FFY13 State Justice Statistics Program: Criminal Justice Data Sharing Consortium

The State Justice Statistics (SJS) Program is designed to maintain and enhance each state's capacity to address criminal justice issues through collection and analysis of data. The SJS Program provides support to each state to coordinate and conduct statistical activities within the state, conduct research to estimate impacts of legislative and policy changes, and serve as a liaison in assisting BJS to gather data from respondent agencies within their states.

The Washington State Statistical Analysis Center (SAC), located within the Human Services Section of the Washington State Office of Financial Management's (OFM) Forecasting and Research Division, will use SJS funds to support SAC staff efforts to convene a stakeholder workgroup composed of representatives from various law enforcement, criminal justice, human services, education, and information technology agencies to evaluate options for collaborating and sharing data across criminal justice agencies. The workgroup, under the direction of the SAC, will assess the feasibility and sustainability of three possible approaches to data sharing and develop recommendations and next steps for near and long-term data sharing. The three options to be explored are: a Washington State Criminal Justice Data Consortium that would develop data governance strategies for improving data availability, standards, and infrastructure across partner agencies; a Federated (Virtual) Data Warehouse that would provide a mechanism through which agency data could be merged on an as-needed basis and would not require actual data integration and central storage; or a Data Warehouse that would designate a central repository and data from disparate sources would be collected, integrated, and maintained. SJS funds will support SAC staff efforts to conduct a variety of research, oversight, and administrative tasks to support the workgroup's mission. A comprehensive final report detailing the workgroup's findings and recommendations will be drafted and posted on the SAC's website at the conclusion of the award. To demonstrate that this project is of high priority to the state, the SAC's application included letters of support from the Governor, several state legislators, and several of the agencies that will be asked to participate in the workgroup.

CA/NCF