Staff from Vera’s Center on Sentencing and Corrections and Cost-Benefit Analysis Unit developed a methodology to calculate the taxpayer cost of prisons, including costs outside states’ corrections budgets. Among the 40 states that participated in a survey, the cost of prisons was $38.8 billion in fiscal year 2010, $5.4 billion more than what their corrections budgets reflected. States’ costs outside their corrections departments ranged from less than 1 percent of total prison costs in Arizona to as much as 34 percent in Connecticut.

Research shows that incarcerated young people who sustain positive relationships with loved ones have better outcomes during and after being in juvenile justice placement facilities than youth who do not. This brief summarizes the first year of a research and technical assistance project the Vera Institute of Justice conducted with the Ohio Department of Youth Services. The initiative was designed to help placement facility staff draw on the families of incarcerated youth as a source of support.

Just 'Cause is the quarterly newsletter of the Vera Institute of Justice and is produced by the Communications Department.

In 2005, Vera launched The Guardianship Project in New York City in collaboration with the New York State Office of Court Administration to address systemic inadequacies in the practice of legal guardianship for primarily elderly incapacitated people. Poor oversight and the absence of best practices in guardianship is a national problem, and New York State is no exception. This brief examines the national flaws in guardianship practice, focuses on New York State’s needs, and recommends ways to improve the system, save taxpayer funds, and protect a vulnerable population.

This report was produced for the Los Angeles Countywide Criminal Justice Coordination Committee, which published it on its website on October 26, 2011. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of the factors that contribute to chronic overcrowding in Los Angeles County jails and provides recommendations for improvements.

Law enforcement agencies increasingly recognize the value of the U-visa (officially known as “U” nonimmigrant status) as a community-policing and crime-fighting tool. This type of visa provides temporary legal status to immigrant crime victims in the United States who are helpful to law enforcement.

Most research and programming about incarcerated people and their family support systems focus on prison settings. Because jail is substantially different from prison—most notably, time served there is usually shorter—it is not clear that policies and practices that work in prisons can be applied successfully in jails.