Juvenile Justice System Data: How Do We Change the Field?

• In Event: Integrating Social Science, Policy, and Practice in Juvenile Justice: Updates from OJJDP’s Research Program

Abstract

OJJDP is continuing to advance efforts to improve juvenile justice system data. Ensuring quality data collection and effective measurement practices is critical to informing juvenile justice reform efforts and ultimately improving outcomes for youth. Without this information we struggle at all levels—national, state, and local— with basic problem identification, monitoring and assessment, and measuring the impact of system changes. Staff will discuss OJJDP’s efforts to collect, analyze, and disseminate national statistics and recently launched initiatives to develop models for how data can serve the information needs of state and local justice agencies. Staff will also discuss OJJDP’s efforts to encourage greater use of data through online tools, opportunities for secondary analyses, and through the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data.

Author

• Benjamin Adams, Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention