Data and Evaluation
Highlighted Resources
In Focus: Collecting and Analyzing Baseline Data
Produced By: Stepping Up Initiative
Description: This brief focuses on how counties can collect and analyze baseline data on the prevalence of people in their jails who have serious mental illnesses (SMI), specifically along the recommended four key measures: (1) the number of people booked into jail who have SMI; (2) their average length of stay in jail; (3) the percentage of people with SMI who are connected to treatment; and (4) their recidivism rates.
Keywords: data; evaluation
Set, Measure, Achieve: Stepping Up Guidance to Reach Prevalence Reduction Targets
Produced By: Council of State Governments Justice Center, National Association of Counties, American Psychiatric Association Foundation
Supported By: Bureau of Justice Assistance
Description: The following guidance supports counties in setting targets for reducing the number of people with serious mental illness in their jails, measuring progress toward meeting these targets, and achieving results.
Keywords: data; evaluation
Other Resources
Using Data to Manage State and Local-Level Mental Health Crisis Services (2021)
Produced By: National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors
Supported By: Center for Mental Health Services/Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Description: The resource discusses the extent to which crisis services in states and local mental health agencies collect and use data to inform their crisis service systems. It describes management models to understand how states can manage their crisis service systems from the perspective of data systems, provide an overview of the types of service registries that currently exist, and then review how some states are using data to manage their crisis service system.
Keywords: data; crisis continuum; 911
Produced By: National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors; NASMHPD Research Institute, Inc.
Supported By: Center for Mental Health Services/Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Description: This resource seeks to provide State Behavioral Health Agency administrators information on the multiple and various data sources used by agencies that are engaged with individuals living with mental health conditions who are involved in the justice system. It also provides key attributes of the data sources and potential mechanisms for strengthening these data. Examples of state accomplishments are included.
Keywords: Data; sequential intercept model (SIM); information-sharing; data
Selecting a Data Warehouse Vendor for Criminal Justice-Behavioral Health Partnerships (2021)
Produced By: Council of State Governments Justice Center; IJIS Institute
Supported By: Bureau of Justice Assistance
Description: Designing and building a centralized data warehouse can be quite complex and requires a great deal of time and expertise. To guide this process, criminal justice-behavioral health partnerships often turn to external vendors to supplement their internal information technology capacity. This brief provides key considerations for understanding your partnership’s readiness to approach such a vendor, selecting the most appropriate vendor to meet your needs, and working with the selected vendor to build an integrated data warehouse.
Keywords: Data; behavioral health; partnerships
Choosing the Right Data Strategy for Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice Initiatives (2021)
Produced By: The Council of State Governments Justice Center; the Center for Advancing Correctional Excellence at George Mason University
Supported By: Bureau of Justice Assistance
Description: Collecting data and evaluating programs should be a critical element of all criminal justice and behavioral health initiatives. However, the data collection process can be overwhelming and unclear. Programs need to determine what data to collect, how often, and how to use them to assess impacts, set goals, and make improvements. This brief will help project coordinators and research partners working with government entities or nonprofit agencies identify, collect, and prioritize the appropriate data as well as provide recommended metrics for behavioral health and criminal justice-related programs.
Keywords: Data collection; evaluation
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania: A County Justice and Mental Health Systems Improvement Project (2019)
Produced By: Council of State Governments Justice Center
Supported By: Bureau of Justice Assistance, the van Ameringen Foundation, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, and the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services
Description: This report discusses the methodology completed by the Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center to identify ways to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of policies, practices, and programs to achieve better public health and safety outcomes and their findings. CSG provides recommendations to Dauphin County (PA) to plan for long-term system-level change to improve the responses of people in the criminal justice system with serious mental illness.
Keywords: diversion; data
Key Stakeholders: Law Enforcement and Corrections
Produced By: National Association of Counties
Supported By: Arnold Ventures
Description: This resource provides ways that law enforcement and corrections professions can support their community's data-driven justice initiatives.
Keywords: data; information sharing
Jail Diversion Program Evaluation Resource Guide (2019)
Produced By: Abt Associates
Supported By: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Description: This Resource Guide is designed to provide jail diversion program staff and leadership with accessible tools to assist in the design and implementation of program evaluation in a way that best suits your needs and budget. Each section of the Resource Guide contains examples based on evaluations of the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program, as well as links to valuable resources for each topic.
Keywords: diversion; evaluation
Produced By: The Council of State Governments Justice Center; University of Cincinnati
Supported By: Bureau of Justice Assistance
Description: Across the United States, communities are demonstrating substantial innovation in their development of responses to calls for service involving mental health and substance use crises, homelessness, quality-of-life issues, and other low-level situations. Although there is a growing body of research examining the effects of these responses, the implementation of crisis response programs is not often accompanied by evaluation, which limits our understanding of evidence-informed practices. This breakout session highlights available empirical evidence about the implementation and impact of police-mental health collaborations in crisis response. Panelists discuss their organizations’ experiences with the evaluation of programs implemented in their communities. This discussion highlights recommendations to guide jurisdictions in data collection and evaluation of their responses.
Keywords: Research; evaluation; police-mental health collaboration