Charis E. Kubrin, UCI criminology, law and society professor and co-author writes: “COVID fundamentally altered how states administer justice. Arrests dropped, and prisons nationwide released inmates on an expedited basis. Perhaps nowhere was this last change more evident than in California. To stem COVID outbreaks, the state released thousands of individuals incarcerated in its jails and prisons. Immediately, critics voiced concern about the impacts of these releases on crime rates. Three years later, we can answer the question: How were COVID downsizing measures and crime trends related? In a newly published study, we show there is little connection. These results, and others like it, suggest that reducing the number of people incarcerated won’t compromise public safety.” 

Read in full: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/decarceration-and-crime-do-not-go-hand-in-hand1/