Defanging Data in Ohio Criminal Legal Systems: Incorporating Defense Perspectives into Research and Policy Change

• In Event: Research in Indigent Defense: Data in Indigent Defense

Abstract

The current study seeks to tap previously unheard perspectives of Ohio defense counsel on how data, research, and related technologies can help to ensure that Ohio’s criminal legal systems are used as sparingly as possible with maximum fairness, transparency, and effectiveness. Data-driven justice reform is receiving renewed attention from judges, policymakers, and the public. To date, however, statewide and national conversations and decisions are insufficiently informed by the critically important insights of criminal defense attorneys and managers of public defense agencies (Moore & Davies, 2017). This project begins by building the necessary foundation to accomplish three major long-term goals: The first goal is to understand defender practices and aspirations related to data by answering basic questions which currently cannot be answered. The second goal is to incorporate defense counsel and public defense agency management into a broader co-learning collaborative of stakeholders that advances data-driven reform of Ohio’s criminal legal systems while also reducing reliance on these systems as default responses to social problems. The third goal is to develop responsive technologies and training to fill identified gaps within Ohio’s existing data systems.

Authors

• Teresa Michelle Encalada, University of Cincinnati

• Janet Moore, University of Cincinnati

• Hazem Said, University of Cincinnati

• J.C. Barnes, University of Cincinnati