From Calls for Service to Sentencing, New Snohomish County Dashboard Breaks Down Criminal Legal System Data Siloes
By Ben Estep, Research Project Director, and Cecilia Low-Weiner, Senior Research Associate
Snohomish County wanted to better understand and use data in its criminal legal system processes, with a focus on addressing racial and ethnic disparities. Created in partnership with CUNY ISLG, the Snohomish County Law & Justice Dashboard provides data on every point of the local criminal legal system, from the point of initial contact with law enforcement through the disposition of a case
With increased calls for transparency and accountability in the criminal legal space, state and local governments across the country are recognizing the value of using data to drive more effective and equitable decision-making, as well as better public communication.
This is easier said than done. Criminal legal systems encompass multiple agencies, each often with their own data management systems, which means that information and data are often siloed and only reveal one piece of the puzzle. Public-facing dashboards have become an increasingly popular solution to this challenge. Snohomish County, Washington, is now part of that movement.
Historically, in Snohomish County—as with jurisdictions across the country—data on arrests, court cases, use of jail, and other criminal legal system activities have been scattered and difficult or impossible to publicly access. This makes it hard to see the bigger picture and identify potential issues. The recently released Snohomish County Law & Justice Dashboard was developed to help change this.
With support from Microsoft’s Justice Reform Initiative, Snohomish County partnered with CUNY ISLG to assess and map its criminal legal system’s existing data capacity, establish a measurement framework, and support the design and launch of the tool to disseminate this information to County stakeholders and the public.
Background
In Fall 2020, in response to a request from the Snohomish County Council, Snohomish County stakeholders – led by the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office – proposed a new initiative seting out to enhance the County’s use of data to inform decision-making and policy discussion, particularly relating to understanding and addressing racial and ethnic disparities across the local criminal legal system.
With support from Microsoft’s Criminal Justice Reform Initiative, Snohomish County partnered with CUNY ISLG to:
Assess and map existing data collection and capacity;
Establish a performance measurement framework that supports data-driven decision-making based on this assessment; and
Support the design and launch of a data dashboard to disseminate information to County stakeholders and the public.
How it Works
The dashboard draws together data on calls for service from County 911, law enforcement activity and jail use from the County Sheriff’s Office, and prosecution and sentencing from the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. For the first time in Snohomish County’s history, this collective data allows for a holistic picture of the functioning of the local criminal legal system, from the point of initial contact with law enforcement through the disposition of a case.
Users can filter data—which is updated monthly—by race, age, charge type, and other factors to see how different groups experience the system. This helps users examine racial and ethnic differences during the process. Each section of the dashboard includes information on the measures included and definitions of terms. The tool includes a section on what is currently covered, as well as important notes regarding data sources and limitations. Detailed instructions on how to use and navigate the dashboard are also included in a user guide.
Importance of Criminal Legal Dashboards
The front end of the justice system is where racial and ethnic disparities begin and are often amplified. Law enforcement, prosecution, and courts (particularly with regard to pretrial decision-making) have an outsized influence over what happens to people involved in the criminal legal system, and changes made at the front end consequently hold the potential to generate outsized change toward more equitable outcomes.
Prior to this project, Snohomish County, like jurisdictions across the United States, operated with a limited ability to monitor trends across key decision points in a fundamentally siloed local criminal justice system. Giving law enforcement stakeholders, policymakers, and the public this information can inform decision-making and policy discussions, particularly to help understand and address disparate outcomes experienced by people of color across the local criminal legal system.
Giving law enforcement stakeholders, policymakers, and the public this information can inform decision-making and policy discussions, particularly to help understand and address disparate outcomes experienced by people of color across the local criminal legal system.
The launch of the Snohomish County Law & Justice Dashboard marks an exciting first chapter. Snohomish County is now poised to further grow the tool with additional data and functionality to better serve the evolving needs of stakeholders and the public, as well as apply its information to continuously ensuring its criminal legal system is effectively and equitably serving its community.
Image by Jeff Huth on Adobe Stock.