With the click of a mouse, British Columbians can now access adult custody and community corrections statistics on two newly launched online data dashboards.

These corrections data dashboards are part of the B.C. government's ongoing initiative to provide the public with easily accessible information about the justice system. By converting raw data into a user-friendly format, the Province continues to promote transparency and accountability within the justice system.

The data dashboards are interactive data visualization tools which allow users to query data and generate their results into bar graphs. Using a map of B.C. and choosing to include or exclude different variables, users can drill the data down to find targeted statistics from the past four years. For example, search results can be narrowed to include corrections data from certain regions, specific months, or they can be filtered by different factors, such as age and gender.

Offering access to greater understanding around justice data can help British Columbians learn about the daily operations of our justice system and also opens the door for anyone to develop innovative ideas or solutions to particular challenges.

Quotes:

Minister of Justice and Attorney General Shirley Bond -

"These data dashboards are an integral part of our efforts to support efficiency and transparency in B.C.'s justice system."

"By allowing the public, media, researchers and stakeholders to freely access and use open data on courts and corrections, we are encouraging collaborative and innovative ideas to improve our justice system."

Quick Facts:

• The corrections data includes four fiscal years, from April 2008 to March 2012.
• The data on the corrections dashboards includes:
• New clients.
• Client movement (to and from court).
• Client count.
• Client releases.
• Client transfers.

• B.C. Corrections protects communities through the safe control and behavioural change of adults.
• Community Corrections has 55 community offices and supervised approximately 23,517 clients in fiscal 2011-12.
• Adult Custody maintains nine corrections centres and housed approximately 2,634 clients in fiscal 2011-12.

• The raw corrections data is also available on the B.C. government's DataBC site so that members of the public can create their own analyses or visualizations.
• The corrections data dashboards further build on the courts data dashboard project, which was launched in March.

Learn More:

Data dashboards: http://www.justicebc.ca/en/rm/data/

Information about the criminal justice and justice reform: www.justicebc.ca

Information about the B.C. government's open data initiative: http://www.data.gov.bc.ca/

Contact:

Caeli Hann
Government Communications and Public Engagement
Ministry of Justice
250 580-4730