Safety and Justice Challenge 2024 Research Year-in-Review
The Safety and Justice Challenge (SJC) Research Year in Review is a roundup of the latest research from sites across the initiative. The Review is compiled by CUNY ISLG, which serves as the national data intermediary and primary data and analytic partner for the SJC, as well as the manager of the SJC Research Consortium. This edition of the Review summarizes research activities that took place throughout 2024, including new Research Consortium memberships, updates on newly funded work, and recently published research products, with a spotlight on women and survivors of violence in the criminal legal system.
Research Highlights
2024 Research Consortium Publication Summaries
Achieving Racial Equity and Improving Culture in Jails Using a Community-Engaged Quality Improvement Process, Wellbeing & Equity Innovations, May 2024
This study employed a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) process to uncover policies and practices that perpetuate bias for both staff and residents of the jail— and then develop, implement, and refine interventions that reform these problem areas. “Change Teams,” or workgroups comprised (separately) of jail residents and staff, led this effort to identify issues and devise recommendations, including increasing transparency and accountability with a focus on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and supporting mental health.
Emergency COVID-19 Jail Reduction Strategies, Justice System Partners, December 2024
Justice System Partners conducted a research study that aimed to gauge the impact of COVID-19 emergency jail decarceration strategies on jail populations and community safety in an SJC site. Using a mixed-methods approach, they found that participation in the SJC allowed stakeholders to swiftly implement emergency jail reduction strategies, mainly by expanding eligibility criteria for existing SJC strategies, and that significant jail reductions achieved during the pandemic did not lead to increases in overall crime or violent offenses.
2024 SJC Research Publications from ISLG
Turning Local Data into Meaningful Reforms, CUNY ISLG, January 2024
Justice System Partners conducted a research study that aimed to gauge the impact of COVID-19 emergency jail decarceration strategies on jail populations and community safety in an SJC site. Using a mixed-methods approach, they found that participation in the SJC allowed stakeholders to swiftly implement emergency jail reduction strategies, mainly by expanding eligibility criteria for existing SJC strategies, and that significant jail reductions achieved during the pandemic did not lead to increases in overall crime or violent offenses.
Lowering Jail Populations Safely Before, During, and After COVID-19, CUNY ISLG, July 2024
Jail population reduction reforms are often cited as causing crime increases. In 2023, CUNY ISLG evaluated this claim using data from cities and counties that have implemented jail reforms as part of the SJC. The 2023 analysis found that jail populations were lowered safely, without driving an increase in crime or an increase in returns to jail custody. A year later, this brief presents a follow-up analysis that shows these findings still hold true.
Looking Forward in 2025: A New Focus on Women
With SJC goals of safely reducing jail populations and racial and ethnic disparities in jail, it is crucial to better understand the ways that intersectionality impacts jail incarceration. Drawing on a preliminary analysis conducted by ISLG, the post-pandemic increase for women’s jail incarceration rates is even greater in SJC sites (+24 percent between 2021 and 2022) when compared to the women’s jail incarceration rate nationally (+9 percent between 2021 and 2022). To provide more insight into the patterns in SJC sites, in particular, ISLG released an RWFP to the Research Consortium in October that prioritizes research explicitly focused on women in jail. Learn more about CUNY ISLG’s initial exploration into this issue and rising rates of incarceration for women in jails on our latest blogpost.
ABOUT THE SAFETY & 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.