JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The local State Attorney’s Office released a publicly available dashboard that includes data on not just how the office works, but data on key decision-points and indicators of the office’s performance.
“Improving transparency and trust in the prosecutor’s office were goals we set when we began this work,” State Attorney Melissa Nelson said in the press release. “This data dashboard is a major step toward that commitment and helps us become better prosecutors and better stewards of taxpayer dollars.”
Nelson said that the launch of this dashboard is to help improve transparency, build community trust, and bring a more data-driven approach to prosecution. Nelson took office in January of 2017 and covers Clay, Duval, and Nassau Counties.
The data is broken down by three categories: capacity and efficiency, community safety and well-being, and fairness and justice. Each of those categories are broken down in three sections as well. There are a total of 33 Prosecutorial Performance Indicators. More will be added in the coming months according to the State Attorney’s Office.
One of the indicators include racial ethnic differences. For example, black felony defendants have received longer incarceration sentences. Over the last three years, black felony defendants were sentences to an average of 78.9 more days than white felony defendants. In the same time-frame, white felony defendants were two and half more likely to have their cases diverted.
The data also shows that there have been more juvenile civil citations issued as an alternative to arrest. 548 citations were given out in 2017. 809 were given out in 2019.
Most of the data used in the system can be tracked to 2017, the same time Nelson came into office, however the data that can be downloaded isn’t the raw data. Rather it’s the data used to make the graphs and the charts used on the dashboard.
The project was spearheaded by Florida International University associate professor Besiki Kutateladze.
“The criminal justice system cannot be reformed without marked progress in the field of prosecution. We also recognize that prosecutors need to be equipped with data and analytics to understand their impact on the communities they serve,” Kutateladze said. “After several years of partnership, we are thrilled to help launch Florida’s first prosecutorial dashboards to bring greater transparency and promote data-driven decisions in prosecution.”
The dashboard is the culmination of a partnership with researchers at Florida International University and Loyola University of Chicago who have spent several years working with prosecutors in Jacksonville, Tampa, Chicago, and Milwaukee. Earlier this month, Hillsborough’s State Attorney’s Office published a similar dashboard by the same publishers.