House committee hears testimony on bill to open juvenile justice data for researchers

The Michigan House Judiciary Committee on May 22 heard testimony on House Bill 4396, a measure sponsors say would permit qualified researchers and government analysts to access and link juvenile justice data so policymakers can evaluate outcomes of diversion and other reforms.

Supporters told the committee the bill would create a legal mechanism — via contracts or memoranda of understanding — to allow data sharing that currently is legally restricted. “It’s not that it’s being obstructed. It’s that legally, it cannot be accessed by anyone,” said Dr. Charles Kubiak, dean of the School of Social Work at Wayne State University and director of the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice, who testified in support.

Committee chair Leitner, the bill sponsor, said the lack of cross-system access to data has hampered efforts to evaluate recent youth-justice reforms and community diversion programs. Committee members heard that without identifiers that permit record linkage — for example, name, birth date, race and limited Social Security digits — it is difficult to determine whether a youth who was diverted later appears in child-welfare or program records. After linking records, witnesses said identifiers would be stripped to enable aggregate analysis.

Dr. Kubiak said the change would permit questions such as which programs reduce recidivism, how outcomes vary across counties and how long interventions affect detention length. He described the Center for Behavioral Health and Justice as an evaluator for the state diversion council and said the center and other researchers currently cannot legally access the needed data across systems.

The committee read in support letters from the State Bar of Michigan, the Michigan League for Public Policy and the Michigan Center for Youth Justice; those organizations did not ask to speak. No committee vote was recorded on the bill during the hearing.

The bill, as presented, anticipates agreements that allow record linkage using direct identifiers followed by permanent removal of personal identifiers so analysis is done on de-identified datasets. Committee members did not take formal action on the measure at the hearing; sponsors indicated they expect to bring the bill back for a vote the following week.

The committee’s next steps include technical review of how identifiers would be handled in statute and what contractual safeguards would govern external researchers’ access.