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BJA posts state‑level DCRA tables, sets annual release and masking rules
Summary
The Bureau of Justice Assistance published new state‑level tables for the Death in Custody Reporting Act, added a state map view, and announced an annual release cadence with the first full refresh (including FY2024) due by June 2025; small counts will be masked and cross‑state comparisons are discouraged.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) has published new state‑level views of data collected under the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA), adding a large per‑state table and an interactive state map to three existing dashboards, agency staff said.
Michelle Garcia, deputy director for programs at BJA, said the additional views — released in December — join the existing dashboards that show deaths by location type, manner of death, and demographics. Jimmy (presenter) demonstrated the new state filter, the state‑level table and map, and the dashboard controls during the training.
BJA cautioned users that small cell values (five or fewer) are masked and labeled ‘NR’ when no reported value exists. Agency staff also said the site does not provide downloadable source tables and warned against direct cross‑state comparisons because reporting participation, state laws and local procedures vary and influence counts.
Agency presenters outlined an updated maintenance schedule: BJA will publish a first annual refresh, including fiscal year 2024 and updates to prior years, by the end of June 2025, with subsequent updates on a roughly six‑month cadence (Dec/Jan) and fiscal year 2025 data expected by June 2026.
The training recording and the DCRA web resources will be posted on BJA’s multimedia pages, and presenters encouraged state administering agency staff to review their own state pages and the national aggregates to prepare for public or media inquiries.
The session closed with presenters urging attendees to check the DCRA site frequently as the agency moves into a maintenance phase for the dataset.
