Sustainable Action Now reports: For the first time in two decades, the public finally has access to comprehensive, national-level data on the criminal charges leading to jail incarceration in the United States. Our analysis of newly released figures from the Jail Data Initiative fills a critical gap left since the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ 2002 survey.
This groundbreaking dataset offers unprecedented insights into:
- The types of charges associated with people currently in jail (one-day jail population)
- The charges behind bookings over a full year
- The distinction between top charges and all charges filed
- Variations in charges based on gender, jail size, and geographic region
Why This Matters
For years, advocates, researchers, and policymakers have operated with limited understanding of why people are jailed across the U.S. — particularly at the local level, where jail populations fluctuate daily and are driven largely by policing practices and pretrial policies.
With this new data, we can:
- Better analyze pretrial detention trends
- Expose racial and regional disparities in charging and booking practices
- Support evidence-based reforms aimed at reducing unnecessary incarceration
“This level of transparency is essential to reform. Without understanding the charges behind jail incarceration, we’ve been flying blind for 20 years.”
This analysis represents a major leap forward in understanding the true drivers of mass incarceration at the local level — and provides essential tools for anyone working toward meaningful criminal justice reform.
Read the full analysis on the Prison Policy Blog
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