — to cut the prison population in half
Turning Point & DAAC Present: Justice-Involved Community Survey Report
Criminalizing Victims And Trauma: Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office Ignores Victims Of Crime Until It’s Time To Punish Them.
By Yehudah Pryce
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office (LADA) provided little support to justice-involved community members who have been victims of crime, according to a new survey of social service recipients at Turning Point (TP), a South Los Angeles non-profit social service provider, and the DA Accountability Coalition (DAAC). The data gathered by TP appear to contradict claims by former Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey that social services and mental health needs significantly guide the LADA’s prosecution decisions. The survey of 71 participants concluded that many community members who are formerly incarcerated – and have been most in need of social services and mental health care – did not have these service gaps sufficiently considered by the LADA when they were arrested, nor did they receive support from the LADA when they were the victims of crime.
Behavioral Health Crisis Alternatives
Shifting from Police to Community Responses
Vera Institute of Justice, November 2020, by Jackson Beck, Melissa Reuland, Leah Pope
The report addresses the need to reduce the role of police as first responders to people who are experiencing a behavioral health crisis and includes guidance for jurisdictions seeking alternatives that prioritize access to treatment and other essential support services. The authors examine recent efforts across the country – with a focus on Eugene, Oregon; Olympia, Washington; and Phoenix, Arizona – to reduce police involvement in crisis calls that can be better handled by behavioral health specialists. In addition to our three case studies, the report provides an overview of crisis response programs, including a typology of approaches organized by the involvement of law enforcement. It concludes with key considerations to aid practitioners, elected officials, and advocates in their efforts to similarly shift responses from police to alternative responders in their communities.
New BJS data: Prison incarceration rates inch down, but racial equity and real decarceration still decades away
At the current pace of decarceration, it will be 2088 when state prison populations return to pre-mass incarceration levels.
Prison Policy Initiative, by Alexi Jones, October 30, 2020
Last week, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) released Prisoners in 2019, an annual report that breaks down the number of people incarcerated in state and federal prisons. Along with the report, BJS released a press release that paints a deceptively rosy picture of mass incarceration in the United States, which has been parroted by numerous media outlets.
Between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2019, an estimated 22,687 Black people were booked into the Los Angeles County Jail. Reflecting the revolving door of incarceration, a little over 4,100 of them were booked into jail more than once, resulting in approximately 28,427 cumulative bookings. These bookings cost L.A. County at least $153.6 million.Trends in U.S. Corrections
August 25, 2020
The Sentencing Project's key fact sheet provides a compilation of major developments in the criminal justice system over the past several decades.
Reforming Pretrial Justice In California
Public Policy Institute, Heather Harris, Magnus Lofstrom, August 2020
California’s pretrial system is poised for reform. In 2018, the governor signed Senate Bill 10 (SB 10) to eliminate money bail and require the use of risk assessment tools when making pretrial release decisions. The law was put onhold after a challenge by the bail industry. Voters will decide its fate in a hotlydebated November 2020 referendum on Proposition 25. Proponents argue SB 10 would reduce jail populations while promoting public safety and court appearances, but critics express concern about the bill’s potential impact on crime and racial inequities.
Visualizing the racial disparities in mass incarceration
Prison Policy Initiative, by Wendy Sawyer, July 27, 2020
Racial inequality is evident in every stage of the criminal justice system - here are the key statistics compiled into a series of charts.
See these staggering charts!
Racial Discrimination Persists in California Jury Selection
Equal Justice Initiative, June 29, 2020
A new study from the Berkeley Law Death Penalty Clinic found that California prosecutors routinely strike Black and Latino prospective jurors—and the state’s appellate courts have failed to meaningfully address racial discrimination in jury selection.
It has been illegal for more than a century to remove a person from a jury because of their race, but people of color continue to be excluded from jury service because of their race, especially in serious criminal trials and death penalty cases.
Failing Grades: States’ Responses to COVID-19 in Jails & Prisons
Prison Policy Initiative and the ACLU, June 25, 2020
By Emily Widra and Dylan Hayre
The results are clear: despite all of the information, voices calling for action, and the obvious need, state responses ranged from disorganized or ineffective, at best, to callously nonexistent at worst. Even using data from criminal justice system agencies — that is, even using states’ own versions of this story — it is clear that no state has done enough and that all states failed to implement a cohesive, system-wide response.
Care First, Jails Last
Health and Racial Justice Strategies for Safer Communities
Los Angeles County Alternatives to Incarceration Work Group Final Report
Mortality in Local Jails, 2000-2016
LA County is able to safely divert thousands of individuals with mental illness into treatment
Rand Corporation
January 7, 2020 by Stephanie Brooks Holliday
Pretrial Risk Assessment in California
One Year After the First Step Act: Mixed Outcomes
Costs Of Injustice: How Criminal System Fees Are Hurting Los Angeles County Families
ACLU Southern California
Arrest, Release, Repeat:
How police and jails are misused to respond to social problems
In L.A., Nine in Ten Incarcerated Youth Have a Documented Mental Health Issue
The Chronicle of Social Change, June 12, Jeremy Loudenback
Ending Mass Incarceration: Ideas from Today's Leaders
Cannabis Social Equity Report
Repairing the Harms, Creating the Future
New Fact Sheet: Urban Crime Declines During California's Justice Reform Era (2010-2018)
Johns Hopkins Report Offers First Ever Look At Pregnancy In Prison Stats
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
January 2019
Several Poor Administrative Practices Have Hindered Reductions in Recidivism and Denied Inmates Access to In‑Prison Rehabilitation Programs
Failure should not be an option: Grading the parole release systems of all 50 states
Jorge Renaud, Feb, 26, 2019
Women in Los Angeles CountyA report by Million Dollar Hoods
In LA County we spent at least $750,000,000 incarcerating women from 2010-2016.
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Juvenile Arrest Rates on Steady Decline
This US Department of Justice bulletin describes the latest trends in arrests involving juveniles (youth younger than age 18) covering the period from 1980 to 2016, based on analyses of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Overall, juvenile arrests have been on the decline for more than a decade, but patterns vary by offense and demographic group.
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SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT BUDGET STATUS REPORT
November 21, 2018
Semi-annually with an overview of the financial status of the Department.
Read the Report
"[DRAFT] Report of the Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission Immigration Ad Hoc Committee
Regarding the LASD Cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and [PROPOSED]: Recommendations"Read More
Prison Policy Initiative Report
By Lucius Couloute
October 2018
Getting Back on Course: Educational exclusion and attainment amount formerly incarcerated people
Using data from the National Former Prisoner Survey, this report reveals that formerly incarcerated people are often relegated to the lowest rungs of the educational ladder; more than half hold only a high school diploma or GED, and a quarter hold no credential at all.
REPORT: Probation and Parole Systems Marked by High Stakes, Missed Opportunities
As part of a collaborative effort to improve the nation's community corrections system, The Pew Charitable Trusts and the Laura and John Arnold Foundation analyzed the leading research and identified the most pressing problems and some promising solutions. The available data leave many questions unanswered, but this review reveals key insights and challenges many assumptions about supervision
REPORT - Getting to Zero: A 50 State Study of Strategies to Remove Youth from Adult Jails
The report by The Jail Removal Project at UCLA School of Law, aims to reassess the way youth are incarcerated in America by providing the first-ever analysis of three nationwide data sets: Census of Jails and Annual Survey of Jails, both conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's Census of Juvenile Residential Placements.
The report also summarizes the major legal developments applicable to youth housed in adult jails and provides specific examples from jurisdictions across the country that have made substantial progress toward removing youth from adult jails.
You Get What You Measure: New Performance Indicators Needed to Gauge Progress of Criminal Justice Reform
May 2018
Adam Gelb
Prop 47 not responsible for recent upticks in crime across California
The implementation of Proposition 47 - which reduced the prison population by charging certain drug and property offenses as misdemeanors rather than felonies - is not responsible for the recent upticks in crime throughout California, according to a new study from researchers at the University of California, Irvine. This is the first systematic analysis to be conducted of the measure's statewide impact since its 2014 implementation.
Despite the ongoing decline in incarceration, spending on state corrections remains high.
Under the Governor's proposed budget, combined funding for the CDCR and the Board of State and Community Corrections would be $12.1 billion in 2018-19 (the fiscal year that begins this coming July 1) - $2 billion higher than the 2012-13 level, after adjusting for inflation.
Youth in Adult Courts, Jails, and Prisons
Parents in Prison
The Sentencing Project, November 17, 2021
This fact sheet provides key facts on parents in prison and policies that impede their ability to care for their children when released from prison.
Overview:
- In 2016, 47% of people in state prisons and 57% in federal prisons were parents of minor children.
- Most parents in prison are fathers (626,800 fathers compared to 57,700 mothers).
- The number of fathers in prison increased 48% and the number of mothers in prison increased 96% between 1991 and 2016.
A Toolkit for Jail Decarceration in Your Community
Vera Institute of Justice, October 2021
Places that have heeded demands for change are beginning to see significant reductions in jail populations, showing that decarceration at the local level is possible when criminal legal system stakeholders make different choices.
An Outlier of Injustice
Op-Ed: Now That The 2020 FBI Crime Stats Report Has Been Released, What Are The Most Useful Takeaways?
WitnessLA, September 28, 2021
Editor’s note: On Monday, September 27, the FBI released the 2020 edition of its annual “Crime in the United States” report, which showed that, for the first time in four years, the estimated number of violent crimes in the nation increased when compared with the previous year’s statistics. In 2020, violent crime was up 5.6 percent from the 2019 number.
Eligible, but excluded: A guide to removing the barriers to jail voting
Prison Policy Initiative by Ginger Jackson-Gleich and Rev. Dr. S. Todd Yeary
While people in state or federal prison generally cannot vote, most people in local jails can, although numerous barriers prevent them from doing so.
Crime trends and violence worse in California’s Republican-voting counties than Democratic-voting counties
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice Mike Males, August 25, 2021
A report released today by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice finds that, compared to the 35 California counties that voted Democratic in the 2020 presidential election, the state’s 23 Republican-voting counties have higher rates of violent crime, including homicides.
For decades, Republican candidates and elected officials have demanded a “get-tough” approach to crime that generated more arrests, more imprisonments, and longer prison sentences. As a result, a person is 58 percent more likely to be arrested and 41 percent more likely to be incarcerated in a Republican-voting county than in a Democratic-voting one. Likewise, 12 of the 13 highest-incarceration counties vote Republican, while 16 of the 18 lowest-incarceration counties vote Democratic.
But have the hardline approaches pursued by Republicans officials actually reduced crime? Just the opposite. Republican-voting counties are seeing lesser declines in crime and higher rates of crime, particularly violent offenses and homicides, compared to their Democratic-voting counterparts.
US Recidivism Rates Stay Sky High
The Crime Report, By Eva Herscowitz, July 30, 2021
Seven in 10 incarcerated people released in 34 states in 2012 were rearrested within five years, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report on recidivism rates for prisoners in 34 states between 2012 and 2017.
The report includes grim findings about recidivism in the United States, where rates are among the highest in the world.
Public Safety Realignment
Weak State and County Oversight Does Not Ensure That Funds Are Spent Effectively California State Auditor Report, March 2021
Among the effects that these counties have experienced since 2011, when the Legislature transferred fromthe State to counties the responsibility for incarcerating and supervising certain offenders, are the following:
- Fresno and Los Angeles have experienced increased jail overcrowding, and neither county has met the State’s jail capacity standards by reducing its jail population or taking other mitigating actions.
- Alameda and Fresno do not share sufficient information about inmates’ mental health with jail staff, who are responsible for deciding about inmates’ housing and safety.
- The counties’ jails often lack adequate outdoor and educational facilities to provide certain vocational and rehabilitative programs for inmates who serve terms longer than three years.
To support the counties’ realignment responsibilities and offset the costs of providing required public safety services, the State allocated $6 billion to California’s counties in fiscal year 2019–20. However, because the three counties we reviewed have narrowly interpreted the scope of public safety realignment funding, their Community Corrections Partnership committees—responsible for monitoring such spending—have overseen less than 20 percent of the funding the counties receive. Each county also maintains excessive realignment surpluses, which they could spend to improve public safety. Finally, the counties lack comprehensive planning and oversight for realignment spending, without which they cannot make informed decisions.
Youth Justice Reimagined Report recommendations
These include expansion of the Office of Diversion and Re-Entry’s Division of Youth Diversion and Development’s pre-arrest prevention and youth development services to all eligible your countywide and the establishment of a new Department of Youth Development.Interrupting the Cycle of Incarceration for Individuals with Mental Illness-
An Analysis of LA County’s Rapid Diversion Program
Report by By Jess Bendit, Joshua Segui, Courtney B. Taylor & Rachel Vogt
New Publication – Improving Outcomes for Individuals with Sex Offenses
Friensds Outside, Los Angeles County, by Dr. Luis Barrera Castañón, Dr. Marco Murillo (Researchers) May 11, 2021
Jail incarceration rates vary widely, but inexplicably, across U.S. cities
Cities jail people at rates that have little to no correlation to their violent crime rates, police budgets, or jail budgets.
Prison Policy Initiative, by Tiana Herring, May 4, 2021
Why do some places incarcerate people at much higher rates than others? We considered this question in 2019, when we compared prison incarceration rates across U.S. counties, finding a wide range that loosely correlated to the respective state imprisonment rates. Now, we can do the same for jail incarceration rates.
Roadmap To The Ideal Crisis System
National Council for Behavioral Health
Essential Elements, Measurable Standards and Best Practices for Behavioral Health Crisis Response
March 2021
No End In Sight: America’s Enduring Reliance on Life Imprisonment
The Sentencing Project, Feb. 17, 2021 by Ashley NellisJuvenile Life Without Parole: An Overview
The Sentencing Project, Feb 18, 2021, by Josh Rovner
The United States stands alone as the only nation that sentences people to life without parole for crimes committed before turning 18. This briefing paper reviews the Supreme Court precedents that limited the use of JLWOP and the challenges that remain.
Top Trends in State Criminal Justice Reform, 2020
The Sentencing Project, Jan. 15, 2021, by Nicole D. Porter
In recent years most states have enacted reforms designed to reduce the scale of incarceration and the impact of the collateral consequences of a felony conviction. This briefing paper describes key reforms that were prioritized in 2020.
Health Departments Taking Action on Incarceration: A Framework for Advancing Health Instead of Punishment During COVID-19
Human Impact Partners, January 2021
This resource includes 8 recommendations and specific actions health departments can take to address the harms of incarceration.
Social Innovation Impact Report 2019-2020
Office of Governor Gavin Newsom
The returning home well initiative which was largely supported by LA providers is on page 14
White Paper
Experts from around the nation in issuing a new white paper advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state governments to prioritize incarcerated individual and correctional staff in the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Specifically, the report recommends:
- Prioritize vaccine distribution to all incarcerated individuals at the same stage as correctional officers (essential workers/first responders) or higher
- Create vaccine distribution and implementation plans developed by medical and public health professionals that are specific to correctional systems
- Include correctional leadership and justice-involved individuals in state advisory vaccine groups and committees
- Identify policies and methods to effectively fund vaccine distribution and administration in correctional systems and following release
new DA Report by the ACLU and DAAC
George Gascón was sworn in to lead the country’s largest district attorney’s office. See the new DA Report by the ACLU and DAAC for recommendations — based on data from public records requests — to increase equity, transparency and accountability in the Los Angeles DA's office
Incarcerated Women and Girls
The Sentencing Project, November 24, 2020
Youth Justice Under the Coronavirus:
Linking Public Health Protections with the Movement for Youth Decarceration
The Sentencing Project September 30, 2020, by Josh Rovner
Despite almost two decades of declines in U.S. youth incarceration, The Sentencing Project reveals more than 1,800 incarcerated youth have tested positive for COVID-19 since March, including more than 300 cases in Florida and Texas.
As States Gear Up For Vote By Mail, New Report on First-Time & Limited-English Speaking Voters Makes Key Recommendations for California
August 4, 2020
Report from California Common Cause and Center for Social Innovation at UC Riverside features voices and concerns of low-propensity voters
Proposition 47’s Impact on Racial Disparity in Criminal Justice Outcomes
Public Policy Institute of California, June 2020
Magnus Lofstrom, Brandon Martin, Steven Raphael
...In recent years, California has implemented a number of significant reforms that were not motivated by racial disparities but might have narrowed them in a number of ways. In this report, we extend our previous arrest work to examine the impact of Proposition 47, which reclassified a number of drug and property offenses from felonies to misdemeanors, on racial disparities in arrest and jail booking rates and in the likelihood of an arrest resulting in a booking.
While significant inequities persist in California and elsewhere, our findings point to a reduction in pretrial detention and a narrowing of racial disparities in key statewide criminal justice outcomes
REPORT - Voting in Jails
The Sentencing Project, MAY 07, 2020
Nicole D. Porter
As localities consider voting best practices, a new report from The Sentencing Project highlights jurisdictions around the country that actively support ballot access for residents detained in local jails through absentee voting or jail-based polling sites. These initiatives should serve as models to be adopted by all jail systems in order to ensure that individuals housed there do not forfeit their rights of citizenship.
Liberating Our Health:
Ending the Harms of Pretrial Incarceration and Money Bail
Jail Visitation Innovation
Youth Confinement: The Whole Pie 2019
On any given day, over 48,000 youth in the United States are confined in facilities away from home as a result of juvenile justice or criminal justice involvement. Most are held in restrictive, correctional-style facilities, and thousands are held without even having had a trial. But even these high figures represent astonishing progress: Since 2000, the number of youth in confinement has fallen by 60%, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down.An Overview of Evidence-Based Practices and Programs in Prison Reentry
The Steep Costs of Criminal Justice Fees and Fines
November 21, 2019, Matthew Menendez, Michael Crowley, Lauren-Brooke Eisen, Noah Atchison
Review of the Inmate Reception Center Intake Evaluation Process
November 2019Women’s Mass Incarceration:
The Whole Pie 2019
Private Prisons in the United States
The 1994 Crime Bill, Legacy and Lessons
Part One: Impacts on Prison PopulationsWhat America's Users Spend on Illegal Drugs, 2006–2016
- How many people are using cocaine (including crack), heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine in the United States?
- How much are they using?
- How much money are they spending?
- How have these quantities changed over time?
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Calls for Limiting Collateral Consequences for People With Criminal Records
LOS ANGELES COUNTY Alternatives to Incarceration Work Group
Bookings into the L.A. County Jail
(2010-2016)
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights Calls for Limiting Collateral Consequences for People With Criminal Records
New report underscores link between ‘shocking’ number of evictions, homelessness
Using Marijuana Revenue to Create Jobs
The Center for American Progress, May 20, 2019
By Maritza Perez, Olugbenga Ajilore, and Ed Chung
Rand Report
Evaluation of North Carolina's Pathways from Prison to Postsecondary Education Program
by Lois M. Davis, Michelle C. Tolbert
Discretionary Detention by the Numbers
New Fact Sheet: Urban Crime Declines During California's Justice Reform Era (2010-2018)
Where ‘Returning Citizens’ Find Housing After Prison
Starr and Prescott publish groundbreaking empirical study of expungement
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2019
Attorney General Becerra Releases 2017 California Criminal Justice Data Reports
- Crime in California
- Hate Crime in California
- Homicide in California
- Juvenile Justice in California
- URSUS: Use of Force Incident Reporting
A Groundbreaking Report Goes Deep On Black Homelessness In Los Angeles
New Report: Pervasive Violence and Isolation at California's Division of Juvenile Justice Endanger Youth
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
Maureen Washburn & Renee Menart
Feb. 19, 2019
Unlocking the Black Box of Prosecution
Vera Institute of Justice
In order to help unlock this black box, the Vera Institute of Justice created this guide: a tool for interested community members and prosecutors to better understand what prosecutors can do to advance equal justice. Read More
"[DRAFT] The LA County Blue Ribbon Commission on Public Safety finalized its report given to the Board of Supervisors Nov. 15
Regarding the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s DepartmentCooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and [PROPOSED] Recommendations
Read the Draft
Reimagining Prison
Web Report by the Vera Institute
The harsh conditions within prison have been demonstrated neither to ensure safety behind the walls nor to prevent crime and victimization in the community.
"This document—unlike anything we have ever produced at the Vera Institute of Justice (Vera)—is about the possibility of radical change. It asserts a dramatic reconsideration of the most severe criminal sanction we have: incarceration. It articulates a view that is sure to be alien to many. Yet we need not accept as a given the way we do things now, and we encourage you to envision a different path."
REPORT - Decarceration Stratgies: How 5 states achieved substantial prison population reductions
This report by The Sentencing Project, seeks to inform stakeholders in other states of the range of policy options available to them forsignificantly reducing their prison population. While weprovide some assessment of the political environment which contributed to these changes, we do not go into great detail in this area since stakeholders will need to make their own determinations of strategy based on the particularities of their state.
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM: BAIL IN THE CITY OF LOS 
ANGELES A MILLION DOLLAR HOODS REPORT
Isaac Bryan, Terry Allen MA, Kelly Lytle Hernández PhD, and the Million Dollar Hoods Team
Special Report: 2018 Update on Prisoner Recidivism:
A 9-Year Follow-Up Period (2005-2014)
Mariel Alper, Ph.D., and Matthew R. Durose, BJS Statisticians Joshua Markman, former BJS Statistician
Root & Rebound Re-Launches First Online Training Hub for People in Reentry!
BACK TO BUSINESS: HOW HIRING FORMERLY INCARCERATED JOB SEEKERS BENEFITS YOUR COMPANY
is a new report from the Trone Center for Justice & Equality. The report details the ways companies can combat the ills of decades of mass incarceration, while at the same tapping into the potential energy of a workforce of millions.
Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
January 10, 2017 By the Drug Policy Alliance and Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice
For decades, the criminal justice system has incentivized arrests, convictions, incarceration, and other criminal consequences for drug use. However, the American public increasingly believes problematic substance use is a public health problem, not a criminal one. In California, drug policy reforms implemented over recent years reflect these changing perceptions.
Peter Espinoza, Director of Office Diversion & Re-Entry gave an overview of the various current and upcoming projects by Office of Diversion and Reentry at the last LARRP General meeting. Click below to download a powerpoint of his presentation.
Shadow Prisons
The Southern Poverty Law Center
November 21, 2016 by Southern Poverty Law Center, National Immigrant Project of the National Lawyers Guild, and Adelante Alabama Worker Center
This report is the result of a seven-month investigation of six detention centers in the South, a region where tens of thousands of people are locked up for months, sometimes even years, as they await hearings or deportation.