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Deaths in Custody Reporting Program and Annual Survey of Jails, 2016-2020

Award Information

Award #
2015-BJ-CX-K038
Funding Category
Competitive Discretionary
Congressional District
Status
Closed
Funding First Awarded
2015
Total funding (to date)
$6,932,285

Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2015, $902,285)

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has been collecting statistics on deaths occurring in local jails, State prisons and in the process of arrest since the passage of the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act of 2000 (PL 106-297). BJS has been collecting data on the supervised and confined jail inmate populations through the Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ) since 1983.

Under this award, starting in January of 2016, the ASJ will be incorporated into the DCRP collection. A sample of DCRP respondents will receive the ASJ form in lieu of the traditional DCRP annual summary form (ASF). The ASJ captures additional items not traditionally captured through the DCRP and will reduce respondent burden and collection costs by providing respondent with a single annual jail population form instead of two jail population forms fielded six months apart.

The principle purpose of this data collection and related-work is to provide a national count of deaths occurring while under correctional authority at either the state or local-level; to generate a national count and rate of the characteristics of prison and jail inmates who die under correctional authority; to provide nationally representative statistics on jail inmates in the U.S.; to track studies of inmates on inmate deaths; and to identify and report on policy-relevant changes in prison and jail practices that may impact the number of deaths occurring in a correctional setting.

Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law.

(CA/NCF)

Date Created: September 23, 2015