Resources

A report analyzing a federal survey with findings on the amount of people arrested and jailed each year and the frequency at which those individuals are cycled back into jail. Analysis shows that repeated arrests are related to race and poverty, as well as high rates of mental illness and substance use disorders. PPI found that people who are jailed have much higher rates of social, economic, and health problems that cannot and should not be addressed through incarceration. This report also includes policy solutions that can break this cycle of incarceration by addressing people’s needs in their communities rather than through the criminal justice system.

Ending mass incarceration and repairing its extensive collateral consequences must begin by focusing on the front end of the system: police work. Recognizing the roughly 18,000 police agencies around the country as gatekeepers of the system, this report explores the factors driving mass enforcement, particularly of low-level offenses; what police agencies could do instead with the right community investment, national and local leadership, and officer training, incentives, and support; and policies that could shift the policing paradigm away from the reflexive use of enforcement, which unnecessarily criminalizes people and leads directly to the jailhouse door.

In order to reduce our reliance on the criminal justice system, we need to invest in building stronger communities capable of dealing with their problems in non-coercive and non-punitive ways. Across the US local and national organizations are working to divest from policing and prisons and invest in communities and individuals. This provides an example list of platforms, organizations, and other resources that aim to build stronger communities.

Emerging Issues in American Policing is a quarterly digest intended for police-practitioners and community members that presents innovations in the field of policing from the leading academic journals and research publications. The April 2019 issue includes “Mental Health Calls in a Rural Police Department,” “Racial Disparities in Nashville’s Traffic Stops,” “Crisis Intervention Team Training for Youth and Officer Awareness,” and more.

A report by JusticeLA, Center for Popular Democracy, and Law 4 Black Lives on policing and punishment budgets in LA county and recommendations for change.

A report by the National Center for Transgender Equality, Best Practices Policy Project, and Red Umbrella Project that details transgender experiences in the sex trade, including interactions with the police and experience with incarceration.

A report on how the lack of school mental health staff and increase in school police is harming students.

A collection of reports from the Alternatives to Arrest initiative, including the role of research in policy change, creating a fairer pretrial system, targeting fines and fees, and disrupting the cycle of mental illness, substance use, and incarceration.

This report examines racial disparities, policing landscapes, and budgets in twelve jurisdictions across the country, comparing the city and county spending priorities with
those of community organizations and their members. It also provides an invest/divest framework and “Budget 101” to help readers understand some of the terms
reflected in this report, and provide a general framework of budget analysis and advocacy. The report also highlights the potential impact of participatory budgeting.