Talk about criminal justice in Harris County often centered around numbers. How many people have been convicted? How many cases have been dismissed? How frequently are certain crimes being charged and who is making critical decisions about a person’s freedom or incarceration?
A new digital tool unveiled Wednesday by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and the University of Houston Hewlett Packard Enterprise Data Science Institute aims make much of that information available to the public.
The new dashboard, available on the district attorney’s website, includes millions of data points gleaned from the office’s records and presents the information in an interactive table.
The tool shows, among other things, the number of cases that are pending in district court and county court at law; the number of people considered fugitives from Harris County; the number of people granted bond while already having received bonds after being accused of a violent crime; and the number of convictions and dismissals.
Wednesday’s unveiling of the dashboard wasn’t intended to present conclusions about what the data shows, District Attorney Kim Ogg said during remarks about what her office dubbed a “data summit.”
“There will not be conclusions drawn by our staff or our partners about everything this data means,” Ogg said. “It’s going to mean something different to everyone. What I believe is important is that we’re going to preserve the data and continue to update the data.”
The dashboard is the result of about five months of work by the DA's office and the data science institute. University officials hope the data can be used by researchers, including students, to reveal new facts about criminal justice in Harris County .
The dashboard will be updated monthly, Ogg said. Ogg lost in a primary fight, so it will be up to the next district attorney, either Democrat Sean Teare or Republican Dan Simons, to decide whether the partnership continues.
The University of Houston and the DA’s office have a memorandum of understanding to share the data. No money is changing hands, said Claudia Neuhauser, the UH System's vice chancellor for research.
“I really hope this can be a long-term relationship, Neuhauser said. “I’m thinking of this in terms of years.”
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Harris County DA’s Office Launches New Dashboard
The new dashboard, available on the district attorney’s website, includes millions of data points gleaned from the office’s records and presents the information in an interactive table.
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