Arrest, Release, Repeat: How police and jails are misused to respond to social problems
Source: Prison Policy Initiative
Resource Type: Website or Webpage Article
Focus Population: Peers/Clients/Consumers, People with Criminal or Juvenile Justice System Involvement
Topics: Criminal or Juvenile Justice System
Police and jails are supposed to promote public safety. Increasingly, however, law enforcement is called upon to respond punitively to medical and economic problems unrelated to public safety issues. As a result, local jails are filled with people who need medical care and social services, many of whom cycle in and out of jail without ever receiving the help they need. Conversations about this problem are becoming more frequent, but until now, these conversations have been missing three fundamental data points: how many people go to jail each year, how many return, and which underlying problems fuel this cycle.