Evidence-based Decision Making & the Criminal Justice ...€¦ · Evidence-based Decision Making &...

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

CourtView.com Northpointeinc.com

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


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



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 ...€¦ · Evidence-based Decision Making &...

Documents

Transcript of Evidence-based Decision Making & the Criminal Justice ...€¦ · Evidence-based Decision Making &...