Data-driven research is crucial to analyzing criminal and juvenile justice policy. In California, statewide appointed governmental bodies compile and maintain data that are regularly relied upon by local government, the legislature, state and federal agencies, and other criminal justice stakeholders.
Improved data collection and accessibility is essential to California as it continues to pursue justice reform. Currently counties do not uniformly collect data on their local justice systems, and statewide agencies do not provide full access to their redacted data files. Other agencies, such as California’s Center for Health Statistics are already providing this level of transparency and accountability through publicly available electronic database systems. These data hold valuable information for strategies towards greater public safety locally, as well as that of California and the nation.