A recently released website is an exciting and creative tool for tracking some basics about juvenile justice across states. The Juvenile Justice GPS – which stands for Geography, Policy, Practice, and Statistics – brings together data previously available in annual publications across a variety of practice areas and puts them all in one place where you can see how Wisconsin compares with other states.

A work still in progress, the site will track issues like Jurisdictional Boundaries (ages of juvenile court), Racial/Ethnic Fairness, Juvenile Defense, Status Offenses, Juvenile Justice Services, and System Integration. You can track progress across years, and you can like to more complete policy summaries in some areas.

It is definitely going to be a quick resource to answer a variety of questions about key juvenile justice issues. It’s worth checking out and tracking as more and more data comes on board.

by Jim Moeser