Today two of our Justice projects, Crime & Punishment in Chicago and Youth-Led Tech, were covered in a Washington Whispers item in U.S. News & World Report: Justice: There’s an App for That. Here’s a snip:
In Chicago, however, there are vivid examples of systemic and cultural challenges to the public’s right to know, even when the information is available.
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Smart Chicago, a tech-based organization in the Windy City, tracks information from Chicago law enforcement – “the entire flow, from the commission of a crime to the person going to jail,” says Dan X. O’Neil, its executive director. “The impetus was that the city of Chicago publishes an enormous amount of crime data” that can be used to examine trends, The organization is also teaching computer coding and website development to kids in “neighborhoods most affected by violence and crime,” he adds. “That, we think, is one solution to mass incarceration and hopelessness and crime.”
