Local Data & Resources
Visit the links below to access data and research about the Allegheny County criminal legal system.
ALIJ’s 1-Page Summary of Reasons Why Defense Lawyers Must Adopt a More Holistic Defense Model
ALIJ’s Summary of Research in Support of the Need for Holistic Defense
Allegheny County Courts Annual Reports
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.”
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
Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor publishes results of audit of Allegheny County’s public defense systems
An analysis by the Office of Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor determined that attorneys in the County’s Office of the Public Defender (OPD) handle unsustainable workloads, and the County’s public defense system does not meet standards established by the American Bar Association (ABA).