Latest release shows that DA’s internal policy change resulted in more cases being diverted
(Woodland, CA) – February 28, 2023 – In an ongoing collaboration to promote transparency, trust and accountability in the criminal justice system, Measures for Justice recently published an updated website containing criminal justice case information from the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office. First launched in April 2021, the website, called Commons, serves as an evolving community repository and research dashboard for the thousands of criminal cases handled in Yolo County. Members of the public, media, lawmakers, practitioners, and others have unfettered access to the website for purposes of research, advocacy or policy making. Yolo County DA was the first prosecutor’s office in the nation to make this particular transparency tool available to the public.
The latest data update provides case information from 2016 until the end of 2022, including detailed information on criminal proceedings such as charging decisions and case outcomes, which are then measurable by race, age, sex, residence, offense severity and more.
Shortly after the inaugural launch of Commons in early 2021, Yolo DA, using Commons, identified a racial disparity in the cases being sent to the DA’s office by law enforcement agencies. In an effort to mitigate such disparities across the entire system, Yolo DA worked with researchers at Measures for Justice, and developed a new internal policy designed to increase diversion eligibility and opportunities for people who might be disproportionately denied consideration for a diversion, i.e. a non-criminal alternative solution, based on their prior involvement with the criminal justice system. (See that policy change here: https://yoloda.org/commons-policy-changes/)
In this latest data release, information revealed by Commons shows the impact of that policy change. Specifically, “Cases Diverted” have steadily increased from 9.6% in 2020 to 26.8% in 2021, and 21.8% in 2022.
District Attorney Jeff Reisig stated: “Commons, by Measures for Justice, has empowered our office to make data-driven decisions that have an immediate and real impact on our communities. We are committed to improving the criminal justice system and making it more fair for everyone and being held accountable by the public at the same time. This latest release of information is evidence that we are moving in the right direction.”
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