Data & Analysis

Oversee the development of performance measures to track juvenile justice reforms, and ensure early and ongoing stakeholder engagement in identifying the relevant performance measures (HB 239 lines 2160 - 2162).

Progress Summary

A JJOC subcommittee, the Data Working Group, has been delegated the task of developing performance measures. The work of this group supports the collection and compilation of annual reports.

Tactical Plan

The Data Working Group will continue to meet regularly to evaluate the usefulness of current performance measures and the possibility of including further measures in reports.

Annually issue and make public a report to the governor, president of the Senate, speaker of the House of Representatives, and chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court on the progress of the reforms and any additional areas in need of review (HB 239 lines 2225 - 2227).

Progress Summary

Annual reports are publicly made available to the governor, president of the Senate, speaker of the House of Representatives, and chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court. In addition, due to the passage of General Session 2023 HB 304, the annual reports are reported and presented to the Judiciary and Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committees.

Tactical Plan

The Data Working Group will continue to meet regularly to evaluate the usefulness of current performance measures and the possibility of including further measures in reports.

Ensure that data reporting is expanded and routinely review data in additional areas, including:

1. Referral and disposition data by judicial district;
2. Data on the length of time minors spend in the juvenile justice system, including the total time spent under court jurisdiction, on community supervision, and in each out-of-home placement;
3. Recidivism data for diversion types pursuant to Section 78A-6-602 and disposition types pursuant to Section 78A-6-117, including tracking minors into the adult corrections system;
4. Change in aggregate risk levels from the time minors receive services, are under supervision, and are in out-of-home placement; and
5. Dosage of programming (HB 239 lines 2191 - 2202).

Progress Summary

1. Referral and disposition data are tracked in Utah by the Court and Agencies’ Record Exchange (CARE) system. The FY 2023 Juvenile Justice Policies Annual Report includes information over FY 2015 to FY 2023 by judicial district for referrals, nonjudicial adjustments, petitions, contempts, probation, locked detention, community placement, and secure care.

2. Length of time was reported for Locked Detention in FY 2018. The FY 2019-2023 Juvenile Justice Policies Annual Report included data on time to complete for nonjudicial adjustments and probation.

3. Recidivism data for nonjudicial adjustments has been reviewed. Please see report here.

4. Change in dynamic risk level are regularly evaluated by the Division of Juvenile Justice System Custody Programs and the Juvenile Court is currently developing approaches to track and evaluate this similarly. 

5. Dosage of programming data are currently challenging to collect from CARE.

Tactical Plan

The work of this group supported the completion of the FY 2023 Juvenile Justice Policies Annual Report. The group has continued their collaborative efforts to further develop these measures in FY 2023 to incorporate HB 304.

Evaluate currently collected data elements throughout the juvenile justice system and contract reporting requirements to streamline reporting, reduce redundancies, eliminate inefficiencies, and ensure a focus on recidivism reduction (HB 239 lines 2163 - 2165).