Award Information
Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2021, $225,000)
The Pennsylvania SAC (PASAC) is housed within the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD), which is the State Administrative Agency (SAA). The PASAC will use FY21 SJS funds for one Core Capacity project for building on data dashboards and one Special Emphasis project on the study of firearm violence and the impact on communities. The PASAC has been building their web site (PCCD) through data dashboards and GIS-mapping with support from the SJS program for the past four years. The project will use the Alteryx software to enhance the PASAC’s ability to process data sets to facilitate research projects conducted by PCCD. The software will also be used for the GIS-mapping which will enhance PCCD’s visual representation of data and facilities the identification of data patterns and ranges at the county, municipal and school district levels. The PASAC has had prior success in GIS-mapping and data analytic projects, including maps illustrating the location of certain services; UCR mapping data for crime, dropout and incarceration rates; opioid epidemic distribution; automated recidivator calculator (ACR); and school safety analysis and funding needs. The FY21 SJS project will continue to build off the prior successes to provide more access to data and better information for policy-makers and stakeholders to use in state program decisions. The Special Emphasis project will support Indiana University of Pennsylvania staff to obtain and analyze firearm-related data sets with the goal to develop a data-informed strategy to reduce gun violence in PA. PCCD has identified gaps in data analysis and research related to non-fatal forearm injuries. The project will gather data from multiple sources to ensure the analysis and study is complete and accurate. The goal is to identify and analyze gun violence rates and trends in counties and municipalities; analyze fire-arm related offenses, arrests, and convictions; estimate the scope and medical costs of fatal and non-fatal firearm injuries; and study the intersection of gun violence with domestic violence.