The maryland SAC (msac) is applying for four projects: three within the core-capacity building program area, including projects under collecting and analyzing data on criminal justice system…

The Maryland Statistical Analysis Center (MSAC) was awarded a $222,547 Cooperative Agreement from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics (CFDA 16.550 - State Justice Statistics Program for Statistical Analysis Centers) to conduct four projects between October 1, 2024 and September 30, 2026. The projects aim to:

1. Develop and improve juvenile justice data collection processes to bridge the gap between the juvenile justice and criminal justice systems, creating partnerships with state agencies to connect datasets into an interactive dashboard.

2. Establish a crime data repository with a dashboard using publicly available crime data published by Maryland jurisdictions.

3. Analyze drug data from toxicology reports and forensic analysis, producing an interactive dashboard for investigative purposes.

4. Assess recidivism in Maryland between 2015-2023, examining factors such as offense, court case, restrictive housing placement, and legislative changes, with a written report and dashboard to communicate the findings.

The maryland SAC (msac) is applying for four projects: three within the core-capacity building program area, including projects under collecting and analyzing data on criminal justice system processes, increasing access to statistical data, and other capacity-building projects identified by the msac; and one special-emphasis project aimed towards the analysis of state criminal history records. Msac proposes to develop and improve juvenile justice data collection processes to bridge the GAP between the juvenile justice and criminal justice systems. To achieve this, msac will create partnerships with state agencies to connect datasets. The data will be cleaned, collated, and analyzed, resulting in an interactive dashboard. Msac also proposes the development of a crime data repository to make data on crimes occurring since the last nibrs publication (2022) available in a centralized location for members of the public and agency partners to refer to when making informed decisions about policy, funding, and life. A dashboard will be created using publicly available crime data published by individual jurisdictions in maryland. Msac also proposes to analyze drug data from both toxicology reports and forensic analysis of seized drugs. To obtain data, msac will request data from marylands office of the chief medical examiner and law enforcement partners. The data will be cleaned, collated, and analyzed, resulting in an interactive dashboard that will be available to key stakeholders through a secure portal for investigative purposes. In addition to the core capacity building projects, msac is proposing a special-emphasis project to assess recidivism in maryland between 2015 and 2023. The project will examine a longer period of recidivism than traditional, shorter studies and include comparisons based on offense, court case, restrictive housing placement, and changes brought by state legislation. A written report and dashboard will be produced to communicate findings and share results with the public.