What to Know Before You Show — A #Fix216 Prep Guide

Overview — Fix216: Criminal Justice Transformation Scope-a-thon

Join us as we gather at the MidTown TechHive, forming a multidisciplinary coalition with other concerned community members that will design innovative tech-oriented solutions addressing our broken criminal justice system.

This iteration of #Fix216 will challenge cross-functional teams to identify criminal (in)justice problems, break these problems down into manageable parts and develop a plan to address them. While the solutions we come up with may or may not be entirely tech-oriented, our primary objective is to better understand the potential of technology to help solve civic problems.

Scope-a-thon teams will be led by community-based organizations and activists, with developers, designers, and data scientists supporting their needs. This event will center and amplify the voices of returning citizens, whose lived experiences will inform the process of designing, testing and implementing emergent solutions. Before anyone writes a line of code, it’s crucial to understand what a technology solution needs to accomplish. This understanding bridges developers and organization representatives, and the scope-a-thon strengthens this cross-discipline awareness.

In preparation for the Scope-a-thon, HackCLE organizers convened + facilitated a series of meetings with Cleveland residents and key stakeholders who have unique insight into the infinite complexities of criminal justice reform. During this series of twelve dialogues — including 1on1 interviews + focus groups — we uncovered a range of perspectives on the outcomes that matter most to Cleveland residents and have identified a number of key themes worthy of further examination.

After synthesizing these findings, HackCLE has identified the following focus areas, which will inform the creation of Problem Statements, User Personas, and ultimately the potential Solutions we scope during the event:

1. Bail Reform
2. Skills Gap
3. Collateral Consequences/Sanctions

WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE YOU SHOW!

1. READ THE CODE OF CONDUCT
2. IF ABLE, PLEASE BRING A LAPTOP
3. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
4. PREPARE BY CHECKING OUT THESE RESOURCES:

Get Informed Quick Guide — Scopeathon Prep Resources for Attendees

HackCLE + Fix216 — Background

HackCLE Website

Code of Conduct

HackCLE Blog

How Will Cleveland Respond to the Michael Brelo Verdict? — VICE

Fix 216 civic hackathon May 29–30 will look for innovative ways to fix local government, advance social justice: Nicole Thomas and Justin Bibb (Opinion) — Cleveland.com

eNewsletter Archive

Criminal Justice Reform (General)

Serial Podcast Season 3

‘13th’ Maps The Road From Slavery To Mass Incarceration — National Public Radio

What is Ohio’s Issue 1? — Hack Cleveland Blog

The Need for Reform — ACLU Ohio

ACLU Vote Smart Justice — ACLU

Criminal Justice Facts: State-by-State Data (Ohio) — The Sentencing Project

Issue 1 FAQ Sheet — ACLU Ohio

“In the Neighborhood” is a Community Outreach program of Cleveland Clerk of Courts Earle B. Turner. — Cleveland Municipal Court

Cuyahoga County Office of Reentry

How Our Criminal Justice System Targets Communities — AJ+

Vera Reimagining Prison — Vera Institute of Justice

Bail Reform

ACLU One-pager — ACLU Ohio

Additional Bail Reform Resources — ACLU Ohio

Inside America’s For-Profit Bail System — VICE News

Detaining the Poor: How money bail perpetuates an endless cycle of poverty and jail time — Prison Policy Institute

Skills Gap

The Origins of Prison Slavery: How Southern whites found replacements for their emancipated slaves in the prison system. — SLATE

Here’s Why Inmates In The U.S. Prison System Have Launched A Nationwide Strike | TIME

Hot Chicken, Fair Chance — The Marshall Project

Out of Prison & Out of Work: Unemployment among formerly incarcerated people — Prison Policy Institute

Next Chapter: A pilot program aiming to help formerly incarcerated individuals find work and succeed in tech — Slack Blog

Collateral Consequences

Collateral Consequences of a Criminal Conviction: A civil liberties briefing — ACLU Ohio

Ohio’s online database about the Civil Impact of Criminal Convictions. — CIVICC

Americans with Criminal Records — The Sentencing Project

Expanding the Vote: Two Decades of Felony Disenfranchisement Reforms — The Sentencing Project

Neighborhoods, Recidivism and Employment Among Returning Prisoners — National Institute of Justice

Clear My Record team goes to Ohio — Code for America Dayton

NELP is working to expand fair-chance hiring laws to every corner of the nation, because everyone deserves an opportunity to work for a better life. — NELP

Civic & Social Justice Tech

A Good Project is Hard to Find: A Beginner’s Guide to Scoping Data Science Projects in the Public Sector — Matthew Gee (University of Chicago)

What If We Actually Gave People A Second Chance? — Code for America Blog

How open data can support equitable and complete neighborhoods in Madison, WI — Sunlight Foundation

Design for Improving Equity in Criminal Justice Systems — Reboot

Movement Technologist Statement — Progressive Technology Project

#MoreThanCode Report — Tech for Social Justice Project

Apps & Data Sets

In the spirit of community bail funds, we offer Appolition — a platform where users opt-in to automate the savings of their daily spare change to help pay bail for those who cannot afford it. — Appolition

Pigeonly provides a simple, affordable way to stay in touch with your inmate from any phone, tablet, or computer. — Pigeonly

Clearing your record can help remove barriers to new jobs, housing, and educational opportunities. Clear My Record is a free, nonprofit, service for people with a criminal record in select California counties. — ClearMyRecord.org

Measures for Justice (MFJ) was founded in 2011 to develop a data-driven set of performance measures to assess and compare the criminal justice process from arrest to post-conviction on a county-by-county basis. — Measures for Justice

https://datausa.io/about/datasets/

Scope-a-Thon Agenda

Friday, October 26th

We will begin by setting the context for the work ahead. HackCLE + its local Criminal Justice Transformation partners will provide useful background information on the complex nature of the Problem — our Criminal (in)Justice System — and outline the objectives, agenda + ground rules for our time together. We will end by grouping up into cross-functional teams and providing each team with the Project Brief (User Personas + Problem Statements), which we will solve together on Saturday.

5:30 pm — 6:15 pm Registration

6:15 pm — 6:25 pm — Welcome

6:25 pm — 7:45 pm — Setting the Context

• The Problem: Transforming the Criminal (in) Justice System
• The Challenge for this Weekend: Scoping Solutions
• The Work: How will we get there?
• The Agenda/Process
• The Vision

7:45 pm — 8 pm: Questions, Meet-your-Team + Mingle

8 pm — 9 pm: Social Time for those Interested

Saturday, October 27th

Participants will work in cross-functional teams to break down and understand a data- or technology-related Criminal Justice Transformation challenge. The teams will build an action plan to tackle this challenge a present to a panel of judges at the end of the day.

9:45 am — 10:15 am- Registration

10:15 am — 10:30 am- Welcome and Space Warming

10:30 am — 11:00 am — Last Night Recap + Review Today’s Agenda/Process

11:00 am — 12:30 pm — Scoping Session (Floating Rooms)

meet with you team to develop ideas

12:30 pm — 1:30 pm — Lunch — Flame Urban Grill

1:15 pm — 2:30 pm — Scoping Session: Take 2 (Floating Rooms)

2:30 pm — 4:30 pm — Pitch Competition

4:30 pm — 4:45 pm — Next Steps + Call to Action

4:45 pm — 5 pm — Mingle and Conclusion

**NOTE: THE HIVE WILL BE OPEN LATE ON FRIDAY + EARLY ON SATURDAY FOR TEAM COLLABORATION

EVENT PARKING

Overflow parking location: JumpStart Parking Lot (6701 Carnegie Ave, Cleveland, OH, 44103

**Note: The Blue Label in the center is the Tech Hive and the Orange indicates the two available parking lots