NYC Jail Admissions Drop 46.9% Over Two Decades

During a period when jail admissions have doubled nationwide, New York City jail admissions dropped by nearly half, the Misdemeanor Justice Project at John Jay College of Criminal Justice reported today. This dramatic decline in jail admissions occurred during a simultaneous decrease in reported crime of more than 60 percent. From 1995 to 2015, the number of annual admissions to the city’s correction department fell 46.9 percent, from 121,328 to 64,458. The decline was not evenly distributed by the age of those admitted: the admission rate for 16-to-17-year-olds declined by 76.0 percent; for 18-to-20-year-olds, 61.1 percent; for 21-to-24-year-olds, 48.1 percent; and for 25-to-34-year-olds, 60.9 percent. For those 35 and older, the admission rate dropped 36.5 percent.