In 2021, the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ) engaged the assistance of the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice (JohnJayREC) to support several research and data analytic projects associated with the City’s efforts to improve public safety and the effectiveness of the justice system. John Jay College’s involvement in the NYC Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative was coordinated by the College’s Office for the Advancement of Research and supported with funds provided to the City University of New York (CUNY) and managed by the Research Foundation of CUNY (RF-CUNY), fiscal agent for all research projects housed at CUNY campuses. City officials asked JohnJayREC staff to collaborate with NORC at the University of Chicago and researchers in other CUNY offices to conduct the research projects.

JohnJayREC Funding
$1.4 Million

JohnJayREC Staff
Jeffrey Butts (PI), Rebecca Balletto, Patricia Cobar, Sheyla Delgado, Richard Espinobarros, Gina Moreno, Rhoda Ramdeen, and Kathleen Tomberg with John Roman (NORC) and Kevin Wolff (affiliated CUNY faculty).

Reports from the Collaborative

Racial Disparities in New York City Civil Summonses, 2019-2022. John Jay Data Collaborative for Justice.
Researchers assessed racial and neighborhood disparities in civil summonses issued by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) under the Criminal Justice Reform Act (CJRA). Uncontested civil summonses result in a fine that can be paid online. Criminal summonses typically result in an in-person trip to court; a higher fine in cases of a conviction; warrants for missed court appearances, and the risk of a criminal record. To avoid these penalties, the Criminal Justice Reform Act of 2016 diverted most cases involving five common offenses to the civil system: public consumption of alcohol, public urination, parks offenses, noise, and littering/spitting.
Task 78 in the Reform Initiative Tracker

Color Contrast: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in New York City Law Enforcement. John Jay Research and Evaluation Center.
Assessed disparities in the use and impact of different enforcement tools in New York City, such as warnings, summonses, arrests, or desk appearance tickets for comparable offenses. Researchers conducted spatiotemporal analyses combining population data with publicly available crime-related data, including arrests, complaints, and summonses, to create geographically specific indicators for a range of crimes to investigate whether criminal justice processing varies according to the race and ethnicity of justice-involved individuals and the demographic profile of their neighborhoods. Analyses explored disparities by crime type and charge severity and assessed how they changed in recent years.
Task 79 in the Reform Initiative Tracker

Collateral Consequences: The Effects of Justice Processing for Violations of Drug Laws in New York City. NORC at the University of Chicago.
Analyzed economic correlates of drug-related crimes and arrests among New York City neighborhoods. Using publicly available data from the U.S. Census and other sources, NORC researchers examined the economic correlates of drug-related criminal justice contacts among the residents of New York City neighborhoods. The report examines arrests by census tract and estimates the economic effects indicated by changes in property values and tax assessments.
Task 84 in the Reform Initiative Tracker

Assessing Progress in Reducing Racial Disparities in New York City Law Enforcement, 2013-2022. John Jay Data Collaborative for Justice.
Assessed overall trends and racial disparities from 2013 to 2022 in four law enforcement practices: pedestrian stops, desk appearance tickets, arrests, and prosecutions by district attorneys. Each analysis investigates the goals of police reform to promote greater police accountability while reducing racial disparities in law enforcement and mitigating the potential adverse effects of over-policing on low-income communities.
Task 79 in the Reform Initiative Tracker

Racial and Neighborhood Disparities in New York City Criminal Summons Practices. John Jay Data Collaborative for Justice.
Researchers investigated recent trends in criminal summons practices by the New York City Police Department (NYPD), including if and how they disproportionately impact low-income and/or Black and Brown communities. From 2020 to 2022, the NYPD issued over 85% of criminal summonses to Black or Hispanic people, who comprise 52% of NYC’s population. Relative to their numbers in the general population, police issued summonses at a rate 8.9 times higher for Black than White people in 2020, increasing to 11.4 times higher in 2022.
Task 78 in the Reform Initiative Tracker

Ticket Punch: The Consequences of Fare Evasion Enforcement in New York City Subways 
Researchers tracked transit fare evasion in subway stations and station complexes throughout New York City and analyzed the association between fare evasion enforcement and other arrests in light of the social and economic characteristics of neighborhoods surrounding transit stations. The statistical interaction of crime rates, fare evasion enforcement, and socioeconomic disadvantage underscored the role of social factors in public safety.
Task 80 in the Reform Initiative Tracker