Integrating court data with public defender system data for more robust analytic capacity.
Population
Wisconsin Population: 5,757,564
Indigent Defense Cases per Year: 138,105
Indigent Defense Cases Assigned to Private Counsel: 58,651
Problem
The State of Wisconsin uses the Consolidated Court Automation Program (CCAP) to maintain reliable, uniform records for its entire court system. CCAP is central to Wisconsin’s reputation as a leader in criminal justice coordination and evidence-based policy-making, exemplified by its work on the National Institute of Corrections’ Evidence-Based Decision Making Initiative and on the Pew-MacArthur Results First Initiative.
The Wisconsin State Public Defender (SPD) is an active partner in criminal justice policy-making, but has been constrained by the data system it uses to manage its approximately 140,000 case appointments per year. This case management system is not integrated with CCAP, which makes it difficult for SPD to make data-driven arguments about the impact of public defense on the rest of the justice system. In addition, SPD’s case management system does not allow managers to supervise the work of private attorneys, who are appointed in about 40% of SPD’s cases.
Solution
T
hrough the Reporting, Analysis, and Mining Project (RAMP), SPD programmers are constructing a data warehouse that integrates CCAP’s aggregate data with the case-level data of SPD’s current system. This two-year process, to be completed in 2018, includes mapping data elements for both systems, transferring data, and developing more powerful, user-friendly reporting functions for attorneys and managers. Building this data infrastructure will transform the efficiency and accuracy of SPD’s internal and external decision-making.
Data Collection & Research
SPD’s research partners at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute (UWPHI) are working with SPD policy staff and managers of private assigned counsel to develop priority outcomes and performance indicators to inform the work of their respective divisions. UWPHI and SPD are especially interested in identifying trends in drug-related cases and in racial disparities.