Indicator 16.3.2 - Unsentenced detainees as proportion of overall prison population
Percent unsentenced detainees of inmates held in US state and federal prisons and local jails
Percent unsentenced detainees of inmates held in US state and federal prisons and local jails
Global Metadata
This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the United Nations Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata documentation on all indicators in Goal 16, unless otherwise noted, is provided by the UN Statistics Division.
| SDG Indicator Name | Unsentenced detainees as proportion of overall prison population |
|---|---|
| SDG Target Addressed | Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all. |
| Definition of SDG Indicator | The total number of persons held in detention who have not yet been sentenced, as a percentage of the total number of persons held in detention, on a specified date. 'Sentenced' refers to persons subject to criminal proceedings who have received a decision from a competent authority regarding their conviction or acquittal. For the purposes of the indicator, persons who have received a 'non-final' decision (such as where a conviction is subject to appeal) are considered to be 'sentenced'. |
| UN Designated Tier | 1 |
| UN Custodial Agency | UNODC |
U.S. Metadata
This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from U.S. statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from U.S. statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other US-specific metadata information
| Method of computation for global SDG indicator | Annual enumeration of state and federal prisoners and annual sample survey of jail jurisdictions to provide total number of prison and jail inmates and number unsentenced in custody |
|---|---|
| Graph Title | Percent unsentenced detainees of inmates held in US state and federal prisons and local jails |
| Actual indicator available | Percent unsentenced detainees of inmates held in state and federal prisons and local jails |
| Description of actual indicator available | |
| Method of computation | Percentage unsentenced of total inmates held in prisons and jails (excludes youth held in juvenile facilities, persons held in military facilities, persons detained in Immigration and Customs operated facilities, and persons held in US territories and commonwealths). |
| Comments and limitations | National Prisoners Statistics (NPS) - Started in 1926 under a mandate from Congress, NPS collects annual data on prisoners at yearend. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) sponsors the survey, and the U.S. Census Bureau serves as the data collection agent. The NPS distinguishes between inmates in custody and prisoners under jurisdiction. To have custody of a prisoner, a state or the BOP must hold that inmate in one of its facilities. To have jurisdiction over a prisoner, the state or BOP must have legal authority over that prisoner, regardless of where the prisoner is incarcerated or supervised. The NPS jurisdiction counts include persons held in prisons, penitentiaries, correctional facilities, halfway houses, boot camps, farms, training or treatment centers, and hospitals. Counts also include prisoners who were temporarily absent (less than 30 days), in court, or on work release; housed in privately operated facilities, local jails, or other state or federal facilities; and serving concurrent sentences for more than one correctional authority. The NPS custody counts include all inmates held within a respondent’s facilities, including inmates housed for other correctional facilities. The custody counts exclude inmates held in local jails and in other jurisdictions. With a few exceptions, the NPS custody counts exclude inmates held in privately operated facilities. Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ) - In years between a complete census of local jails, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) conducts the Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ). ASJ uses a stratified probability sample of jail jurisdictions to estimate the number and characteristics of local inmates nationwide. In the sampling design, the jail jurisdictions nationwide are grouped into 10 strata. In 2013-14 and 2015, the 10 strata were defined by two variables: the jail jurisdiction average daily population (ADP), and whether the jurisdiction held at least one juvenile. For 8 of the 10 strata, a random sample of jail jurisdictions was selected. For the remaining two strata, all jurisdictions were included in the sample. One stratum consisted of all jails that were operated jointly by two or more jurisdictions (referred to as multi-jurisdictional jails). The other stratum (referred to as certainty stratum) consisted of all jail jurisdictions that held juvenile inmates at the time of the Census of Jail Inmates (2005 Census for ASJ 2013-14; 2013 Census for ASJ 2015)and had an ADP of 500 or more inmates during the 12 months ending June 30, 2005 (for ASJ 2013-14) or ending December 31, 2013 (for ASJ 2015) or held only adult inmates and had an ADP of 750 or more. BJS obtains data from sampled jail jurisdictions by mailed and web-based survey questionnaires. After follow-up phone calls, the item response rate for jails that responded to the survey was nearly 100% for critical items. BJS implements nonresponse weight adjustment procedures to account for unit nonresponse. See BJS website for questionnaires and additional metadata: https://www.bjs.gov/. |
| Periodicity | Annual |
| Time Period | Yearend/midyear snapshot (based on innmates held in state and federal correctional facilities at yearend and local jail inmates on June 30(for years prior to 2015) or on December 31 (for 2015). |
| Unit of measure | Persons held in prison or jail |
| Disaggregation #1 (Industry or social categories) | none |
| Disaggregation #2 (Geographical coverage) | none |
| Date of public data release from National source | December 2016 |
| Date of last Update of This Page | January 2017 |
| Scheduled Update by National source | November 2017 |
| Scheduled Update by SDG Team | |
| Data Source1 (Agency STAFF NAME) | Bureau of Justice Statistics (provided by Allen J. Beck, Senior Statistical Advisor) |
| Data Source2 (Staff E-MAIL) | allen.beck@usdoj.gov |
| Data Source3 (Agency/Survey/Dataset name) | Bureau of Justice Statistics/ National Prisoners Statistics and Annual Survey of Jails |
| Indicator web address (closest to data provided) | https://www.bjs.gov/ |
| International and National References |