Research
The use of data to inform policy and drive change is at the core of Vera’s approach to reform. Researchers based in each of Vera’s thematic centers and programs use a range of methods and approaches to address some of the most pressing justice issues of our time. Currently, Vera is conducting dozens of studies ranging from evaluations of legal services for unaccompanied migrant children, to research on the use of solitary confinement, to services for people with mental illness and substance use needs who are involved in justice systems. While the topics addressed by our research are wide-ranging, the common thread that runs through all of this work is a drive to use data to understand and address real-world problems that perpetuate disparity and limit the ability of vulnerable groups to access justice.
Featured
An Unjust Burden
The Disparate Treatment of Black Americans in the Criminal Justice System
The evidence for racial disparities in the criminal justice system is well documented. The disproportionate racial impact of certain laws and policies, as well as biased decision making by justice system actors, leads to higher rates of arrest and incarceration in low-income communities of color. However, there is no evidence that these widely disp ...
Preventing Suicide and Self-Harm in Jail
A Sentinel Events Approach
Suicide is the leading cause of death in jails across the country. At a time when the public is paying closer attention to local jails and their primary role in mass incarceration, it is critical to shine light on the problem of jail suicide and the steps jails can take to prevent future deaths. This report is the second from Vera that frames suici ...
Related Work
No Access to Justice
Breaking the Cycle of Homelessness and Jail
On any given night in the United States, more than 550,000 people experience homelessness. The U.S. legal system criminalizes survival behaviors associated with homelessness and fails to acknowledge that people who are homeless face impossible odds within the legal process. Black people, who already face a disproportionate risk of homelessness, are ...
Series: Covid-19
In a Precarious Economy, Governments and Courts Must Take Immediate Action to Reduce Criminal Justice Fines and Fees
Fines and fees exist at every stage of the criminal justice process, from arrest and booking to conviction and sentencing. People can be ticketed for even minor infractions, charged to enter a jail, and then charged additional fees for each day they remain there. Even those serving non-jail sentences like probation or community service can be charg ...
Blog Post
Maria Rafael
Coronavirus Guidance for Prisons and Jails
The Vera Institute of Justice is acutely aware of—and increasingly concerned about—the safety and well-being of an often-overlooked population: the millions living in America’s prisons, jails, and detention centers. Unable to practice social distancing or to easily access soap or hand sanitizer (which is still considered contraband in most prisons ...
Understanding Law Enforcement Practice in Your Community: An Exploration of 911 Open Data Sets
This sort of analysis is just the tip of the iceberg, and we’ll be blogging about how best to use the data here. We’re expecting people to reach out so that they can ask more questions. We would love to start a conversation about how Vera and Two-Sigma can support your 911 data exploration in your city, and how you can use the data aggregation and ...
Blog Post
Frankie Wunschel
The Arrest-Jail Admission Gap
Jail admission rates surpass arrest rates in small and rural counties
But why does this jail-arrest gap exist? First, it is important to acknowledge that differences in counties’ data collection, data sources, and documentation could have contributed to the gap. Federal statistics have some data gaps—not all arrests are reported in FBI statistics, and some jail admissions are missing in states that have city level pr ...
Blog Post
Abdul Rad
Wenshu (Monica) Yang
Justice Denied
The Harmful and Lasting Effects of Pretrial Detention
The pretrial population—the number of people who are detained while awaiting trial—increased 433 percent between 1970 and 2015. This growth is in large part due to the increased use of monetary bail. But pretrial detention has far-reaching negative consequences. This evidence brief presents information on the way that pretrial detention is currentl ...
Expanding our Knowledge on Local Incarceration Trends
Using the state as the unit of analysis is sufficient for understanding the broad contours of incarceration in the United States, but it does not provide the level of detail necessary to unpack its causes and consequences. This is because it is largely county officials—judges, prosecutors, people who manage jails—that decide how communities use inc ...
Blog Post
Christian Henrichson
Jacob Kang-Brown
The Prison Paradox
More Incarceration Will Not Make Us Safer
For the Record Evidence Brief Series Despite its widespread use, research shows that the effect of incarceration as a deterrent to crime is minimal at best, and has been diminishing for several years. Indeed, increased rates of incarceration have no demonstrated effect on violent crime and in some instances may increase crime. There are more effect ...
Measuring Public Safety
Responsibly Interpreting Statistics on Violent Crime
For the Record Evidence Brief Series With a few hyper-localized exceptions that require targeted attention, violent crime rates are lower today than they have been at any point over the past four decades. However, this era of public safety has been misrepresented by some media reports and public commentary concluding that violent crime increases in ...
For the Record
Evidence on Crime and Safety in America
A New Normal
Addressing Opioid Use through the Criminal Justice System
The United States is experiencing an epidemic of drug overdose deaths that cuts across economic, racial, and geographic boundaries. In the midst of this devastation, people are struggling to find ways to save the lives of their community members. While the “war on drugs” created tough enforcement policies that resulted in a bloated justice system, ...
Past Due
Examining the Costs and Consequences of Charging for Justice in New Orleans
In New Orleans, as in many cities around the country, nearly every phase of the criminal justice system imposes a financial cost on the “users” of that system, even before they are convicted of a crime. These bail, fines, and fees take a steep toll on the people who face them and their families. They also affect taxpayers, who bear the cost of exc ...