[From Our Partners] Probation Violations as Drivers of Jail Incarceration in St. Louis, Missouri
Reducing jail populations—and the collateral consequences of criminal legal system involvement—requires jurisdictions to critically examine why and how people are entering the system to begin with. Much of the research around jail reform focuses on the pretrial population; however, with rising numbers of individuals under probation supervision and jail commonly being used to detain those awaiting a hearing on a probation violation, it becomes essential to reform efforts to understand how violations contribute to the overall jail population.
In effort to learn more about the impact probation revocations have on jails, and promising strategies to address it, ISLG funded the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) through the Safety and Justice Challenge to conduct a mixed-methods study on probation revocations as a driver of jail incarceration and the impact of a program aimed at addressing technical probation violations in the county, called the St. Louis County Expedited Probation Program (EPP).
Using administrative data from the St. Louis County Jail as well as interviews with jail staff, probation staff, and individuals on probation, the study aimed to understand not just the impact of probation violations on the local jail population, but to understand the process by which individuals are revoked to jail, whether or not the EPP is effective, and why individuals violate probation in the first place.
Key takeaways include:
Though probation violations represent a small part of the total jail population in St. Louis County, these individuals have substantially longer average lengths of stay than others in the jail. Addressing length of stay for individuals with probation violations requires understanding the probation violation process and the key discretion points that impact the decision to issue a violation.
Evidence suggests that enhancing case processing for those with a probation violation through improved collaboration and coordination between probation officers and the courts is a potential strategy for addressing length of stay for violators and reducing their impact on the local jail population. Efforts should also draw attention to the significant needs of this population, including substance use disorders and poverty.
The EPP was able to reduce the length of stay for those with a probation violation, with participants spending an average of 28 days in jail compared to 65 days for individuals not in the program. The program also successfully reduced the disparity in this metric for Black people. However, participants were significantly more likely to be readmitted to jail, highlighting the complexity of designing strategies to address probation violations and their causes.
In summary, in St. Louis County, probation violations were a driver of the jail population and contributed to substantial disparities in length of stay between Black and White people before the implementation of the EPP. Ultimately, there is a significant need for more research to establish best practices in jail and probation management to address the impact of probation violations on local jail populations, understand the needs of people released from jail, and to achieve more holistic reform.
About the Safety and Justice Challenge
In 2015, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation launched the Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC), a multi-year initiative to reduce populations and racial disparities in American jails. To advance knowledge development grounded in a research agenda that explores, evaluates, and documents site-specific strategies to safely and effectively reduce jail populations and address racial and ethnic disparities, the Foundation engaged the Institute for State & Local Governance (ISLG) at the City University of New York (CUNY) to establish and oversee an SJC Research Consortium. Consortium members are nationally renowned research, policy, and academic organizations collaborating with SJC sites to build an evidence base focused on pretrial reform efforts.