Actionable Data to Bolster Public Safety
In these unpredictable times, there’s one common guidepost policymakers and the public should look to: up-to-date, accessible data. But in the criminal justice systems across the country, actionable data and information can be hard to come by. Critical data is often collected but not analyzed, analyzed but not shared, or shared but not acted upon. The result is a criminal justice system with a widespread desire to make data-informed decisions, but individual agencies lacking the time, ability or organizational mandate to do so.
Policymakers need precise, consistent and useful data metrics that enable them to quickly and easily understand how people move through the criminal justice system and how related policy and financial changes may impact public safety.
Justice Counts, a new initiative led by The Council of State Governments Justice Center and supported by the U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Assistance, is designed to help policymakers and criminal justice practitioners make better decisions using data.
The initiative centers on intense collaboration to provide policymakers with data and develop a set of criminal justice metrics that are attainable and impactful for any state or agency. Justice Counts establishes a large network of partners with connections in all 50 states and thousands of counties and cities across the U.S., representing key officials in the ares of policymaking, law enforcement, courts, corrections, behavioral health and more.
Justice Counts will collaborate to:
- Broadly scan public, aggregate-level criminal justice data in all 50 states to provide policymakers with timely information about their criminal justice systems, existing gaps in data collection and opportunities for improvement.
- Develop and build consensus around a set of key criminal justice metrics that drive budget and policy decisions.
- Create a range of tools and resources that will enable policymakers and criminal justice practitioners to examine current practices and adopt the data metrics.
- Encourage states and localities to make the new data metrics part of their day-to-day operations and provide selected states with technical assistance.
Visit www.Justice-Counts.org to learn more.
Justice Counts Partners include:
American Jail Association, American Probation and Parole Association, Correctional Leaders Association, CNA, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Justice Management Institute, Measures for Justice, National Associations of Counties Research Foundation, National Association of State Budget Officers, National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), NASMHPD Research Institute, National Criminal Justice Association, National Center for State Courts, National Conference of State Legislatures, National District Attorneys Association, National Governors Association, National Legal Aid & Defender Association, RAND Corporation, Recidiviz, and University of Cincinnati Corrections Institute.
This project was supported by Grant No. 2019-ZB-BX-K005 awarded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance. The Bureau of Justice Assistance is a component of the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, which also includes the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Office for Victims of Crime, and the SMART Office. Points of view or opinions in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.