LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (the Board) unanimously approved Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell’s motion to advance data transparency in the County’s juvenile justice system by calling for the creation of a public-facing juvenile justice data dashboard. The Probation Department in coordination with the County’s Chief Information Officer will report back to the Board in 60-days with a plan for launching this initiative.
Supervisor Mitchell whose district includes the highest rate of young people in the County’s juvenile justice system shared, “The data we are tracking is tied to real lives—to the lives of the young people in our care, whom we are responsible for. This information needs to be accessible and readily available to all. Instead of navigating a cumbersome process of searching across multiple webpages or contacting departments directly, there will be a centralized location where this data can live. This is about building on the efforts of the Probation Department and our County teams to transparently track outcomes for young people in our halls so we can strengthen solutions for reunification, safe depopulation through community partnerships, and prevention.”
The motion builds on the County’s Care First, Jails Last commitment and furthers steps taken by the Board in 2020 to improve data collection and information sharing by creating a centralized dashboard on the County’s existing Open Data portal. The dashboard will be updated monthly and provide clear, accessible insights for families of youth involved in the County’s juvenile justice system, advocates, County departments, and the public. Key data that can be publicly disclosed consistent with applicable laws, rules, and regulations will include, but is not limited to:
– Demographics of the probation population, disaggregated by race, age, and gender (female, male, non-binary)
– Tracking of releases and facility transfers
– Total number of youth in community placements
– Total population at each Probation facility
– Total number of youth with current or prior involvement with the County’s Department of Children and Family Services
– Booking charges and Los Angeles Detention Screener scores (an assessment tool used to help inform recommendations for detention or alternatives to detention)
– Length of stay in detention
The County’s Probation Department shared the following “We support any effort to provide transparency in our daily operations and look forward to working with the Supervisors and our partners on this motion,” said Robert Acros, Acting Chief Deputy, LA County Probation Department. Chief Information Officer, Peter Loo, added “Collaboration is key, and departments, as the owners and stewards of their own data, play a key role in ensuring its integrity, accuracy, and completeness. Our team stands ready to assist Probation by providing the platform and tools, and technical assistance to publish a Juvenile Justice dashboard.”
There are examples of public-facing dashboards in other counties, including Santa Clara County which the Los Angeles Youth Uprising (LAYUP) Coalition has uplifted as a best-practice model for data transparency.
LAYUP Coalition member, Olivia Shields with the non-profit, Urban Peace Institute shared “an accessible, accurate, public facing dashboard detailing incarcerated youth demographics, releases and facility transfers, DCFS involvement, LA Detention Screener scores, and more will allow for increased accountability, opportunities to identify and remedy patterns of harm, and precise tracking of effectiveness of decarceration solutions. We look forward to following the implementation of the motion, with a particular focus on data quality and reliability, production integrity and transparency, and the ultimate efficacy of the dashboard.”
The motion also instructs the Probation Department to provide regular progress reports to the Board and the Probation Oversight Commission to ensure continued accountability in the development the platform.
Probation Oversight Commission Chair Eduardo Mundo added, “The Board has already affirmed its commitment to Youth Justice Reimagined, and this action helps accelerate the work the current administration of the Probation Department has begun by expanding access to publicly available data. Robust and consistent data collection allows us to move beyond anecdotes, reduce silos across youth serving departments, and better monitor our progress toward meaningful and lasting juvenile justice reform.”
###