FY 2021 Local Jail Reporting Program (LJRP) Pilot Test

Description

The Department of Justice is committed to advancing work that promotes civil rights, increases access to justice, supports crime victims, protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and the community. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is seeking applications for funding to conduct a pilot test of the Local Jails Reporting Program (LJRP), a new jail-data collection of individual-level jail inmate administrative records. The LJRP will capture jail bookings with timestamps and information on the circumstances of admission and release. It will also collect data on a one-day snapshot of the jail population, including demographic and criminal justice characteristics of inmates, such as offense or charge, bail and temporary release, court disposition, and sentence. The data collected from the LJRP will be used solely for statistical and research purposes. The LJRP will describe the movement of arrested persons through the jail system. In particular, the individual-level booking data will be key to understanding important issues, such as pre-trial detention, the use of bail and temporary release, and jail recidivism (by linking records of the same individuals). Approximately 11 million people are admitted to the more than 3,000 local jails each year. The sheer volume of associated jail records represents not only a unique opportunity for jail research, but also a challenge to efficiently capture, process, and analyze administrative data from different jail jurisdictions. The 2021 pilot test aims to collect data from about 10 of the largest local jails in the United States. About 6% of the total jail population will be covered. Through the pilot test, BJS will explore best practices to gain jail support for the LJRP and to deal with complex administrative booking data. If funding is available, BJS will consider gradually increasing collection coverage in future years.

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