TECHNICAL NOTES

The implementation of the Office of the DeKalb County District Attorney Data Dashboards involved three major steps:

1. Data collection
2. Data quality control
3. Creation of dashboard visualizations

DATA COLLECTION

All data featured in the data dashboards was collected from our case management system, Enterprise Justice, by Tyler Technologies. Also referred to as Odyssey, this is comprehensive, cloud-based software that serves as a case management system for the Office of the DeKalb County District Attorney, the DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office, and each Superior Court judge and their staff. A limited version of this system is available to the public via the online portal managed by the Clerk of Superior Court (https://portal-gadekalb.tylertech.cloud/portal). 

To collect the data, the District Attorney built custom queries. We used SQL (Structured Query Language) commands to essentially "question" the database to retrieve all relevant information for a specific data category. This is completed by filtering and aggregating the data within the database according to our query. For example, to determine the number of District Attorney cases received in 2023, we created a series of queries to identify cases that fit the criteria (i.e., cases created within the designated time frame, January 1, 2023, to December 31, 2023, and belonging to the DeKalb County Superior Court). In the process, we combined data from multiple sources within the database, using related columns to extract other information, including offense data, accused race, date of birth, and assigned unit and Division. 

DATA QUALITY CONTROL

The Data Dashboards highlight data entered by multiple agencies, including the Dekalb County Clerk of Superior Court, the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, and each Superior Court judge and their staff. We go to great lengths to ensure that the data published in our data dashboards is as accurate as possible. However, data can be entered incorrectly or not at all, and can be subject to errors at multiple stages in the data entry and collection process. 

The following data elements were entered by our office and subsequently validated by our staff:

• Unit assigned to each case within the District Attorney's Office
• Offense groups and related charges (explained in further detail in a later section).
• Cases received or opened by the District Attorney's Office
• Cases referred to Diversion
• Cases accepted to Diversion

It is important to note that data validation for units assigned and cases referred or accepted to Diversion involved conducting multiple internal audits of the case data. Offense groups and cases received were validated by reviewing the queries for accuracy and completeness. 

Because multiple agencies are involved in entering and maintaining case data in the DeKalb Judicial Circuit, much of the data is not entered or maintained by the District Attorney's Office and, therefore, not independently confirmed by our office. The following data elements were not entered by our office and have therefore not been independently confirmed:

• Race and Age demographics on cases received and diverted
• Case decision events: Charges Filed, Declined for Prosecution, and Transferred
• Division assigned to each judge within the DeKalb Judicial Circuit
• Case closure statistics: Dismissal, Guilty Plea, or Trial

Race: An accused’s race is recorded at the time of their booking into the jail by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office. Racial identification can be entered incorrectly, as it does not always involve self-identification. Maintaining consistency in racial data can be challenging. As such, we obtain this data from our case management system and present the data as is. This data is not independently confirmed by the District Attorney’s Office.

Age: An accused's date of birth (DOB) is provided by the accused at the time of their booking into the jail by the DeKalb County Sheriff's Office, along with other basic information, such as first, middle, and last name, emergency contacts, and mailing address. The DOB is used to calculate the accused's age at the time of the highest-level offense they have been arrested on or charged with. DOB can be entered incorrectly due to false information provided by the accused, sometimes with the intent to mislead or impede law enforcement, and can be subject to errors at multiple stages in the data entry and collection process. We use the most recent DOB provided and present the data as is. This data is not independently confirmed by the District Attorney’s Office.

Charges Filed: An indictment or accusation is filed with the DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court. At which time, the event is entered by the Clerk of Court for the public record. An accusation or indictment can be entered incorrectly or not at all due to clerical errors in processing. As such, we obtain this data from our case management system and present the data as is. This data is not independently confirmed by the District Attorney’s Office.

Declined for Prosecution: A Notice of the Disposition of Charges is filed with the DeKalb County Clerk of Superior Court. At which time, the event is entered by the Clerk of Court for the public record. These notices can be entered incorrectly or not at all due to clerical errors in processing. As such, we obtain this data from our case management system and present the data as is. This data is not independently confirmed by the District Attorney’s Office. 

Transferred: To transfer a case, the Office of the DeKalb County District Attorney will prepare and file a Notice of the Disposition of Charges, formally closing the Superior Court case and initiating the transfer of charges. This document outlines the reason for the dismissal, which may include a transfer to another jurisdiction. We perform general cleaning to identify cases that have a Notice of Disposition of Charges filed and were dismissed for transfer purposes. These transfer cases are removed from the 'Declined for Prosecution' data and presented under the 'Transferred' category. It is important to note that this data has not been independently confirmed by the District Attorney's Office. The data can be entered incorrectly or not at all, and it may be subject to errors at multiple stages in the data entry and collection process.

Division: Division data is entered and maintained by the Dekalb County Clerk of Superior Court and the DeKalb County Office of Court Administration. Divisions are assigned in accordance with the DeKalb Judicial Circuit Administrative Procedures, adopted in 2022, and the Uniform Superior Court Rules. Since we are not involved in the assignment of judges or in maintaining this data in the system, this data is not independently confirmed by the District Attorney's Office. We obtain the data from our case management system and present it as is. 

Guilty Pleas, Dismissals, Trials: Case closure statistics, including guilty pleas, dismissals, and trials, are filed with the Clerk of Superior Court and recorded by their office. The events (Guilty Plea Colloquy Defendant's Waiver of Rights, Order for Nolle Prosequi, and Verdict Form, respectively) are entered by the Clerk of Court for the public record. These events can be entered incorrectly or not at all due to clerical errors in processing. As such, we obtain this data from our case management system and present the data as is. This data is not independently confirmed by the District Attorney’s Office.

DATA DASHBOARD VISUALIZATIONS

An "offense group" is a category of cases (i.e., Violent Crime, Drug Offenses, or Traffic Offenses). Grouping offenses into categories allows for easier analysis and visualization.

The Data Dashboards highlight fifteen (15) different offense groups, including Homicide, Human Trafficking, Sex Offenses, Gangs, Cruelty to Children, Disabled Person/Elder Abuse, Violent Crime, Drugs, Weapons, Theft, Public Order and Nuisance, Fraud/RICO, Crimes Against Animals, Traffic Offenses, and Public Corruption. To group each case into a single category, our office implemented a ranking system. This section outlines the methodology used to rank the offense groups and describes our procedure for compiling them (see Ranking and Compiling the Groups).

Four additional "related" offense groups are highlighted separately within the data dashboards: Gang-Related, Weapons-Related, Domestic Violence-Related, and Drug-Related. This process is completely independent of the ranking system. The third section, "Creating the Related Dashboards," covers how cases are categorized in each "related" subcategory. 

RANKING

Our query for each data category pulls each individual charge associated with a case. Each charge is categorized into one of the following categories and then sorted from highest (#1)  to lowest (#38).

In many cases, an accused is charged with multiple criminal offenses.  The Data Dashboards group each case by the highest-level offense against the accused regardless of any other charges that may be associated with it, provided that multiple charges are involved. 

For example, consider a case where an accused is accused of Murder (falls under 1 - Homicide) and Drug Possession (falls under 35 - Drug POSS / Other). The case would fall under the Homicide offense group. This is because our query sorts the charges from highest to lowest and reports the first row of data.

Let's take another example: a case involving charges of Armed Robbery and Aggravated Assault. Armed Robbery falls under the 10th offense group category. Aggravated Assault falls under Assault and Battery - Felony, which is ranked number 12 on the offense group ranking list. Therefore, the case itself would be characterized as an Armed Robbery case on the data dashboards, as Armed Robbery is the highest-level offense (at level 10).

The offense group rankings are loosely based on the severity of each charge. Other considerations were made to rank charges and create groups based on our commitment to highlighting the wide variety of cases that are handled by the DeKalb DA's Office.

The following graphic explains the charges within each category. As demonstrated, those higher up on the chart are considered "higher-level" offenses. If a case involves multiple charges, i.e., charges belonging to multiple categories on the chart, it will ultimately be grouped into the highest-level category matching the charge for that case.

COMPILING THE GROUPS

Once each case has been categorized into one of the above 38 offense groups, the cases are then compiled for a second time into one of the top 15 offense group categories, specifically designed for our External Dashboards: Homicide, Human Trafficking, Sex Offenses, Gangs, Cruelty to Children, Disabled Person/Elder Abuse, Violent Crime, Drugs, Weapons, Theft, Public Order and Nuisance, Fraud/RICO, Crimes Against Animals, Traffic Offenses, and Public Corruption. Charges are compiled in the following way:

The categories above are listed in no particular order, as the ranking is conducted in part one of the process. This step is solely intended to compile each case by its highest-level charge category into one of the top 15 categories, specifically designed for our External Dashboards: Homicide, Human Trafficking, Sex Offenses, Gangs, Cruelty to Children, Disabled Person/Elder Abuse, Violent Crime, Drugs, Weapons, Theft, Public Order and Nuisance, Fraud/RICO, Crimes Against Animals, Traffic Offenses, and Public Corruption. 

CREATING THE "RELATED" DASHBOARDS