The State of Transparency: What Information do States Share About Criminal Justice Operations?

• In Event: Politics, Policy Shifts, and Prosecutorial Influence: Examining Transparency, Impact, and Accountability in Criminal Justice

Abstract

Transparency is seen as a core principle in democratic governance. However, transparency in key criminal justice institutions, such as the police, juvenile justice, and courts, has been a target of complaint in recent years. In this paper, we will look at state websites to examine the extent to which states provide information on topics of interest that are not currently included on required federal reports. These topics may include police use of force, waiver of juveniles to adult court, privatization, budgets, prosecution, and community supervision. We will highlight states that provide data, with an eye to generating insights that may help states that do not. In addition, this information will be useful to researchers who struggle to find state data as we will report the websites and nomenclature used in these sometimes hidden data sets.

Authors

• Joanne Savage, Illinois State University

• Pavel Ahmed, Illinois State University