Products, Services & Research
Data can be overwhelming. Even if you have good data, it’s often hard to act on them. So we’re developing tools and services and conducting research that will make it easier. All of this work is happening as we speak, so consider this just a preview of what’s to come.
Commons
Commons is a data platform co-created by the public and their public servants that makes criminal justice data transparent & shared policy goals public.
Data Tools
The right tool can be the difference between data that change lives and data that just sit around. So in addition to our Data Portal, we’re developing stand-alone tools tailored to the needs of specific stakeholders.
Text-based Offense Classification Tool (toc)
As announced at the Annual Society of Criminology 2021 conference, toc is a tool designed to harmonize criminal justice offense codes across datasets, and across jurisdictions for analysis. When working with datasets containing thousands of rows of cases, each with its own unique charge description associated with it, toc is a game changer. The tool is a collaboration between the University of Michigan Criminal Justice Administrative Records System and Measures for Justice.
Services
There’s a lot of work to be done around understanding data, improving data collection and recording, and just getting the criminal justice system up to speed with other civic institutions that routinely use data to self-monitor. We offer services that can help like:
Data Fellows
Who can help county agencies comply with new legislation and standards, or just to improve data collection and recording practices.
Data Landscape Assessments
MFJ can assess a state’s data infrastructure, including laws and regulations for criminal justice data, data use and culture, and the quality and availability of state data, and make recommendations.
General Consulting
MFJ can work with state and local criminal justice agencies to provide a variety of services related to data collection, analysis, interpretation, etc. This includes developing performance measures, establishing data standards, creating data dashboards, and more.
Research & Publications
Having amassed an enormous body of data, we are now building out our research offering to look at key issues in criminal justice and to work with policy makers and practitioners to evaluate specific criminal justice reform efforts.
- 2022 Annual ReportCommunity. Data. Impact.
- Improving Data for Racial Equity in PolicingNow more than ever, we need data on police involvement in minority communities specifically and police performance more broadly.
- A Look Inside the Black Box of New York State’s Criminal Justice DataA Look Inside the Black Box of New York State’s Criminal Justice Data
- Florida Criminal Justice Data Transparency Standard Operating ProcedureRecommended Procedures and Practices for Agencies Complying with the Data Reporting Requirements of Section 900.05, Florida Statutes
- National Prosecutorial DashboardsLessons Learned, Themes, and Categories for Consideration
- Drug and DUI Offenses in South DakotaAn examination of the trends in drug and DUI offenses in South Dakota.
- The Power and Problem of Criminal Justice Data: A Twenty-State ReviewData collection over the last 10 years and a national landscape of unknowns and unknowables.
- Vulnerable Communities: Incarceration and CovidThis report shows preliminary results of a study looking at the effect of mass incarceration on COVID-19 cases at the community level in Milwaukee.
- Signs of a Good Data Culture14 points to help your organization develop a culture that uses data to make informed decisions.