Pretrial share of the jail population

Of everyone in the county's jails, the percentage held before trial, not after being found guilty. The middle county is 64.5%, so the typical county jail mostly holds people not yet convicted of the charge they are held on. It is calculated here as people held before trial divided by all people in jail. The publisher's rate column is not a rate per resident, so it is not used.

Reported for2,744areas, in 45 states — none in AK, CT, DE, HI, PR, RI, VT

Link to density0.07not mostly about how urban a place is

Nearby places alike0.15Moran’s I: only weakly, little map pattern

Typerate%

How it has moved

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Every state, every year

Nothing to draw here: this measure has no state figures. Its publisher reports it for counties. This site does not add county numbers up into state figures, since a home-made figure could clash with one an agency publishes itself. The chart above covers the whole country, year by year.

Where it comes from

· Vera Incarceration Trends total_pretrial_custody / total_jail_pop

People held before trial, as a percentage of everyone in the county's jails. It is about two thirds nationally. It shows whether a jail mostly holds people found guilty or people only accused. It is worked out here as people held before trial divided by the jail population. Vera's own pretrial rate column is not used, since it is not a rate per resident. Time period: from the jail series the Bureau of Justice Statistics collected until 2019, which is also the last year Vera publishes county prison data.

Combining areas: an average weighted by total population.

Population makeup

How this measure varies with the racial and ethnic makeup of counties. Every group is shown, whatever its rank. These are links across counties: they describe places, not people. They say nothing about any person’s risk or behaviour based on their race. Counties with a larger share of one group also differ in much else, such as income, segregation, region and history. The adjusted figure only accounts for density, income and education.

Share of residents	Unadjusted	Adjusted
Pretrial share of the jail population and Share White, not HispanicCould easily be chance once only places with similar density, income and education are compared. Share White, not Hispanic by US county	-0.10	-0.09
Pretrial share of the jail population and Share Black, not HispanicCould easily be chance once only places with similar density, income and education are compared. Share Black, not Hispanic by US county	-0.03	-0.03
Pretrial share of the jail population and Share Hispanic or Latino, any raceWhere Pretrial share of the jail population is higher, Share Hispanic or Latino, any race tends to be higher: a weak link that holds when only places with similar density, income and education are compared. Share Hispanic or Latino, any race by US county	+0.10	+0.11
Pretrial share of the jail population and Share Asian, not HispanicCould easily be chance once only places with similar density, income and education are compared. Share Asian, not Hispanic by US county	+0.07	+0.04
Pretrial share of the jail population and Share American Indian or Alaska Native, not HispanicCould easily be chance once only places with similar density, income and education are compared. Share American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic by US county	-0.02	+0.02

Highest and lowest

Of 2,744 counties reporting it. These are the two ends of a national ranking. For most measures, that ranking mostly sorts places by income and how urban they are. That is why the place pages compare each place with similar places instead.

Highest

Lowest

The middle area reports 64.5%. The middle half of counties falls between 44.6% and 80.1% (the 25th to 75th percentile).

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