Becoming a Data-Driven Juvenile Justice Organization –Case by Calcasieu Parish
In 2004, Calcasieu Parish was selected as a demonstration site for the Annie E. Casey’s Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI). JDAI required OJJS to produce a wide range of data that would allow it to track the impact of changes in detention practices. The ultimate hope for each JDAI site is that the enactment of alternatives to detention would result in a range of less costly community-based alternatives and lower secure detention populations without any deleterious public safety effects. Like other JDAI sites, OJJS engaged in a detailed planning process that included the collection and compilation of data. Through this planning and data acquisition process, OJJS began to recognize the need for better resources in the data collection and data analysis realms.
The Juvenile Case Manager System produces a growing range of “push” reports that are automatically generated and sent to applicable system users and their supervisors.
The report, shown below, is automatically “pushed” to all system users. This is important because it provides both timely notification and reminders that probation officers need to pay attention to youth in local custody. When a probation officer sees that he or she has a case in detention (and for how long), the officer can take appropriate action to move that youth to a detention alternative, if there are not compelling reasons to keep a youth detained.
Improving Data Quality
The OJJS data quality approach has evolved into a multipronged effort that, for example, relies on regular data quality reviews by unit supervisors and strong cooperation among staff members. For example, in addition to the routine data quality reviews, OJJS has instituted periodic quality assurance checks that are conducted by all unit supervisors. At a minimum, each unit supervisor reviews at least three cases each week to see where data may be missing or incorrect. These reviews usually catch data entry or coding errors. In keeping with the positive approach to maintaining data quality, when the supervisors do their quality checks, they provide timely and straightforward feedback to their staff. As a result, staff members make prompt changes. After the changes are made in the system, staffers send emails to their supervisors confirming that the corrections have been made.
While Calcasieu Parish has been successful with its data-driven initiatives in many important ways, they are not the only data-driven juvenile justice organization in Louisiana or in the country. The Models for Change initiative has engaged a number of sites that have become increasingly data-driven as they have moved forward with system reforms. What does make Calcasieu Parish unique, however, is their ability to identify and enact substantive changes with minimal or no additional costs. Most importantly, the lessons learned from the Calcasieu Parish experience are applicable to any sized juvenile justice organization, be it a large urban setting or a small rural department.
