Examining State Spending Trends, 2010 - 2015
From the early 1970s into the new millennium, the U.S. prison population experienced unprecedented growth, which had a direct influence on state budgets. In recent years, however, lawmakers in nearly every state and from across the political spectrum have enacted new laws to reduce prison populations and spending. This report, which builds upon the...
Building Trust in a Diverse Nation
According to the 2010 Census, 37% of the U.S. population reported their race and ethnicity as something other than “non-Hispanic White alone.” The numbers of people of color have increased by almost 30% between 2000 and 2010, and by 2060, they will make up nearly 60% of the country. Our country is diversifying rapidly and, despite their best effort...
Since 1970, there has been a nearly five-fold increase in the number of people in U.S. jails—the approximately 3,000 county or municipality-run detention facilities that primarily hold people arrested but not yet convicted of a crime. Despite recent scrutiny from policymakers and the public, one aspect of this growth has received little attention: ...
The criminalization of poverty in the justice system
Insha Rahman, program director for the Vera Institute of Justice, explains how the cash bail system criminalizes poverty in the United States. This video was produced in partnership with Global Citizen.
Safely Increasing Access to Public Housing for People with Conviction Histories
For more than 600,000 people leaving prison and the nearly 11 million cycling through jails annually, research shows that safe, affordable housing is essential for them to succeed after they are released. While all public housing authorities (PHAs) must, by law, place lifetime exclusions on people who are lifetime-registered sex offenders or who ha...
Keeping Survivors of Domestic Violence and Their Children Safe
Ending an intimate relationship, particularly when children are involved, is difficult. When the relationship has been affected by domestic violence, risks to the safety of the adult victim and the children compound the difficulties. Despite the risks involved in granting violent parents contact with their children, some courts and legislatures are...
We toured German prisons in Hameln and Berlin, Germany and what we saw was incredible. This is what a prison system looks like when it is centered around treating people humanely. It showed us that we can do things a different way in the U.S.
Fact Sheet on the National Initiative to Enhance Policing for Persons with Mental Illnesses and Developmental Disabilities
People living with mental illnesses and developmental disabilities are disproportionately represented in contacts with the police, and these interactions can lead to stress and dangerous conditions for everyone involved. Law enforcement agencies can now request the tools they need to serve safely and effectively.
Prof. David Weisburd on the findings of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report
In this interview Prof. David Weisburd (George Mason University) summarizes the findings of The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report on proactive policing—focusing on the practice’s impacts on crime, and the reactions of communities. David Weisburd is distinguished professor of criminology, law and society at George Mas...
American policing is at a difficult crossroads. Ruptured relations between police and many of the communities they serve represents one of the greatest challenges facing contemporary American society. To bridge this gulf, the Vera Institute of Justice seeks to advance alternatives to enforcement that maximize public safety and enhance community rel...
Ending girls’ incarceration requires communities to treat girls fairly and with respect—that means eliminating reliance on law enforcement and the courts when girls run away, skip school, or disobey a parent.
Officer Nicole Moyer of the Burlington Police Department opens up about working on the front lines of the opioid crisis.
Centering Gender in Status Offense Reform Efforts
Prof. Bruce Western on Reentry
Professor Bruce Western talks about the issues formerly incarcerated people face upon reentry, the role of family support after prison, and how trauma challenges the ethics of punishment.
Prof. Monica Bell's work examines how predominantly African-American samples of parents and youth in three American cities—Washington, DC; Cleveland, Ohio; and Baltimore, Maryland—understand police presence in their everyday lives. In reexamining this issue, the project as a whole reveals the deep and often overlooked complexity in the relationship...