Santa Clara Co. DA launches new crime dashboard to improve transparency

SAN JOSE, Calif. - The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, on Thursday, launched a tool to provide residents with a window into what they’re doing, and how well prosecutors are doing their jobs.

"We wanna make sure people have an easy-to-look-at reference, an easy-to-navigate-reference about how the criminal justice system works. How the DA’s office works in it," said assistant D.A. James Gibbons-Shapiro.

The DA’s crime dashboard provides six main tabs, and provides data from 2017 forward, on issues from the number of violent crimes; to case filings broken down on a quarterly basis; to the number of cases that are resolved.

According to the data the office provided, violent crime affects members of the Latinx and Black communities disproportionately, when compared with census numbers.

"What we’re talking about here is the promotion of trust. Trust requires accountability. Accountability with the administration of justice. This is a step towards accountability," said Greg Woods, a professor in the Dept. of Justice Studies at San Jose State University. 

The dashboard is routinely updated with current data so that, according to the assistant DA, trends can be identified, and if corrective action is needed, it can be taken. Critics said this launch is more laudatory and offers little gravitas on issues affecting the community.

"This is maybe a press release or a media campaign that is dressed up as a transparency initiative," said Raj Jayadev, executive director of Silicon Valley De-Bug.

The group has often been critical of South Bay police agencies and prosecutors.

"We’d want to know on that dashboard how many Racial Justice Act motions the district attorney’s office has opposed?," said Jayadev. "They need information to show if there’s racial disparity around the charges, around the sentences, so that they can make a claim." In response, Shapiro said, "One of the things that happens when you present more data is people say, ‘I want more data.’ we agree with that. We think there’s more data that can show this story more…and this is an effort to look at systems in the criminal justice system including race that show lots of different things."

Another thing the DA’s office said current data shows is that the rates that felony charges are filed are equal across all racial groups. But delays in the system have increased from five months to over one year.

Jesse Gary is a reporter based in the station's South Bay bureau. Follow him on Instagram, @jessegontv and on Facebook, @JesseKTVU