For this brief, the Urban Institute analyzed trends in jail incarceration for the probation population using datasets for jail bookings in the county from 2015 to 2020 and petitions-to-revoke (PTRs) for people on probation from 2016 to 2020. In addition to describing overall trends in jail bookings and PTRs, this brief analyzes average lengths of stay in jail for the probation population, as well as racial and ethnic disparities in these data.

Currently implemented in more than a dozen cities around the country, jail Population Review Teams (PRTs) are one strategy to reduce jail populations. Funded by the SJC and with guidance from ISLG, the Center for Court Innovation conducted a quantitative research study of the PRT model and its impacts in three sites through the spring of 2020: Lucas County, Ohio; Pima County, Arizona; and St. Louis County, Missouri.