By Thomas Coyne; Sean Quitzau; and Joseph W. Arnett

This publication of Zero Returns to Homelessness, the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), and the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments, provides a reference guide on housing access for practitioners, including state leaders working to address homelessness as part of their Reentry 2030 goals. It details best practices and strategies around reentry housing, building from four essential steps that have worked in neighborhoods around the country as leaders have expanded housing opportunities for people reentering their communities: Collaborate, Assess, Connect, and Expand. Every year, tens of thousands of people experience homelessness as they return to their communities from incarceration. Gaps and barriers, such as housing policies that bar people with conviction histories from renting, persist that reduce even the limited amount of housing people can access when returning. Because of this, people returning from incarceration are almost 10 times more likely to experience homelessness and more often cycle through public systems designed to respond to emergencies and not provide long-term solutions. However, in states such as Ohio, Connecticut, and Utah, communities are making strides in preventing homelessness when people return from incarceration. These communities are working toward a bold, new vision—Zero Returns to Homelessness—which aims to ensure that all returning residents have access to a safe, permanent place to call home.

New York: The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center, 2024. 65p.

By Kesha Moore

Under the Constitution, people are granted the presumption of innocence and the right to liberty if they have not been convicted of a crime. Pretrial incarceration runs directly against these bedrock constitutional principles. While money bail and pretrial detention are intended to ensure court appearances and protect public safety, the evidence shows that this system is an ineffective and discriminatory approach to accomplishing these goals. Money bail creates a two-tiered justice system: those with money can buy their way to freedom, while those without money are made to languish in jail. The U.S. incarcerates close to half a million individuals who have not been convicted of a crime but are denied freedom because they cannot afford to pay bail. The racial biases embedded in our criminal legal system, and by extension the money bail regime, cause pretrial incarceration to disproportionately harm Black and Latinx people. “Pretrial Justice Without Money Bail or Risk Assessments, Principles for Racially Just Bail Reform” details the issues with the current U.S. money bail system through a racial justice lens and provides principles for comprehensive bail reform that both lowers the number of individuals in jail and diminishes the racial disparities in pretrial incarceration.

NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Thurgood Marshall Institute, 2024. 21p.