Capacity Building: Enhancing UCR Data and Special Emphasis: Assessing Criminal History Data for Recidivism and Evaluations.

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.

The Wisconsin SAC, as part of the Bureau of Justice Information and Analysis (BJIA), is located within the Division of Law Enforcement Services (DLES) at the Department of Justice (WDOJ). The SAC will be conducting continuations of a Core Capacity project (Enhancing the Quality and Access to UCR Data) and a Special Emphasis project (Evaluate and Use Criminal History Repository to Track Arrests re: Recidivism) as part of the 2016 SJS program.

Enhancement of UCR Data: The SAC proposed a 2-year project in their 2015 SJS application and now is applying for the 2nd year of the project plan. The two-year project goals are to build on capacity by enhancing the work of the SAC in the quality and access of UCR data. The first year of the project is underway and focuses on enhancing the quality and availability of UCR data for policy makers and the community to support evidence-based decision making through the development of data quality reports. The second year of the project proposes to expand the availability of UCR data by adding a public-facing component to the recently developed web application to display interactive charts and tables of UCR data, with a focus on IBR. The data will also be integrated into the statewide Criminal Justice Coordinating Council website as part of the progress towards creating a dashboard on criminal justice data. Recent funding has significantly enhanced aspects of the UCR program including the development of a web application that improved the process for agencies to submit their IBR data. The application provides agencies with more immediate feedback on data validation issues and a summary of their data submission. The expanded features will also enhance the agencies’ ability to analyze various IBR elements such as victim and offender demographics, relationship between victims and the offender, weapon used, location of the incident, and other related information.

Track Arrests - Recidivism: The SAC proposed a 2-year project in their 2015 SJS application to evaluate and use the criminal history repository to track arrests for the purpose of recidivism and related analysis. Year one is in the process of developing an initial pilot project that explores the feasibility of using criminal history data and related sources to track arrests and out-of-state convictions as recidivistic events, using a sample of sex offenders released from custody by the DOC. The pilot project includes a comparison to other existing statewide data systems such as the Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP), PROsecutor Technology for Case Tracking (PROTECT), and other comparable systems. These activities have been coordinated with current NCHIP awarded projects that reviewed the quality of the data in the state’s criminal history program. Based on the results of the year one activities, year two proposes to develop a process to use the criminal history data to track arrests and related outcomes for the evaluation of the Treatment Alternatives and Diversion (TAD) Program, which includes both treatment courts and diversion programs in 35 counties and tribes across the state. Previous evaluations on the TAD program were conducted without the benefit of a comparison or control group. (CA/NCF)

Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined by applicable law.