The Kansas Sentencing Commission Electronic Journal Entry Application (KSApp)

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Abstract

The Kansas Sentencing Commission (KSSC) collects data for adult felony convictions across all 105 counties in Kansas. This data is utilized to make informed evidence based criminal justice policies. Currently data is collected via paper journal entries for both the initial sentencing hearing, as well as from probation violation hearings. These two databases include over 900 combined variables specific to jurisdiction, offense types, and demographics. At present, the manual entry of this data requires the work of three full-time employees to sort through and enter data from each journal entry, which are often littered with mistakes. However, the KSSC recently partnered with Domo Inc, to develop the Kansas Sentencing App (KSApp) to provide practitioners the ability to complete journal entries via an online portal that will not only reduce practitioner error but will also streamline data collection. This new process will allow the KSSC to improve its data collection, as well as its data analysis to make better policy recommendations. The application also includes data visualization tools that makes the data produced by the KSSC more readily available and more easily digested by the public. This presentation will demonstrate the improved data collection and analysis that resulted from this endeavor.

Author

• John Grube, Kansas Sentencing Commission