Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Racial and ethnic disparities (RED) in juvenile justice (JJ) systems across the United States disproportionately affect minority youth in rural communities. JJ disparities lead to unequal treatment, negatively impacting education, health, employment, and public safety outcomes. Despite progress in larger jurisdictions, rural law enforcement agencies (LEAs) grapple with resource constraints, data limitations, and complex community dynamics, hindering their ability to reduce disparities and serve youth effectively. Chiefs and law enforcement executives urgently need assistance in translating data into actionable insights, eliminating systemic biases, and aligning with public demands for transparency. To bridge this gap, SE Community Resources LLC introduces EquityRx: JJRedux, a real-time, web-based JJ assessment tool designed specifically for chiefs and law enforcement executives. This powerful tool generates agency-level reports, enhancing decision-making capabilities, reducing racial/ethnic disparities, and improving referrals to youth development, diversion, and treatment services. With a dedicated focus on rural law enforcement, a participatory development approach, stakeholder engagement, and advanced analytics, EquityRx strives to significantly impact rural JJ outcomes. Project Objectives: 1) Develop Scalable Web-Based Software: EquityRx: JJRedux, a web application to gather data from LEA incident reports. 2) Test Feasibility and Usability and 3) Evaluate the system's usefulness and effectiveness. Successful Phase I completion will lead to Phase II, refining the platform based on feedback and testing in small to mid-sized cities, measuring improved youth outcomes, and reduced disparities. EquityRx: JJRedux holds significant market potential, targeting over 96% of LEAs in the US and 2,984 local jail systems serving rural or small communities.
Animal Health Component
20%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
20%
Developmental
60%
Goals / Objectives
Phase I Technical Goal:Demonstrate the feasibility and usability (F&U) of the EquityRx: RJJ application within law enforcement agencies (LEAs) and assess its potential to improve data-driven decision making, reduce disparities, and enhance youth connections to appropriate services compared to current manual methods.Objective 1: Engineer Scalable Web-Based SoftwareDevelop a beta version of EquityRx: RJJ, a web application that securely collects data from LEA incident reports and utilizes cloud computing to calculate key juvenile justice metrics in real-time, such as the relative rate index by race/ethnicity. This will enable extraction of indicators from unstructured narrative reports using natural language processing.[1] Cloud-based architecture will ensure scalable and efficient data storage and analysis.[2] Role-based access controls, encryption, and secure API integration will maintain data privacy and security compliance.[3]Objective 2: Conduct Feasibility & Usability TestingEvaluate EquityRx: RJJ's F&U through comparison to manual data methods and focus groups with potential end users. Quantitatively and qualitatively assess its ability to provide actionable insights, support evidence-based decision making, and identify design refinements. Comparative metrics will include data analysis time, accuracy, breadth, and depth.Focus groups with 5-10 participants each will assess user satisfaction, workflow integration, and value.Objective 3: Gather User FeedbackConduct focus groups to elicit perspectives on EquityRx: RJJ's strengths, limitations, and recommendations for improvement from law enforcement leadership, crime analysts, community partners, and health providers. Semi-structured interviews and open-ended surveys will identify key pain points in current methods and gauge the usability, utility, and cultural appropriateness of EquityRx:RJJ.
Project Methods
Methods:The project will utilize a phased, user-centered design approach to develop and validate the EquityRx technology platform.Requirements gathering will engage law enforcement leadership through interviews, surveys, focus groups, and prototyping to ensure end user needs are met.Development will incorporate agile software methods with continuous user feedback to refine system capabilities.Feasibility and usability testing will be conducted through comparison to current methods and structured user evaluations.Effectiveness will be evaluated via randomized controlled trials across 10-15 agencies comparing EquityRx to control groups.Efforts:Training programs on youth development, implicit bias, de-escalation, and related topics will be delivered through interactive online modules, in-person workshops, and integration with existing police academy curricula.Change management will be facilitated through onboarding guidance, site visits, and ongoing utilization support to drive user adoption.Diversion and health partnership facilitation will involve asset mapping, planning meetings, memorandum of understanding templates, and coordination assistance to streamline referrals and access to care.Evaluation:Pre and post assessments will quantify gains in knowledge, confidence, and skills related to training programs.Usage data, user feedback surveys, and system usability scale ratings will evaluate acceptance, satisfaction, and engagement with the EquityRx technology.Disparity metrics, service referrals, arrest data, and public health indicators extracted from EquityRx and agency records will quantify impact on outcomes.Cost-benefit analysis will be conducted to determine return on investment and budget savings achieved through reduced incarceration and crime.