New Criminal Justice Data Tool Brings Transparency to East Baton Rouge Parish
Commons Dashboard helps drive data-driven policy changes set by local prosecutor and public
(East Baton Rouge Parish) October 17, 2023 – A new criminal justice data tool – Commons – has launched with data from the East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney’s (EBRDA) Office. The data dashboard, which was created by the nonprofit organization Measures for Justice, in partnership with the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, makes accurate, local criminal justice data available to the East Baton Rouge Parish public and tracks policy goals set by the D.A.’s office and community leaders.
“The launch of Commons marks a pivotal moment in our efforts to build trust and transparency in our community. By opening up access to our criminal justice data, we are taking a significant step towards ensuring a fair and equitable system for all residents of East Baton Rouge Parish,” said Hillar C. Moore III, East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney.
Commons is a community driven data tool that helps shape criminal justice policy. Members of the East Baton Rouge Parish community can use Commons to:
- publicly track goals set by community leaders and the prosecutor’s office; and
- follow trends in criminal justice data that can be filtered by defendant characteristics like race/ethnicity, sex and age as well as by case characteristics like offense severity and type.
The EBR Commons launched with a policy goal to maintain pretrial diversions at or above eight percent.
To kick off the Commons process, Measures for Justice worked closely with public leaders and the district attorney’s office to form a Community Advisory Board (CAB), made up of representatives from key organizations and changemakers in East Baton Rouge Parish.
The East Baton Rouge CAB includes leaders who have worked at the intersection of community building, racial equity and criminal justice reform.
“We need to heal our city and the only way to heal our city is to be transparent and build trust. This is the beauty of this project overall and what I think it can do for Baton Rouge as a whole,” said Dianna Payton, President YWCA of Greater Baton Rouge, EBR Commons CAB member.
East Baton Rouge Parish is part of a larger network of counties across the country implementing Commons as a way to bring data transparency to the local criminal justice system. Yolo County, CA, launched a Commons in 2021 and Monroe County, NY launched Commons in 2023.
“Access to accurate and timely data will allow prosecutors to be transparent with and accountable to the communities they serve and establish legitimacy,” said David LaBahn, President and CEO of the APA. “Prosecutors can also use this information internally to improve resource allocation and understand case trends in a way that surpasses what this profession has seen thus far. At the end of the day, public safety can only be improved by increased access to these data measures.”
“Commons puts data directly into the hands of communities to help them reshape how the system works,” said Amy Bach, CEO and founder of Measures for Justice. “We’re thrilled to be doing this work in East Baton Rouge and look forward to the platform making a huge difference in how the public and the D.A.’s office work together to effect change.”
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About Measures for Justice
Measures for Justice is leading a movement to change the future of criminal justice by developing tools that help communities and the institutions that serve them reshape how the system works. Since 2011, Measures for Justice has worked with communities, courts, prosecutors, and police to shine a light on what criminal justice looks like nationwide; collaborated to standardize and improve criminal justice data nationwide; and created tools, provided services, and led research to help create a criminal justice system that is fully transparent, accessible, and accountable.
