The Power of Data: Readout from APA’s 2nd Annual National Prosecutorial Data Summit
Last spring APA hosted its second annual Prosecutorial Data Summit in Mountain View, CA at Microsoft’s Silicon Valley Campus. The two-day event focused on using data to advance prosecutorial transparency, accountability, and community engagement, as well as strategic decision making about resource allocation, case prioritization, and programming. Presentations included the responsible use of AI and resources on the development of data readiness and internal and public-facing dashboards.
We discussed the ways in which prosecutors are ideally positioned to lean into data transparency by building a culture of using data to inform decisions. We explored various types of public-facing dashboards as a critical diagnostic tool, while recognizing its limitations in communicating a nuanced narrative. We saw examples of ways prosecutors can tell a story with data through a data story or data visualization.
Importantly, we shared ways we have used data to identify a need for a policy or practice change, create a data framework for that change, and monitor and modify the change.
The collection and use of data in the field of prosecution continues to evolve rapidly. Bringing together prosecutors cross the country to learn from one another, as well as data experts, is critical to ensuring that data is used to further efforts to bolster community trust and public safety.
If your office is exploring data, check out our resources:
- Commons: The goal of Commons is to provide criminal justice data at the local level, which is often not readily available. To achieve transparency, and lasting reform, Measures for Justice has developed a model to co-create joint space for making criminal justice data transparent and shared goals public.
- Prosecutorial Performance Indicators (PPI) APA partners with Florida International University and Loyola University Chicago to implement Prosecutorial Performance Indicators (PPIs) and develop dashboards in prosecutors’ offices nationwide. PPIs are a suite of modern indicators for prosecutors committed to measuring effectiveness, efficiency and fairness.
Join us for the 3rd Annual Data Summit next Spring! Email info@apainc.org and put “Data Summit” in the subject line and we will be sure to include you on communications about our next summit.