Issues and Challenges in Reducing Jail Populations: Lessons Learned from the Safety and Justice Challenge

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract/Description

Jail populations have tripled since the 1980s as the United States has increasingly used local incarceration: more than 3,000 jails hold more than 650,000 people on a given day. Jails are a critical part of our nation's incarceration problem and have troubling social, financial, and individual consequences, that further reinforce inequities related to poverty, race, and gender identity. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation launched the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) in 2015 seeking to reduce over-incarceration by changing the way American thinks about and uses jails. This thematic panel will present findings from four papers, each highlighting a different strategy to reduce local jail populations designed and implemented under the Safety and Justice Challenge. The strategies featured are approaches to reduce case processing times and expedite initial court appearances, alternatives to pretrial detention, and reducing probation violations, all with the goal purpose of reducing local jail populations. Featured sites include Harris County, Texas; Clark County, Nevada; Missoula, Montana; and Palm Beach County, Florida. Findings are drawn from semi-structured qualitative interviews, document review, and analysis of jail population data.

Sub Unit

• Area VI. The Criminal Justice System / 48. Jails & Prisons

Individual Presentations

• Case Processing and Jail Reduction: The Implementation and Impact of Case Processing Changes in Harris County, Texas - Walter Campbell, Urban Institute; Shruti Nayak, Urban Institute

• Findings from Designing and Implementing an Initial Appearance Court in Clark County, Nevada - Paige S. Thompson, Urban Institute; Travis Reginal, Urban Institute

• Reducing Pretrial Populations: Findings from a Municipal Court Pretrial Program in Missoula, Montana - Mary Hayford, Urban Institute; Paige S. Thompson, Urban Institute

• Findings from Designing and Implementing a Mobile Probation Unit in Palm Beach County, Florida - Mary Hayford, Urban Institute; Evelyn F. McCoy, Urban Institute

Discussant

• Nida Abbasi, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation