Local Data & Resources
Visit the links below to access data and research about the Allegheny County criminal legal system.
ALIJ’s 1-Pager
ALIJ’s Summary of Research in Support of the Need for Holistic Defense
Allegheny County Courts Annual Reports
Half in 10: Americans with Criminal Records
RAND: The Impact of Defense Counsel at Bail Hearings
“RAND researchers found that providing counsel (a public defender) at the bail hearing decreased the use of monetary bail and pretrial detention without increasing the rate at which defendants failed to appear at preliminary court hearings. However, having a public defender at the initial bail hearing did result in a short-term increase in rearrests on theft charges.”
“Recent research shows that pretrial detention leads to worse outcomes for defendants—and society—including longer jail stays and higher chances of conviction in the short term, as well as lower employment and higher rates of rearrest over the long term.”
Alliance for Safety and Justice (ASJ) - Voices of Redemption: A National Survey of People with Records
County Controller Staffing Audit Report for the Allegheny County Jail (ACJ)
University of Pittsburgh Institute of Politics (IOP) Report on Racial Disparity in the Allegheny County Criminal Justice System
“[T]here are racial disparities at each of the key stages of the Allegheny County criminal justice system. Among individuals who reside in Allegheny County, 7.5% of Black individuals have new criminal charges filed against them compared with 1.5% of White individuals, for a difference of 6 percentage points. Put another way, a randomly chosen Black individual in the county is five times as likely to be criminally charged as a randomly chosen White individual. Among individuals who have criminal charges filed against them, 29.1% of Black individuals serve at least some pretrial detention on these charges compared to 16.2% of White individuals. Among individuals who have criminal charges filed against them, 9.7% of Black individuals are convicted of a felony and 10.3% are sentenced to confinement, while the corresponding percentages among White individuals are 5.4% for a felony conviction and 7.9% for a confinement sentence. Among those on probation, 11% of Black individuals were issued a detainer for a new charge and 7.2% have their probation sentence revoked, while the corresponding percentages among White individuals are 5.5% and 5.2 %, respectively.... [These numbers reflect that Black residents are] almost ten times [as likely to experience] pretrial detention [than] White residents. [Moreover,] Black residents are nine times as likely to be convicted of a felony and 6.5 times as likely to be convicted of a crime and incarcerated.”
Allegheny County Adult Probation Annual Reports
Gwen’s Girls: Pathways to Juvenile Justice for Black Girls in Pittsburgh and Allegheny County
“In Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, the county in which Pittsburgh is located, Black girls are 10 times more likely than White girls to be referred to the juvenile justice system.1 Yet, research shows that this disproportionate referral rate cannot be accounted for by differences in girls’ behaviors.2 Thus, we see this disparity as evidence, not of problems with Black girls, but of the failure of our other child-serving systems that should be helping and supporting girls rather than punishing and excluding them by referring them to juvenile justice. This report provides background on the juvenile justice system, data on referrals of Black girls to juvenile justice, and recommendations for decreasing the disproportionate referral of Black girls to juvenile justice.”