

“Our involvement in the dashboard project grew out of our two studies on race and justice and affirms my pledge to the people of Denver to be mindful of cultural and racial impacts in the work that we do so that we are treating people of all races and ethnic backgrounds fairly,” said Beth McCann, Denver District Attorney. “This new resource provides the public with greater insight and transparency about what goes on in our courtrooms and the outcomes of our work, and transparency builds trust.”įor more information, please contact Director of Conviction Integrity & Equity, Jennifer Kilpatrick, 72.Ģnd Judicial District (Denver) – data dashboard “The dashboard was designed to help us identify actions to reduce disparities at points of prosecutorial discretion to make sure that victims and defendants are not treated differently because of their race, neighborhood, or income,” said Alexis King, DA for the 1st Judicial District. “The dashboards are a way to take the data from the case management system and make meaning of it and display it in ways that support transparency and use within each office.”ĭ istrict Data Dashboard Links and DA Statements:ġst Judicial District (Gilpin, Jefferson) – data dashboard “There is a commitment in Colorado generally, and certainly among the judicial districts, to data-driven decision-making,” said Lauren Gase, PhD, senior researcher and project director for the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab. We look forward to how the dashboards may increase awareness on how prosecutorial decisions are made in Colorado.” “We appreciate that the participating District Attorneys’ offices held meetings with community leaders to learn what they want and expect out of this project.
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“Transparency and easy public access to data are two items that can go a long way in nurturing trust and faith between prosecutors and the communities they serve,” said Jeremy Shaver, a spokesperson for Hate Free Colorado, a diverse group of community partners who are dedicated to countering hate crimes in Colorado.

Offices will use data from the dashboards to improve their understanding of case outcomes for similarly situated defendants, identify promising practices and programs, and determine areas where additional training could be useful. Dashboard developers recommend looking at different data points in relation to one another to see both what is happening and to understand the why behind trends and patterns. Community members can access the data to gain a better understanding of the work their DA’s office does, including trends in cases filed and resolved over time, patterns in how individuals are treated, and how they are addressing serious crime and protecting and serving victims. Prosecutors worked together with researchers, with input from their communities, to create the data dashboards. The project was funded with a grant from the Microsoft Justice Reform Initiative and supported by data stored and shared by the Colorado District Attorneys’ Council. The Colorado Prosecutorial Dashboard project is a collaborative effort between PPI, the Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab at the University of Denver, and DAs’ offices across the state. This is the first statewide initiative for the PPI, a national effort led by researchers at Loyola University of Chicago and Florida International University. This requires robust data-driven prosecutorial work.” “Increasingly, prosecutors are expected to take proactive, engaged responses to community problems, reduce disparities in justice outcomes, build greater trust through community engagement, and increase prosecutorial transparency and accountability. “The move to create prosecutorial data dashboards was sparked by public demand for greater accountability and impartiality, along with a focus on community well-being and fairness,” said Don Stemen, PhD, Loyola University Chicago professor and co-manager of the Prosecutorial Performance Indicators (PPI) Project. The project will next create the tools and infrastructure needed to scale up use of data in DAs’ offices statewide. The dashboards were created through the pilot phase of the Colorado Prosecutorial Dashboards project.

Colorado First in Nation to Move Toward Statewide Use of Data to Improve the Fairness and Effectiveness of the Criminal Justice Systemĭenver – Today, eight Colorado District Attorneys’ (DA) offices unveiled “data dashboards,” a new publicly-available resource designed to promote more effective, just, and transparent decision-making in prosecution.
