Who we are
The Chicago Data Collaborative is a cooperative effort by newsrooms, academics, and nonprofit researchers to help each other understand our criminal justice system.
Together, we work to get data from public agencies, organize and document that data, and link the data together.
Criminal justice involves a complex network of different institutions. By sharing capacity and organizing data from multiple points of contact—including investigatory stops, arrests, court cases, and lockup—we seek to paint a comprehensive portrait of the system as a whole.
Members
Founding members
Supported by
Want to see your organization on this list? Learn more about how to join.
Our data
Collaborative members collect data from institutions at all points of contact in the Cook County criminal justice system, including the Chicago Police Department, the Illinois State Police, the Office of the State's Attorney, and the Cook County Jail.
The Chicago Data Collaborative has released the following public data:
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Investigatory Stop data from the Chicago Police Department
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Population snapshots from the Cook County Jail
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Central bond court disposition audit
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Bond court observation data
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Private data sources that are currently restricted to Collaborative members include:
| Chicago Police Department investigatory stops from 2014 to 2016 | |
| Arrests in Chicago from 2014 to present | |
| Snapshots of the Cook County Jail population from 2014 to 2016 | |
| State’s Attorney case-level data | |
| Lookup tables to link all of these sources together | |
| Individual level admissions and releases from the Cook County Jail |
We are also actively pursuing the following data:
| Merged Criminal History (State Police) and IDOC sentencing/release data |
How to join
Interested in working with our data, or contributing data of your own? The Chicago Data Collaborative welcomes your partnership.
Partnerships within the Chicago Data Collaborative are divided into two types:
- Members are core participants of the Collaborative. Through labor (coordination, advocacy, technical assistance) and/or data contributions, members gain access to new data first and can help make governance decisions. All members must sign the Collaborative’s Data Sharing and Governance agreement.
- Partners are collaborators who participate on an ad-hoc basis. Partners can access new, lagged data before it is public by contributing to the Collaborative through a monthly fee (proportional to the size and resources of the institution seeking access) and/or contributing labor.
Members are typically civil society organizations, while partners can be either individuals or institutions. Some examples of potential partners include:
| Journalists | |
| Academics | |
| Independent researchers | |
| Advocacy organizations |
All members and partners of the Chicago Data Collaborative must be approved by consensus of Collaborative membership. To join, reach out to us.
Funding
The Chicago Data Collaborative is generously funded by a one-year grant from the Robert R. McCormick Foundation. Fiscal sponsorship for the collaborative is currently provided by Injustice Watch.
Get in touch
The Chicago Data Collaborative is still growing, and we welcome your questions and feedback.
info {at} chicagodatacollaborative {dot} org