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NC Datapalooza
Red Hat Annex
Sept 21, 2015
Football stats are widely available and plentiful
What about the court
system that governs
us?
OPEN DATA FOR JUSTICEStats of the NC judicial system
should be open and transparent
But they ain’t
Why does this matter?
Do some judges favor particular
types of defendants?
Wouldn’t you like to
see this guy’s track
record before voting?
Can open data help
citizens & leaders
spot police behavior
patterns sooner?
Do we really need cops like this?
Could open
data have
prevented
Walter Scott’s
death?
Exceeds arrest
rate average,
Black males
42%
Or this…?
This is important and relevant today
"Our courts and juries aren’t impartial arbiters -- they exist
inside society, not outside of it -- and they can only provide
as much justice as society is willing to give.”
Carol Anderson – Emory University
“There is no such thing as race. None. There is just a
human race.”
Toni Morrison – Author
“A lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep
sense of insecurity.”
Dalai Lama
The data is publicly available…
Open Data for JusticeNot exactly “user-friendly”
52-page manual, massive dataset, each
position in a record means something
We have started cross-referencing
judges, lawyers, verdict codes,
offenses, arresting officers, and
sentence lengths against the
demographics of the defendants
For 35 million records spanning 2008 - 2013
And we are putting it all online.
So who will use it?
“Big data can transform government by allowing
unprecedented transparency and making possible
previously unimagined oversight of public actors.
Equal justice under law? Let’s find out. With public
access to public information, we can find out if our
criminal justice system works as it should—without
regard to geographic location, the identities,
personalities, or idiosyncrasies of the actors involved,
or with bias introduced by potentially disturbing
factors such as race, gender, or social status. Our
public institutions, including the courts, operate under
norms of public accessibility and openness. This
project seeks to enhance that public accountability.
The tools and analyses that this project will make
possible will help individuals involved in the court
system help themselves and allow analysts from all
sides to crunch the numbers to find out if the system
is as fair and impartial as we hope it is.“
Frank R. BaumgartnerRichard J. Richardson Distinguished
Professor of Political Science
UNC Chapel Hill
http://www.unc.edu/~fbaum/index.html
Academics & Statisticians
Frank is currently studying race, with particular
emphasis on the death penalty and on traffic stops.
Equal justice under law? Let’s find out
“Government transparency opens
information up to those being
governed. But we need more
transparency in the court system. Of
the three branches of state
government - executive, legislative
and judicial - the judicial system
tends to attract the least amount of
media coverage. Making records
more accessible can only help us
better understand the actions of the
courts.“
John ClarkExecutive Director
Reese News Lab
UNC School of Media & Journalism
reesenewslab.org
News Organizations
John currently serves as the Executive Director at
UNC Chapel Hill’s Reese News Lab
we need more transparency in
the court system
“Having transparency in our court
system is a vital component of achieving
justice. I believe that any website or
application that would allow court
officials, journalists and citizens better
access to clear data regarding how our
process works would be an invaluable
tool.“
Amanda L. LambReporter
WRAL News
919-618-4779
Twitter: @alamb
Facebook: WRAL Amanda Lamb
News Organizations
Amanda covers crime stories and legal news in the
Raleigh and Triangle area
“Governmental transparency is a good thing. We
as voters will be able to make better-informed
choices at the ballot box with easier access to
candidates' track records. For example, we have
a District Court judge here in Wake County with a
reputation for being prejudiced against Hispanics.
I'd like to see that judge's objective data for trials
with Hispanic people compared to other judges'
data. (Comparing % of acquittals, % of jail
sentences; % of fine-only punishments, etc.)
Maybe the reputation will be discredited or maybe
affirmed. Either way, we'll have the ability to make
a better-informed decision with easier access to
the data. As it is today, we don't know if that
judges' reputation is well-deserved or not. People
might vote for or against that judge based on a
reputation that might be entirely undeserved.
Government will function better when the voting
public is better-informed.“
Walter B. RandAttorney at Law
Walter Rand Attorney at Law, PA
919-398-6338
Lawyers
Walter is a criminal defense lawyer in Raleigh NC.
He has been helping people in Wake County for
nearly 20 years
we have a District Court judge here in
Wake County with a reputation for
being prejudiced against Hispanics.
I'd like to see that judge's objective
data
“In 2015, it should not be difficult for someone to obtain
basic information about the racial and gender
demographics of persons charged with a particular crime
in a given jurisdiction. And yet it is. The AOC’s means of
tracking this information is anachronistic and inefficient. It
remains a challenge to get reliable metrics about
important aspects of the criminal justice system as it
relates to race, age, and gender. I hear regularly from
attorneys who believe this information is material to a
particular claim or defense they hope to raise and who are
frustrated by its inaccessibility. If laws are being
selectively enforced, the public and the courts need to
know. This project makes available information that will
make it easier to evaluate the extent to which our system
is delivering on its promise to provide equal justice under
law.“
Ian A. ManceCivil Rights Attorney
Southern Coalition for Social
Justice
919-323-3380
Civil Rights & Non-Profit
Organizations
Ian’s current practice includes cases involving police
misconduct, prison conditions, and wrongful
convictions.
It remains a challenge to get reliable metrics
about important aspects of the criminal
justice system as it relates to race, age, and
gender
Everyone should be able to view court decision data
An example of real data we are
analyzing right now:
Possession of < ½ ounce of marijuana
(offense code 3550)
“Too many lives have been ruined for non-violent (drug) offenses.”
Bernie Sanders
Arrest Rates by Race in the USA
ig problem?
3.75X
Statistics for Marijuana Possession and Resisting Arrest
February 2015 - August 2015
9.4X
In Rocky Mount
4.8X in Raleigh
2X in NC
44,322 Single Marijuana Arrests in NC
From 2008-2013(Offense Code 3550, only 1 charge per case)
Sentence lengthJudgeDefendant demographics Verdict Attorney
Map of 44K Home Addresses of People Today That Got Busted
for Marijuana Possession in NC from 2008-2013
(Courtesy of ArcGIS Online)
Find Waldo…
Map of Home Addresses of People Today That Got Busted
for Marijuana Possession in NC from 2008-2013
Raleigh Area
Map of Home Addresses of People Today That Got Busted for
Marijuana Possession in NC from 2008-2013
Heat Map
Head shop goes here
Or here
Map of Home Addresses of People Today That Got Busted
for Marijuana Possession in NC from 2008-2013
By Attorney
Why are there so many people waiving their rights to use a lawyer?
Who are these
2 judges?
And this
one…
Tough on blacks Lenient on
blacks
RHH= Roland Hayes
MHM = Marcia Morey
WKH= William K “Pete” Hunter
We analyzed one single offense
code in one way
There are 1,896 different offense
codes in North Carolina
We are just scratching the surface
of what is possible
Can this be monetized?
Large traffic increase to our existing site,
which contains a monetization path
Free online tools (consumer-facing)
Paid access to data via API (business-facing) $
This is what we have
This is what we deserve
Help us build this
Thank You
Mockups
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