FY23 Pennsylvania SJS Program

The PA SAC requests funds for two projects intended to enhance the in-house research conducted by the SAC: 1) to support a core capacity building project to increase access to statistical data by using GIS-mapping, dashboards, and data analytics; and 2) to support a special emphasis project analyzing state criminal history records to expand upon previous recidivism rate calculations of county-supervised offenders in Pennsylvania. The 12-month core capacity project continues to support the SAC’s GIS-Mapping/Data Consultant, who is the keystone to the SAC’s ability to not only gather, organize, and combine large, disparate and siloed datasets to assist in analyzing data, but who is instrumental in the production of a wide array of digital dashboards, maps, and reports used by policymakers and staff. The 24-month Special Emphasis project will build upon previous recidivism research supported by BJS/SJS funding to expand upon a recent baseline recidivism study of county offenders. This proposal seeks to include new partnering counties in this research, and measure recidivism among new cohorts in existing partnering counties to begin understanding the trajectory of recidivism change over time. The anticipated research goal of this project is two-pronged: (1) establish statewide recidivism rates for certain subpopulations of the county-supervised population, such as offenders receiving probation, probation with restrictive conditions (i.e., county intermediate punishment), or Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition (ARD); and (2) where possible, establish individual county recidivism rates for the same population. Pennsylvania’s SAC will use this to establish base recidivism rates to allow for benchmarking (i.e., county v. statewide average; comparison among similarly sized counties; and measure intra-county changes).