Using Jail Exit Surveys to Improve Community Responses to Women Offenders

This article focuses on the “use of jail exit surveys as an effective data-collection tool for creating [a] picture of the characteristics of women in contact with the local jail.” 

Sections of this bulletin include how one jurisdiction used data to inform responses to women offenders; reasons for conducting a jail exit survey; what a jail exit survey entails; tips for getting started; designing a jail exit survey; understanding jail exit survey information; comprehensive listing of major data elements to include in a jail exit survey; and lessons learned. A sample questionnaire is also included.