Research Guides: Criminology and Criminal Justice: Statistics on Incarceration

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Bureau of Justice Statistics
Portal for wide variety of statistics on prisons, inmates, sentencing and crime
Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear
Presents data on numbers of prisons, jails and inmates and analyzes patterns of growth from 2000 through 2008. These statistical tables include data on rated capacity of jails and prisons, percent of capacity occupied, and capacity added. Data is broken down by state

U.S. Sentencing Commission
Data on federal sentencing practices
Detailed Data Tool (from the Sentencing Project)
State Sentencing Commissions
A sentencing commission may articulate sentencing guidelines and collect data on sentencing. Not all states have a sentencing commission
National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD)
Established in 1978, the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) archives and disseminates data on crime and justice for secondary analysis. The archive contains data from over 3,100 curated studies or statistical data series. NACJD is home to several large-scale and well known datasets, including the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN).

Marshall Project - Incarceration by County
Marshall Project data indicates the number of adults in each US county who were living in correctional facilities (state prisons, military jails, halfway houses, and immigration detention centers) at the time of the Decennial Census in 2000, 2010, and 2020.

Justice Outcomes Explorer (JOE)
Data dashboard for statistics from the Criminal Justice Administrative Records System (CJARS) study. CJARS collects and harmonizes administrative criminal justice records. JOE provides statistics on caseloads and recidivism as well as economic and health outcomes after justice involvement.

The Stanford Debtors' Prison Project
Dataset of instances where people are jailed for unpaid court debt
Prison Policy Initiative
National and State level data on incarceration

ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new window
Good source for data on Federal and State prisons
ProQuest Statistical Insight This link opens in a new window
Indexes and abstracts federal statistical publications since 1974, business and state government publications since 1980, and international agency publications since 1983. Available to University of Michigan faculty, students and staff only.

Try searching these terms:

Community-based correctional programs
Correctional institutions
Crime and criminals
Juvenile detention and correctional institutions
Parents and prisons
Parole and probation
Pretrial detention and release
Prison work programs
Prisoners
Recidivism
Rehabilitation of criminals
Sentences, criminal procedure
State funding for corrections
State funding for corrections

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime - Statistics and Data
Data on crimes, prison populations and criminal justice personnel for UN member nations.
World Prison Population List
The World Prison Population List gives details of the number of prisoners held in 218 independent countries and dependent territories. It shows the differences in the level of imprisonment across the world and makes possible an estimate of the world prison population total. The information is the latest available in 2015.