Judges use information every day to inform decisions about individuals or cases, but not all judges apply that same information to making decisions about the practices in their courtroom or jurisdiction. For example, judges use information about an individual youth’s educational status to determine appropriate services for that youth, but may not compile education data for all court-involved youth and look for patterns. This information helps to direct resources and system improvement efforts and to set baselines for evaluating policy or practice changes. Data collected in courtrooms every day can be aggregated and viewed differently to paint a picture of what is happening in that court and community.
ABOUT THE PROJECT:
The OJJDP Juvenile Justice Model Data Project aims to enhance the quality and consistency of juvenile justice information and to increase its appropriate use in policy and practice decisions by providing guidance to states and jurisdictions on data improvements. The Model Data Project is a collaboration between the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the National Center for Juvenile Justice, the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA), the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators (CJCA), the Performance-based Standards Learning Institute (PbS), and researchers from the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FLDJJ).