Cohort 2022

Lone Star Justice Alliance

Reimagining Justice Data Equity Visualization 

Dallas, TX

Some programs are exploring alternatives to incarceration that may provide better outcomes for individuals and communities and may be more cost-effective solutions to crime. One, Lone Star Justice Alliance, engages communities to create community-based alternatives to the criminal legal system in Dallas.  

With Catalyst Grant funding, Lone Star Justice Alliance plans to leverage data from a program called JustCareers, a collective-impact workforce development program that provides 12 weeks of job training for high-demand occupations to system-involved emerging adults and pays participants for 40 hours a week of in-class and on-the-job training. After the training, the program places participants in full-time employment. Lone Star Justice Alliance collects and manages program data for JustCareers and will begin using the data to understand programmatic outcomes and the underlying data points connected to system involvement, recidivism, and behavioral changes. Lone Star Justice Alliance will translate the data into dashboards with real-time aggregate information. Legal system stakeholders and community organizations in Dallas will be able to use the dashboard to understand JustCareers program outcomes, explore underlying causative factors in disparities in legal system involvement, and demonstrate the viability and cost-effectiveness of alternatives to incarceration.