Criminal justice system data analysis and visualization

The criminal justice system in Charlottesville/Albemarle, VA, is a national leader in promoting Evidence Based Decision Making (EBDM)-relying on data to support decisions and evaluate policies and practices rather than on anecdotes or judgment alone. To implement EBDM more effectively, local criminal justice authorities-police, jail, pre- and post-trial services, and courts-are working together to use and share data across legacy systems better. One important facet of this effort is to design improved methods for data visualization, analysis, and interpretation. In this effort, we demonstrate how data and analytics are used to assess how well criminal justice system objectives are met and how analysis results can be presented using an advanced data visualization tool. The visualizations displayed using Tableau® contain charts, graphs, and dashboards, that allow an analyst to evaluate EBDM performance measures. These reports were developed using historical data to illustrate how an integrated database can be used to produce reports once the database is implemented. With this in mind, reports are general while envisioning what the new database structure will be. Decision makers within the Charlottesville system now have dashboards that they can use to evaluate program efficiency, and determine how well initiatives are working. Our work also consisted of helping with overall data organization, both in ensuring clean data and efficient data entry. We explored the implementation of 2D barcode scanners to read data electronically in different areas throughout the system. Electronic data entry improves data consistency and efficiency in entering data into the system. Ultimately, correct data entry and clean data will lead to more trustworthy analysis of Charlottesville´s criminal justice system.