Reducing the Misuse and Overuse of Jails in Safety and Justice Challenge Sites
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 track the progress of reforms in the SJC jurisdictions, the Foundation engaged the Institute for State and Local Governance (ISLG) at the City University of New York (CUNY). Our latest report focuses on performance three years into the Challenge (through April 2019). Three years of data from SJC sites across the United States shows it’s possible to successfully reduce jail populations. The numbers show significant declines in overall and pretrial jail populations, and improved outcomes for People of Color across the sites. Jail bookings are down, particularly for people charged with misdemeanors. However, racial and ethnic disparities persist in jail populations, and there has been limited progress on reducing length of stay and felony bookings.