Last night, in his State of the Union Address, President Biden touched on a few criminal justice reform issues and his administration’s plan to help combat these issues. Most notable is the plan to invest more in crime prevention and a fairer criminal justice system. To help prevent crime, Biden is urging Congress, through his Safer America Plan, to invest 15 billion in programs that encompass mental health and substance use disorder services. Programs such as co-responder and alternative responders have shown promise; however, more research is needed to measure the full benefits of these types of programs.
Biden is also pushing job training and greater employment opportunities for many at-risk individuals, including teens and young adults, the homeless, and people leaving prisons. Utilizing incentives to produce reforms, the Safer America plan hopes to reduce or improve laws that increase incarceration without reducing public safety. In addition, this plan will lift almost all federal restrictions on eligibility for food, income, and disability-based assistance benefits for people with prior convictions. This heightened focus on criminal justice reform may leave many wondering whether these issues are creating a problem.
What Does the Data Say?
We started this year examining current federal data on the criminal justice system, beginning with analyzing federal arrests and booking trends for women. Here are our key findings:
This month we review female federal sentencing trends from 2000 to 2021. Utilizing data from the US Sentencing Commission (USSC)—Monitoring Data Base, we juxtapose the findings above with what we observe from our analysis of the sentencing data. Stay tuned for an in-depth look at:
- How many women are sentenced annually?
- At what rates are Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native American, and White women being sentenced?
- Is each racial and ethnic group of women receiving the various types of sentencing at comparable rates?
As we carry on throughout this month, Black History Month. Let us remember the five famous last words of our country’s pledge.
“With Liberty And Justice For All”
Take care,
