Article Compendium

The Presley Center's Article Compendium

The article compendium is updated monthly and aggregates research articles and reports authored by a variety of scholars, think tanks, and agencies for easy reference by those interested in emerging criminal justice issues. These resources are not authored or endorsed by Presley’s affiliated researchers or the center and is not intended to cover all criminal justice subject matters.

Helping People Released from Prisons and jails find Housing: A State by State Resource Guide

This manual focuses on assisting those who were released from correctional facilities to find secure and safe housing during the Covid-19 pandemic. With social distancing and quarantine policies, many transitional facilities have closed their doors to those who were suddenly released from correctional facilities due to Covid-19. Information on shelter closings and regional shelter coordination...
By Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. |

Juvenile Arrests

According to the Department of Justice, in 2018, Law Enforcement agencies made an estimated 728,280 arrests of youth younger than 18-the fewest arrests of juveniles in nearly four decades. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program Arrest reports the number of arrests that law enforcement agencies made in a given year—not the...
By Charles Puzzanchera |

Keeping Up With the Changing Landscape of Drugs of Abuse: What Do the Data Say?

This article provides examples of of local, state, and national efforts aimed at tracking a the supplies of illicit substances, including opioids and stimulants. All three agencies aim to collect data from a number of sources, including fire/emergency medical services (EMS) departments and law enforcement agencies in order to help to utilize reliable and timely...
By Bureau of Justice Assistance |

Length of Incarceration and Recidivism

The U.S. Sentencing Commission Office of Research and Data examined the relationship between the length of incarceration and recidivism. Twenty-five thousand four hundred thirty-one federal offenders with 120 months or more sentencing were examined within five study cohorts. The study groups were identified as having a statistically significant deterrent relationship between incarceration and recidivism. Offenders...
By Ryan Cotter, Ph.D. |

Prop 25 Refrendum on law that replaced money bail with system based on public safety and flight risk

A general voter information guide presented by the California Secretary of State on Proposition 25. The prop is a referendum on SB 10 and will determine whether the bill will go into effect. A "yes" vote means SB 10 will go into effect and a "no" vote rejects SB 10. Specifically, approval of this proposition...
By California Secretary of State |

Retroactivity and Recidivism: The Drugs Minus Two Amendment

The publication compares the recidivism rate of federal offenders released according to the retroactive application of the Drugs Minus Two Amendment (eligible offenders serving a previously imposed term of imprisonment to file a motion under 18 U.S.C. § 3582(c)(2) for a sentence reduction) with the recidivism rate of similar offenders. They completed their full sentences...
By Kim Steven Hunt Ph.D, David Rutter, M.P.A, Todd Kostyshak J.D. |

Exploring Alternatives to Cash Bail: An Evaluation of Orange County’s Pretrial Assessment and Release Supervision (PARS) Program

A 2019 evaluation based report that sought to analyze the implementation of pretrial risk and supervised release program on pretrial release rates, judicial bail determinations, and failure to appear (FTA) rates among non-violent felony defendants in Orange County, CA that resulted in little to no pretrial release rates - but instead decreased the FTA of...
By Matt Barno, Deyanira Nevárez Martínez, Kirk R. Williams |

NIH - Funded Research Examines What Works for Successful Reentry

NIJ's most significant reentry investments include evaluations of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) and the Second Chance Act, which sought to improve reentry outcomes. In a longer-term follow-up study in 2012, NIJ-supported researchers found that SVORI programs' participation was associated with longer times to rearrest and fewer arrests in general. As for...
By Blair Ames |

Integrated Reentry & Employment Strategies: Pilot Project Process Evaluation Report October 2019

In Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and Palm Beach County, Florida, a three-year pilot project was conducted to assess corrections, workforce development, and employment-focused reentry agencies to provide services by the evidence-based practices. The study used a mixed-method process evaluation collecting quantitative analysis of participant case files and qualitative data. These include document review, surveys administered to...
By Erica Nelson, Greg Halls, Jessica Gonzales-Bricker, Dr. Nicole Jarrett, Megan Quattlebaum |

Immigration, Citizenship, and the Federal Justice System, 1998 - 2018 (2019)

Immigration, Citizenship, and the Federal Justice System, 1998 - 2018 (2019)
By Mark Motivans |

Nation’s Largest Prosecutor Organization Endorses Pell Grant Restoration for Incarcerated Students

Nation’s Largest Prosecutor Organization Endorses Pell Grant Restoration for Incarcerated Students
By National District Attorneys Association |

California’s Prison Population (2019)

California’s Prison Population (2019)
By Heather Harris, Justin Goss, Joseph Hayes, and Alexandria Gumbs |

The California Criminal Justice Data Gap (2019)

The California Criminal Justice Data Gap (2019)
By Mikaela Rabinowitz, Robert Weisberg, Lauen McQueen Pearce |

Bail Reform: A Practical Guide Based on Research and Experience

The Bail reform guide aims to provide detailed information about various states and their history of Bail Reform. Presented in the guide are the six states of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, and Texas. Key members involved in each state's reform efforts were interviewed, including chief justices, appellate court justices, the trial court judges...
By National Task Force on Fines, Fees and Bail Practices |

Layers of Bias: A Unified Approach for Understanding Problems With Risk Assessment

A research article published under the Criminal justice and Behavior (BSI) journal that focused on the debate around algorithm risk assessment in the Criminal Justice system. The article addressed layers of bias, challenges to fairness within the risk-assessment models themselves as they integrate statistical fairness and the tradeoffs between them. Using data from a racially...
By Laurel Eckhouse, Kristian Lum, Cynthia Conti-Cook, Julie Ciccolini |

Audit Consulting Services for the Evaluation of Realignment Efforts

Audit Consulting Services for the Evaluation of Realignment Efforts
By EVALCORP |

Impact of Risk Assessment on Judges’ Fairness in Sentencing Relatively Poor Defendants (2019)

Impact of Risk Assessment on Judges’ Fairness in Sentencing Relatively Poor Defendants (2019)
By Jennifer Skeem, Nicholas Scurich, John Monahan |

Managing the Seriously Mentally ill in Corrections

The National Institute of Justice (NIJ) and the Priority Criminal Justice Needs Initiative convened an expert workshop to identify the challenges with managing individuals with serious mental illness under correctional control. RAND Corporation and the University of Denver (DU) brought together 15 experts of prison, jail, probation, parole administrators; researchers; and mental health care professionals...
By John S. Shaffer, Joe Russo, Dulani Woods, Brian A. Jackson |

Managing the Seriously Mentally Ill in Corrections (2019)

Managing the Seriously Mentally Ill in Corrections (2019)
By John S. Shaffer, Joe Russo, Dulani Woods, Brian A. Jackson |

Pretrial Risk Assessment in California 2019

The report provides an overview of pretrial risk assessment in California. According to the report, pretrial services' four goals are maximizing individuals' right to liberty, public safety, court appearances, and equity. (1) Forty-nine of California's 58 counties use pretrial risk assessment tools alongside bail. (2) A risk assessment tool is only one component of informed...
By Heather M. Harris, Justine Goss, and Alexandria Gumbs |