New Database Tracks Criminal Cases From Start to Finish, Offers Transparency

A nonprofit organization launched a free online database on Tuesday that tracks how criminal cases are handled from arrest to post-conviction.

Measures for Justice’s data portal provides insight into local justice systems by collecting and analyzing data on the county level.

The searchable database allows users to break down statistics from over 300 counties across six states by race, indigent status, sex, offense type and type of attorney, among others. The data has been passed through 32 performance measures developed by prominent criminologists and scholars.

“The data are a treasure trove for communities that will now have access to reliable, informative, and comprehensive data about their criminal justice systems,” said Amy Bach, president and executive director of Measures for Justice. “Our portal is intended to be a starting point for conversations about how to address the multiple issues facing the criminal justice system.”

The portal is six years in the making and will eventually have data from all 50 states. Currently data is available from Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Utah, Wisconsin and Washington.

Measures for Justice was founded in 2011 with the mission to create transparency in the criminal justice system by bringing free data to the public.

Search the database here.