A Practical Guide to Analytics for Governments

CHAPTER 6Criminal Justice and Public Safety

David Kennedy

The criminal justice and public safety system is connected to almost every facet of government operations. Improvements made in education, child well-being, healthcare, fraud, and prescription drug abuse can help reduce the likelihood that people are involved in the criminal justice system. The justice and public safety community is made up of people who have dedicated their lives to keeping our neighborhoods safe, to protecting our families, and to safeguarding our freedoms. I have spent the past twelve years working with criminal justice and law enforcement agencies. Many of the people I have had the pleasure of working with have dedicated their entire lives to public service. I appreciate the work of all criminal justice practitioners and am proud to count hundreds of them among my colleagues and friends.

It is a challenging time for the U.S. criminal justice and public safety community. Prisons are overcrowded, recidivism rates are high, court systems are congested, and police–community relations are strained (see Figure 6.1).

Figure 6.1 Incarcerated Persons in State and Federal Prisons, 1925–2004

Source: Ryan S. King, Marc Mauer, and Malcolm C. Young, “Incarceration and Crime: A Complex Relationship,” The Sentencing Project, 2005, www.sentencingproject.org/wp -content/uploads/2016/01/Incarceration-and-Crime-A-Complex-Relationship.pdf ...