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Research Summary Policy Implications: The average length of jail stays is increasing despite national efforts to reduce these populations. The current study examines variations in lengths of stay, differentiating between short and long pretrial stays. Using data from two large jails in metropolitan jurisdictions, we take an intersectional perspective and model potential differences among race, gender, and residing in a high‐poverty area. In both locations, we find that Black men are the most likely to have long lengths of stay, but that length of stay varies depending on the intersection of gender, race, and neighborhood poverty.The human costs of pretrial detention are paid unequally by different groups of people. Given the downstream costs of pretrial detention, this work suggests that focusing policy efforts on the barriers to release among people of color, particularly Black men, would be fruitful. There is evidence that bail reform can reduce some barriers to release without increases in crime. Further, attending to obstacles to case processing could lead to pretrial system reform. This work also highlights another area of the criminal legal system where Black males, compared to their White counterparts, are disparately affected and denotes the continuing need for intersectional perspectives on reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

American jails process millions of bookings each year, and prior research has documented high rates of mental and physical ailments among people held in jails. The existing literature, however, provides only minimal insight into the occurrence of multiple health conditions. This study sought to estimate the prevalence of physical and mental health multimorbidity among people held in jails in the United States. Using a nationally representative sample of responses to the National Inmate Survey, 2011–2012 (N = 5,494), we analyzed reports of physical health conditions, mental health conditions, and disabilities among people in local jails. Prevalence of two or more conditions was 28.5% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 27.3%, 29.7%) for mental health, 55.5% (95% CI = 54.2%, 56.8%) for physical health, and 15.5% (95% CI = 14.6%, 16.5%) for disabilities. At least one condition across all three health domains was estimated at 29.4% (95% CI = 28.2%, 30.6%). Prevalence of two or more co-occurring conditions without regard for domain was 76.9% (95% CI = 75.8%, 78.0%). Rates were consistently higher among women than among men. Jailed people show a high rate of co-occurring mental and physical health conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite their significance in criminal legal processing, American jails have a reputation for physical and operational deficiencies, with few aspirations beyond mere custody. To examine the possibilities for United States (U.S.) jails' progress, we assess the priorities of U.S. jail leaders, their expectations about achieving reforms, and perceived obstacles regarding change. Our analysis showed that while jail command staff embrace custody, they also endorse social service functions of jails, favor facilities that are safe and clean, support a professional workforce, accept other progressive features of jails, and reject punishment and brutality. They recognize impediments to progress, but are optimistic about potential improvements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feld asserts that juvenile justice is entering a new era, one that is based on the idea that kids are different from adults in a number of important ways. It is against this backdrop that we conducted a contemporary, national assessment of the public's views of youth today and juvenile justice policy priorities, focusing specifically on an understudied policy, juvenile-blended sentencing. We find the public holds pessimistic views of youth today, which influences their support for blended sentencing. Support for blended sentencing is also found to be related to belief in the potential consequences of such a sentence as well as belief in the importance of the goals of juvenile justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using nationally representative data, this research examined the associations between indicators of minority threat and juvenile justice processing following a first arrest. At intake, increasing Black presence in the community resulted in leniency, rather than severity. Once adjudicated, the size of the Black population had a nonlinear inverted-U shaped relationship with probability of placement. Increasing Hispanic presence was associated with leniency in disposition, and economic threat was not significantly related outcomes. Indicators of minority threat did not exacerbate outcomes for minority youth. These findings suggest that, contrary to the expectations of minority threat theory, the growing presence of minorities in communities may weaken social control and harsh punishments, particularly once the size of the minority population reaches a critical threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power is a central feature of correctional supervision, but almost no research has examined the types of power employed by probation and parole officers to encourage compliance with the conditions of supervision among people serving a community-based sentence. The current study explores this area using data from a sample of juvenile and adult probation and parole officers. Authors find that officers embrace multiple bases of power as important, that the perceived importance of power bases is highly consistent across demographic groups and levels of professional experience, and that perceptions of the importance of power predict the emphasis that officers believe should be placed on some types of supervision tasks. Authors discuss these findings in the context of modern community-based corrections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research has established the public recognizes the obstacles former prisoners' face upon release from prison, and they support various offender reentry services. Still, we do not have a solid understanding of what affects public opinion on prisoner reentry nor is it clear that support for policies also extends to individuals' willingness to engage with ex-offenders on a personal level. Drawing on a random sample of South Carolina residents, the current study examines the extent to which citizens' belief in offenders' redeemability influences their support for reentry initiatives at a policy and personal level. The results of this study show support for several types of reentry services, reveal that policy-level opinions and personal-level acceptance depend on the type of services, and demonstrate that belief in the redeemability of offenders is an important predictor of the degree to which the public embraces reentry programming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]