Our Mission
The Data Collaborative for Justice (DCJ) at John Jay College of Criminal Justice conducts research on important questions about the criminal legal system and its role in creating safe, just, and equitable communities. Our projects encompass law enforcement, pretrial justice, case processing, sentencing, mass incarceration, and racial and ethnic disparities across the justice continuum. Through our work, we aim to inform data-driven policies using credible and impactful information.
DCJ is committed to the public release of our research to ensure the public, press, advocates, and policymakers all have access to critical findings about how the criminal legal system impacts communities. Thoughtful dissemination is integral to our process, ensuring insights reach diverse audiences in a way that is clear, digestible, and timely. As part of our commitment to broad dissemination, DCJ regularly sponsors events to reflect on what we and other researchers have learned and how policymakers might effectively respond. DCJ seeks to collaborate with a wide range of organizations and to facilitate an evidence-informed dialogue that can put us on a path towards a criminal legal system we all deserve.
Our Values
Rigor
Our priority is to produce high quality work that fuses rigorous methods with creative approaches to analyze issues and identify evidence-based policy solutions. Relying on a multidisciplinary team of researchers and legal experts, we aim to provide comprehensive and objective research. We are committed to delivering clear and impactful research insights that are tailored to resonate with diverse audiences in an accessible manner.
Impact
Our work focuses on the pressing issues affecting the fair and equitable administration of justice within the criminal legal system today. We seek to inform policymakers and the public of system trends and the implementation and outcomes of promising new initiatives to promote informed, knowledgeable, and mindful decision-making about future policy. We also aspire to host events capable of stimulating further discussion and reflection on our own work and the important work of other individuals and organizations.
Integrity
With an eye toward consistency and reliability, we aim to provide research findings free from bias and undue influence from stakeholders who may have an interest in certain conclusions.
Transparency
Disseminating and ensuring our reports and presentations are accessible to a broad and diverse audience is a crucial element of what we do. We seek to enable a deep and critical understanding of the dynamics and effects of policing, case processing in the courts, incarceration, racial disparities, and other issues impacting crime and the criminal legal system.
Collaboration
We seek to collaborate with system and non-system actors alike, including legal practitioners, advocates, researchers, government officials, and other external partners to incorporate a broad range of perspectives into our work as well as to ensure our work is responsive to questions that truly matter to our audience.