Recidiviz

Our executive director, Clementine Jacoby, went from performing in a circus to founding a tech nonprofit transforming criminal justice and public safety through data. “Everyone deserves to feel safe. The problem is that there’s a lot of disagreement around what we mean when we say safety. The more productive conversation is one focused on how we’d spend our money if we started from scratch. What is the system we would design?” Listen to the full discussion with Freakonomics host Steve Levitt:

Listen to our CEO, Clementine Jacoby, talk about how to listen to your users without breaking your business on the Startup Podcast.   "Enterprise customers are more important than you are — they just are. You won't want to say no to very many of them — in our case, because we want to solve this problem in all 50 states... So you want to have a distinction between: is this a total one-off that has nothing to do with our roadmap, or is this actually a signal from the market? Is this a signal we want to pay attention to, and iterate in that direction? That's customer-driven innovation, which *has* to be a core part of building for the future if you're an enterprise company. You're not sitting there making up all the features; it's being defined by the way your tools are being used and what people want next." She and 🤖 Yaniv Bernstein tackle a classic arsenal of startup topics, like how to: 🎯 Deeply understand your users 🛡 Only build software that scales ⚖ Balance innovation and focus ❤️ Preserve core values and empower your team https://lnkd.in/d5MZfc-r

We just had our last board meeting with outgoing board chair Nicco Mele, and we could think of no better way to honor him than to get his face painted on Recidiviz-themed Oreos! We’re a little offended that he didn’t know they were from us, but we’ll forgive him that in exchange for everything he’s done for this team and mission over the last four years. Thank you Nicco, and thank you Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation for taking a bet on using technology to transform outcomes for people caught in the criminal justice system.

The criminal justice system can only operate safely and fairly if everyone has insight into which policies and practices are effective. For policymakers and criminal justice practitioners, data makes it possible to compare their performance to that of their peers and act confidently in moments of crisis. For advocates and communities, data clarifies injustices and disparities, making it easier to advance better policies. For researchers, data powers models that predict how the system could change under different circumstances, driving decisions about what practices to implement. Making more data public makes more change possible. Delve into our public data projects: https://lnkd.in/eQ6rf3dr

Policy impact forecasting brings clarity – modeling the outcomes and consequences of policy decisions before they are voted on. Explore our policy impact one-pagers: https://lnkd.in/eDF3RSpu

Coming home from prison can be an incredibly challenging process. We’re looking for reentry partners who can increase the availability and accessibility of resources for justice-involved people in one more of the following need areas: Mental, behavioral, and physical healthcare Substance use treatment Employment Education Vocational training Housing Government documents (ID, SSN) Peer and mentor support Family support and reunification Learn more: https://lnkd.in/e_nRigBD

Our tools answer questions like: - Which staff and districts produce the best outcomes? - What programs and services are best at helping incarcerated people thrive when they return home? - What are the immediate opportunities to improve staffing and safety? - What policies are increasing or decreasing the number of people in the system? - What’s leading to reentry success? Learn more:

Vince King, who was formerly incarcerated and works with others coming out of prison to get established back into their communities, said the new law “solves two big challenges,” referring to obtaining identification and the right to vote. King said being behind bars presented many barriers to political participation, and restored voting rights means returning citizens can support candidates that address issues that might affect their daily lives, especially for Black men, such as economics, racial equality, and justice. Registering to vote will prompt many formerly incarcerated individuals to begin viewing voting differently, said King, and regain “a sense of normalcy” and feeling of belonging to their communities. “They’re getting involved in this system that they would not have been involved in before,” said King. “I’ll never forget the first time I cast that ballot.”

One year later, we're still reflecting on our TED Talk. The big idea: Despite checking all the boxes and meeting all the requirements, hundreds of thousands of people are stuck in prison or on parole due to the faulty, incomplete databases that form the backbone of the criminal justice system. By connecting these stale and scattered databases, we can get these people out of the prison system and help ensure they stay out. How? From policymakers to parole officers, everyone in the criminal justice system agrees that bad data keeps people stuck in the system. The reason is simple: vital information related to drug testing, fines, housing, and employment is kept in siloed and stale databases, leading to information bottlenecks. Tracking down all the data requires a level of time and energy that is difficult to maintain for parole officers due to their already overwhelming work schedules. At Recidiviz, our engineering team connects the disparate databases that control parole and release eligibility. One of our tools helps parole officers identify who is eligible for parole, who is missing a final requirement, and who needs the most help. We launched the tool in Idaho, and after just six months, five percent of people on parole and probation were moved to lower levels of supervision — or out of the criminal justice system entirely. Data won’t entirely fix the US criminal justice system, but it can help the 200,000 people stuck in it due to slow data, offer corrections leaders new ways to gauge program success, and inform policymakers of better ways to understand the impacts of both new and engrained justice system laws.

Honored to have Recidiviz used as an example of how we should not only work to mitigate the harms of technology on marginalized people, we should *also* use technology to help marginalized people prosper. Thank you for the shout out, Van, Reid, and Aria.