Pennsylvania Criminal Justice Data Snapshot – December 2023
From The Council of State Government's Justice Center - Identifying and understanding criminal justice datais keytodevelopingresponsivesolutionsto state challenges andassessingwhatchangesare successful. State leaders maybegrapplingwith issues suchasincreasedrecidivismrates, significant corrections costs, fentanyl and methamphetamineuse,upticksinviolentcrime,or the prevalenceofpeoplewithmentalillness intersecting with the justice system.
At the sametime, state leaders may also be struggling to address acute shortages in the workforce, improve services for victims of crime, and increase opportunities for people returning to their communities from incarceration. Effectively addressing these challenges requires state leaders to carefully examine system operations, define the outcomes they want to see, and work collaboratively to adjust key policies, practices, and budgets to bridge the gaps.
Data is a critical tool for leaders who want to understand their state’s unique criminal justice challenges. This snapshot contains both national and state-specific data on crime, correctional populations, recidivism, and other important criminal justice metrics to equip state leaders to make informed decisions.
These snapshots represent 1,200 pages of unique analyses for 50 states and the District of Columbia of data collected from over 75 sources. Not all data points were available in every state, so some figures may be left blank. The snapshot examines data about the criminal justice system process at key decision-making points within the system. Starting with the point of entry of crime and arrest, through the corrections population—including those in custody and non-custodial settings—and ending with reentry and recidivism.
The goal of this snapshot is to provide state leaders with a big picture of key state data points across the criminal justice system. These data ground policy discussions and offer common starting points for essential conversations on how and where to improve the criminal justice system in each state.