JDAI sites are committed to using data to drive policy and decision-making. They use data to address critical questions in detention reform, such as:

• Whom are we detaining, for what reasons and for how long?
• Are we making detention decisions consistent with the objective criteria set out in our risk-assessment instrument?
• Are we offering and effectively using alternatives to detention, and are those alternatives producing acceptable results?
• Are we effectively addressing racial, ethnic and gender disparities wherever they manifest in the juvenile justice system?

To help JDAI sites jump-start their ability to shed light on these and other questions, JDAI is rolling out a new set of tools that will enable sites to pull data from their existing databases and case-management systems into a standard file format; import data from that file format into an Excel spreadsheet; and automatically produce reports that address key detention reform questions. 

"We recognize that data analysis depends upon the quality of the data collected and that sites are sometimes challenged by limitations in their information systems," said Bart Lubow, director of the Juvenile Justice Strategy Group at the Casey Foundation.

"This new software will standardize much of the data that JDAI collects so that we are comparing apples to apples. More importantly, it will allow sites to identify systemic problems and craft solutions more quickly. Now sites will be able to spend less time chasing down the data they need, and focus more on putting that data to use.”

Developed by the Casey Foundation and Metis Associates (a JDAI technical assistance provider), with extensive involvement and input from JDAI sites, these tools are being provided initially to new sites to help accelerate their capacity to organize and use data. Over time, as the tools are refined and prove their value, and as JDAI learns more about how best to implement them, they will be made available to all JDAI sites and will ultimately become the standard mechanism for JDAI quarterly reporting.

This more tools-based approach to working with sites on the core strategy of Data-Driven Decision-Making is intended to:

• Help make assembling data for analysis easier and more routine;
• Make computation of key quantitative indicators such as average daily population, average length of stay and the risk assessment override rate simpler, less prone to error and more consistent across sites;
• More efficiently accommodate the rapid growth of JDAI; and
• Most importantly, enable and encourage sites to carry out more in-depth analyses of their data to drive improvements to their detention policies and practices.

As of early 2011, sites in eight states are gaining familiarity with these tools and working toward implementing them as part of their regular quarterly reporting process in the first half of this year. Several of these newer sites are already using the tools to inform their detention utilization studies. In the coming months new features will be added to the smart spreadsheet based on feedback from these early adopters; new training materials and documentation will be produced; and additional new sites will be introduced to the tools.

Additional information on practices and policy is available in the JDAI publication “By the Numbers, The Role of Data and Information in Detention Reform.”

Sites interested in exploring adoption of the new tools should contact their Technical Assistance Team Leaders.