A Twitter-Based Review Crime & Punishment in Chicago

Introduction

This is the raw content for a set of tweets we published today about our Crime & Punishment in Chicago project.

Our April 2014 Crime & Punishment in Chicago project is an index of criminal justice data: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/

We partnered with @CJPJustProj and Supreme Chi-Town Coding Crew from @freegeekchicago. The code is on Github, but the research is what matters.

This was a classic ecosystem project— we provided revenue, tech, and training for important journalists, researchers, and developers.

The intrepid @CivicWhitaker served as project manager for Crime & Punishment in Chicago: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/

We tracked data sources into 8 stages, from commission of a crime all the way to prison. We aggregate sources & discuss collection of data.

Then we categorize the data as “Open”, “FOIA”, or inaccessible. We cover status in Chicago, and highlight the best practice nationally.

Sections

Victimization: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/ victimization.html. Many crimes go unreported. @TheJusticeDept made the NCVS to estimate the #s: http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=dcdetail&iid=245

Calls for service: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/callforservice.html. The @ChicagoOEMC1 publishes no bulk data about calls for service.

The @CJPJustProj has Chicago calls for service data from 2008-2012: http://chicagojustice.org/foi/data-sets-available-for-download/calls-for-police-service

The @DallasPD releases comprehensive call for service data: http://www.dallaspolice.net/MediaAccess/Default.aspx. Includes units responding, link to map, and status

Incidents: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/incidents.html. The @Chicago_Police crime incident data is exemplary cc/ @chicagocdo @CityChicagoCIO

Arrests: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/arrest.html. No info about arrestees is published in Chicago.

Henrico County @henriconews makes arrest data available online: http://randolph.co.henrico.va.us/public-data-access/searcharrest.aspx

Prosecute: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/prosecute.html. State’s Attorney publishes no data online and we do not know what data they collect.

The State’s Attorney’s Office has been ruled to be exempt from FOIA cc/ @KimFoxxforSA @DonnaMore + @SAAnitaAlvarez: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/prosecute.html

Jail: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/jail.html. Info on the 8,900 inmates in Cook County Jail cc/ @TomDart

Cook County Inmate Locator (http://www2.cookcountysheriff.org/search2/). Some of this data is used by the 26th and California Project (http://26thycalifornia.recoveredfactory.net/)

Raw Cook County Jail API via Supreme Chi-Town Coding Crew: https://github.com/sc3/cookcountyjail/wiki/API-guide. Huge, important work.

Courts: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/court.html. The @CJPJustProj obtained 5 years of conviction data: http://www.chicagojustice.org/foi/data-sets-available-for-download/cook-county-court-data

This @CJPJustProj data was used in our Convicted in Cook project: http://convictions.smartchicagoapps.org/, again on concert with @freegeekchicago

Prison: http://crime-punishment.smartchicagoapps.org/prison.html. The IL Dep. of Corrections provides inmate search: http://www.illinois.gov/idoc/offender/pages/inmatesearch.aspx.

No bulk prison data is available in Illinois.

Oregon publishes prison data here: https://data.oregon.gov/browse?q=Prison%20&sortBy=relevance&utf8=%E2%9C%93. Includes forecasts & census of prison populations and admissions.