Use of Administrative Records by State Statistical Analysis Centers
April 11, 2013
In this webinar two Statistical Analysis Center Directors provide insight into use of Administrative Records by SACs. In the first presentation, Court Docket Data: A Research Treasure Trove, Vermont SAC Director Max Schlueter focuses on the value of court docket information for SAC research and policy analysis. Sample research products, strategies for obtaining the data, important data fields to collect, and data transfer procedures are discussed based on the Vermont Center for Justice Research's 25 years of experience working with court data.
In the second presentation, Merging Criminal History and Corrections Records for Prospective and Retrospective Analyses, Illinois SAC Director Mark Myrent discusses how strengths and weaknesses in criminal justice datasets drive the need to consider administrative record systems as a viable alternative for research. The process for merging criminal history and corrections records is reviewed with a focus on challenges in the record matching process, and suggestions for addressing those challenges were offered. The presentation also describes how the record merging was initially used to produce a web-based tool for analyzing offense histories of prisoner cohorts (retrospective), and recidivism patterns of persons admitted to and released from probation or prison, for various offender subpopulations (prospective). It concludes with a brief description of how the data tool was adapted for measuring legislative impact on correctional populations and the associated costs.
Dr. Max Schlueter
SAC Director
Vermont Center for Justice Research
Max Schlueter currently serves as the Director of the Vermont Center for Justice Research (VCJR), the state's Statistical Analysis Center, and as Adjunct Professor of Justice Studies and Sociology at Norwich University in Northfield, Vermont. Prior to his work at VCJR, Max served as the Director of the Vermont Criminal Information Center at the Vermont Department of Public Safety for 16 years. During his tenure at VCIC he served as the Director of Vermont's crime reporting system and was responsible for managing the State Identification Bureau, the Vermont Criminal History System, the Vermont Sex Offender Registry, and the State's National Crime Information Center program. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Southern Illinois University.
Mark Myrent
SAC Director
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
Mark Myrent is Associate Director for the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority's Research and Analysis Unit. With more than 30 years as a research coordinator and policy analyst, he has served as SAC Director since 2007. Mark has directed multiple criminal justice research, evaluation, technical assistance, and policy analysis studies during that time, and authored publications on criminal justice strategic planning, juvenile justice trends, drug enforcement, disproportionate minority contact, criminal history records, criminal justice data quality and information sharing, victim assistance programs, and jail crowding. He has also produced a comprehensive, long-range planning document for the Chicago region containing recommendations for action in the area of crime and justice, and has overseen a major renovation of the agency's web-based information and data services. Mark previously served as Research Director for the Cook County Juvenile Court, conducting studies of juvenile detention alternatives and mental health screening of court-involved youth, and has been an adjunct faculty member at the Chicago campuses of Loyola University and the University of Illinois.
Issues in Using Administrative Records
February 19, 2013
In this webinar Dr. Culhane presents an overview of issues associated with the use of administrative records: defining administrative records; examples of different types of administrative records systems; identifying and overcoming barriers to the use of administrative records; and integrating data across administrative records systems. Dr. Culhane also provides an overview of the Intelligence for Social Policy Initiative, a program to improve the quality of education, health, and human service agencies' policies and practices through the use of integrated data systems.
Dr. Dennis Culhane
Co-Principal Investigator, Intelligence for Social Policy Initiative
Professor, School of Social Policy and Practice
University of Pennsylvania
Dennis Culhane, Co-Principal Investigator for the Actionable Intelligence for Social Policy initiative, is the Dana and Andrew Stone Professor of Social Policy at the School of Social Policy and Practice at The University of Pennsylvania, a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Population Studies, and the Director of Research for the National Center on Homelessness among Veterans at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Culhane is a nationally recognized social science researcher with primary expertise in the field of homelessness. His homelessness work has positioned him as an early innovator in the use of administrative data for research and policy analysis, particularly for populations and program impacts which are difficult to assess and track. Dr. Culhane's work has resulted in federal legislation requiring all cities and states to develop administrative data systems for tracking homeless services in order to receive HUD funding. His recent research includes studies of vulnerable youth and young adults, including those transitioning from foster care, juvenile justice, and residential treatment services.
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