Iowa 2010 Statistical Analysis Center Application

The State Justice Statistics (SJS) Program is designed to maintain and enhance each state's capacity to address criminal justice issues through collection and analysis of data. The SJS Program provides support to each state to coordinate and conduct statistical activities within the state, conduct research to estimate impacts of legislative and policy changes, and serve as a liaison in assisting BJS to gather data from respondent agencies within their states.

Under this award, the Iowa SAC will carry out the following activities to enhance the abilities of state and local policymakers to develop, access, understand and utilize data on justice issues of relevance: 1) Conduct a correctional study to provide a sound, statistically based forecast of Iowa's prison population and to maintain an objective methodology for simulating alternative correctional futures based on specific changes in laws, policies or practices; 2) provide timely and accurate data on deaths in custody to BJS; 3) establish data collection reports from which to develop and implement policy to reduce Iowa's high overrepresentation of referral rates for minority youth from the school setting; 4) continue to identify persons arrested in Iowa who possessed a firearm while ineligible to do so under federal law and/or who are engaged in illegal gang-related activity, compile summaries of each such arrestee's criminal history from all available data sources, and forward the summaries to the U.S. Attorneys' Office so that the arrestee can be evaluated for possible federal prosecution.

CA/NCF