ABOUT THE Project

This interactive data tool provides public access to the court data underlying the ACLU of Pennsylvania’s research report, Broken Rules: How Pennsylvania Courts Use Cash Bail to Incarcerate People Before Trial, which examines bail trends from 2016 and 2017. This website offers visualizations of that data, organized into three main pages: bail trends, racial disparities, and magisterial district courts. Please note that this is a static site; it only reflects data from 2016-2017 and will not be updated.

Data is crucial to understanding local bail practices and how they drive mass incarceration. The ACLU of Pennsylvania aims to empower all stakeholders—including courts, jails, journalists, and advocates—with the information they need to drive meaningful reform.

For more information about our methodology and limitations, please see the report.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting individual rights and freedoms for all. Visit aclupa.org for more information.