Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Pretrial Release and Rebooking Trends

• In Event: Leveraging Data for Impact: Estimating the Effects of Proposed Reforms and Measuring and Addressing Racial Disparities

Abstract

This panel will discuss findings from an updated community safety report from Safety and Justice Challenge jurisdictions. Previous reports in this series used jail data through 2022 and indicated that it is possible to reduce jail populations safely, and that rebooking rates were consistent over time – before the SJC, through implementation of SJC jail reduction strategies, during the peak of COVID-19, and after the peak of COVID-19. This analysis examines rebooking rates by race and ethnicity to identify disparities that exist in jail populations. Using case-level jail data from 14 SJC cities and counties through April 2024, we analyze pretrial releases and rebooking rates six months after release by race and ethnicity to understand differences in booking and release practices by race and ethnicity over the course of almost a decade.

Authors

• Sana Khan, CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance

• Erin Sheena, CUNY Institute for State and Local Governance