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Evidence-based Decision Making & the Criminal Justice ...€¦ · Evidence-based Decision Making &...
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Evidence-based Decision Making & the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council
Enhancing public safety through community collaboration, coordinated leadership, and innovative criminal justice programs.
Without question, justice practitioners in Eau Claire County,
Wisconsin are ahead of their time. In the early 2000s, with most
jurisdictions experiencing rising crime and incarceration rates
and struggling to understand whether actuarial science could
be used to better-inform their pre- and post-trial decisions,
Eau Claire County officials were banding together to do just that.
In spite of their distinct authorities and operational missions,
there was no mistaking the common objectives that drove
each agency. No matter their differences, county stakeholders
agreed that meeting these goals was fundamental to improving
the lives of their citizens and the community’s health overall:
• Improve public safety.
• Create system-based approaches to justice issues.
• Reduce duplication of effort and conflicting practices.
• Better allocate limited justice system resources.
Unlike some super-stories, there were no climatic moments
where a lone individual clamored up buildings or rose from
the sea to fight crime and restore justice… rather, a dozen
or so dedicated professionals decided to roll up their sleeves
and join forces. And by 2006 they had formed a Criminal
Justice Collaborating Council (CJCC) with their sights
set on building success through a data-driven, evidence-
based justice system all the way from arrest through final
offender outcome.
“If you want to go fast, go alone,
if you want to go far, go together.”
AFRICAN PROVERB
Justice SystemAround this same time, the Wisconsin Department of
Corrections (WIDOC) was busy implementing their own
evidence-based practice (EBP) in the state system, with
a primary goal of better identifying and classifying juvenile
and adult offenders for housing, community corrections,
and parole supervision. One of their tools, the COMPAS
validated risk/needs assessment system, was proving
especially effective at helping WIDOC accurately evaluate
their offender population for risk of recidivism and violence,
and measure the applicability and effectiveness of the
treatment and services they provide. Through a WIDOC
statewide outreach effort, the Eau Claire CJCC decided to
compound the power of COMPAS by joining their current
COMPAS system with that of WIDOC. This collaboration
allowed both state and local agencies to ultimately recognize
the value of risk assessment for evidence-based decision
making (EBDM) at all phases of the criminal justice process.
In 2010, Eau Claire County applied to participate in the National
Institute of Correction’s (NIC) EBDM Initiative. They were one
of only seven jurisdictions in the country selected for this
honor. By then the County’s justice agencies were well-versed
at collaboration and moved quickly—and in unison—to rollout
their EBDM initiative across all agencies and departments.
KEY DECISION POINTS
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Eau Claire County
EVOLUTION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE COLLABORATING COUNCIL
The ultimate credo of any criminal justice EBDM Initiative is
that decisions are best made if they are based on research.
It is becoming widely understood and accepted that policy
makers and criminal justice practitioners must “get outside the
box that defines punishment and rehabilitation as an either/
or proposition” as we are reminded by Judge Roger Warren in
his paper on Evidence-Based Practice to Reduce Recidivism:
Implications for State Judiciaries. There is much research about
“what works” born of scientific investigation and analysis in
criminology, psychology, mental health, substance abuse,
criminal justice, and corrections. These researchers have
brought forth the evidence that punishment, incarceration, and
other sanctions simply do not reduce recidivism—and more
often even exacerbate it.
Their findings include:
1. Treatment and rehabilitation can “work” to reduce recidivism.
2. For appropriate offenders, alternatives to imprisonment can be both less expensive and more effective in reducing crime.
3. Even where alternatives to incarceration do not decrease recidivism, they often do not increase it either, thereby providing a cost-effective alternative to imprisonment without compromising public safety.
With the research in-hand, Eau Claire County’s CJCC knew that
their success was dependent on using a validated assessment
tool to correctly identify the right offenders for the right
interventions at the right times. Banding together with WIDOC,
the CJCC decided to implement a continuum of risk assessment
services so that law enforcement could quickly screen an
offender’s risk level at the point of arrest, with subsequent
decisions about community release, pretrial diversion,
sentencing, and probation supervision further guided by
COMPAS to assess the existence of criminogenic factors and
how best to address them at every step. As you might expect,
even the Board of County Commissioners depends on evidence
to make its funding decisions in support of risk-reducing
programs and to eliminate ineffective ones.
EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING & THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COORDINATING COUNCIL
“A research based criminal justice
system = less crime/fewer victims.”
EAU CLAIRE COUNTY, CJCC
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EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING
It’s important to note that EBDM and EBP are different.
Evidence-based practice in the criminal justice system is the
partnership between research and practice, with research used
to determine how effective a practice is at achieving positive
measurable outcomes—including reduction of recidivism and
increasing public safety. For example, research supports that
if practitioners use an empirically based assessment tool (i.e.
COMPAS) they will be more accurate in their prediction of the
risk of an individual’s propensity to commit a crime in the
future than their professional judgment alone. The evidence-
based practice is the use a of risk/needs tool to determine the
appropriate amount of intervention, rather than the use of
professional judgment alone.
Evidence-based decision making represents a systemic
approach that uses research to inform decisions at all levels
throughout the criminal justice system. Born out of this concept
is the County Risk Assessment Implementation Network
(CRAIN) which is a body of CJCC coordinators and other criminal
justice leaders who are at various stages of implementing risk
assessment and service delivery practices similar to those in
Eau Claire County.
What’s so super about the accomplishments of Eau Claire
County? Since first implementing their EBDM program,
recidivism rates have fallen by nearly half while felony case
filings have increased as prosecutors, judges, and others have
been able to focus on serious crime as a result of the diversion of
low-risk, first-time offenders. Even with an increasing caseload,
the clearance rate has improved from 96% in 2012 to 101% in
2015 for total criminal cases—meaning that the DAs Office is
closing more criminal cases than they are opening, despite
a shift to a higher volume and percentage of felony cases. A
key contributor to the increase in dispositions is their Pre-
Charge Diversion Program that redirects hundreds of low-risk,
first time offenders out of the criminal justice system and has
proven to preserve resources while reducing recidivism.
Improvements like these are what keep Eau Claire County
and its Criminal Justice Collaborating Council at the forefront
of justice reform and making a difference in the lives of their
citizens. Now that’s pretty heroic.
WI DOC CRAIN CHARTER:
County Risk Assessment
Implementation Network
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EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING & THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COORDINATING COUNCIL
Resources
Eau Claire County Criminal Justice Collaborating Council
http://www.co.eau-claire.wi.us/departments/departments-a-k/criminal-justice-collaborating-council
Eau Claire County - Criminal Justice Data
http://www.co.eau-claire.wi.us/departments/departments-a-k/criminal-justice-collaborating-council/system-reports
Eau Claire County - Drug Court
http://www.co.eau-claire.wi.us/departments/departments-a-k/human-services/treatment-courts/drug-court
Eau Claire County - Risk Assessment Implementation Network
https://cjcc.doj.wi.gov/sites/default/files/subcommittee/CRAIN%20Charter.pdf
Eau Claire County - Diversion Program
http://www.co.eau-claire.wi.us/departments/departments-a-k/district-attorney/diversion-406
Evidence-Based Decision Making in Local Criminal Justice Systems Initiative
http://ebdmoneless.org/
Northpointe COMPAS
http://www.northpointeinc.com/risk-needs-assessment
For more information about Eau Claire County’s CJCC and Evidence-Based Decision Making programs, contact:
Tiana Glenna, Criminal Justice Manager Eau Claire County
721 Oxford Ave – Suite 3520, Eau Claire, WI 54703
Phone: 715.839.5106 | Fax: 715.839.6243
Email: [email protected]
EVIDENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING & THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COORDINATING COUNCIL
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