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OCA: data access limits prevent full recidivism analysis; statutory fixes under consideration
Summary
OCA staff told the Senate committee the office lacks legal access to raw juvenile-court data needed to compute recidivism across cohorts; the Department of Youth Services calculates recidivism only for youth in DYS custody. OCA urged statutory and resource changes to permit more complete tracking.
Committee members asked whether the JJPAD report includes recidivism statistics and how many individual youths are repeating contacts with the system. Melissa Threadgill answered that OCA does not currently have access to raw data that would allow a comprehensive recidivism analysis and that only the Department of Youth Services produces recidivism measures for youth who enter DYS custody.
"The OCA does not have access to any information that would allow us to calculate recidivism," Threadgill said. She told legislators the House version of a child welfare omnibus bill contains provisions that may make it easier for OCA to request the data needed for recidivism analysis, and she invited interested members to support data-access changes on conference committees.
Threadgill and legislators stressed the policymaking value of cohort and community-level recidivism measures for targeting programs, evaluating interventions and assessing whether some repeat involvement reflects failures in community services rather than criminality.
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