Cohort 2025
NVMS Conflict Resolution Center
Strengthening Diversion through Data and Automated Tools
Fairfax County, VA
People of color in Fairfax County, Virginia, face significant racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates, reflecting systemic inequities in who is offered alternatives to incarceration, how communities are policed, and how justice is administered at all stages of the criminal legal process. Interventions at the front end of the criminal legal system can reduce disparities in outcomes caused by systemic inequalities. To create more alternatives to incarceration in Fairfax County, the NVMS Conflict Resolution Center proposed a restorative justice diversion program, Adult Accountability for Safer Communities (AASC), to the Fairfax County Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney. Through AASC, 18-to-26-year-olds who complete the program are diverted from traditional prosecution. This pilot program has harnessed the principles and practices of restorative justice to provide victims a voice in how the harm done to them is resolved, reduce recidivism, and allow young adults to be held accountable while minimizing the downstream consequences of interactions with the criminal legal system.
With Catalyst grant funding, the NVMS Conflict Resolution Center, in partnership with the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney, aims to expand AASC from a pilot to a permanent program, developing and deploying technology infrastructure with three Microsoft Power Automate tools to improve programming and advance reform in the criminal legal system. The first tool will expand the data used in the intake process to reduce bias in referrals through a consistent and objective referral process that expands equitable access to restorative justice. The second tool will be integrated with the program’s data management system to extract and display demographic information collected, enabling NVMS to visualize participation patterns, identify which communities in Fairfax County are over- or underrepresented in the program, and refine approaches to ensure more equitable participation. The third tool will collect and analyze written evaluations and reflections from people who have been harmed and those who have caused harm, helping the program identify and display patterns in participants’ experiences to better understand the impact of the program and areas for improvement. As AASC transitions to a permanent diversion option in Fairfax County, the Catalyst-funded activities will help ensure that, as the program scales, it continues to advance reform, support community safety and opportunities, and avoid racial bias.
