News

Metis Associates, with Annie E. Casey Foundation, Designs Electronic Tools to Help Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative Make Informed Decisions

The Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI), a program of the Anne E. Casey Foundation, has rolled out a set of data-management tools, which will help the many initiative sites better manage and utilize the data they collect on juvenile detention practices. The JDAI featured this new software, which Metis Associates developed with the Casey Foundation, in JDAI News, explaining that its aim is to enable sites to accelerate their capacity to organize and put data to good use, and to use them to identify systemic problems and craft solutions.

JDAI, begun in 1992, is one of the nation's most effective, influential, and widespread reform projects in juvenile justice. With 125 sites in 30 states and the District of Columbia, JDAI uses data extensively to drive policy and address critical questions in detention reform. Metis has provided technical assistance to the initiative from the start in the areas of information technology and data management. The new tools were designed with extensive involvement of JDAI sites to help standardize the data they use and to produce reports on the characteristics of detained youth and their experiences with the juvenile justice system. Those reports include demographic information on detained youth and answer questions about average lengths of stay in detention; the ways in which detention decisions are being made; whether alternatives to detention are offered; the results of those alternatives; and whether racial, ethnic and gender disparities are being addressed in the juvenile justice system.

Eight of JDAI's newer sites began using the new software in early 2011 and are working toward implementing them in their quarterly reporting process. Their feedback will be used to develop new features and training materials for the system. According to JDAI News, this software will "enable and encourage sites to carry out more in-depth analyses of their data to drive improvements to their detention policies and practices." Click here to read the full story in JDAI News.