In December 2020, Stand Together Trust and Stand Together Ventures Lab (STVL3) announced a new partnership with Recidiviz, a nonprofit, data-analytics platform designed to improve decisionmaking by state corrections agencies and reduce recidivism. Recidiviz Co-founder and Executive Director Clementine Jacoby details the organization’s work — and the problems it is solving — in a new Stand Together-sponsored video.
“We can’t even answer basic questions like how many people are in jail,” Jacoby explains. The lack of data means police, judges, parole officers, and others are making decisions about lives, livelihoods, and reforms using incomplete or inadequate information.
“Technology gives you a way to know where you are, to know where you’re going and to help you when you get off track,” Jacoby says.
Working with state law-enforcement agencies and other departments within the criminal justice system, Jacoby and her team stitch together arrest, probation, prison, and parole data to give decisionmakers access to complete, real-time information that Jacoby knows can be used to help more individuals get out and stay out of jail. At the onset of COVID-19, Recidiviz built a model that forecasted the virus’ impact on communities and helped decisionmakers maximize health and public safety by identifying individuals who could be safely released. The tool helped 34 states discharge more than 25,000 individuals.
“Every person that doesn’t go back to prison is a huge success story for them personally, for their family, for their communities,” concludes Jacoby.
Forbes recently named Jacoby to its “30 Under 30” list. Fast Company named her one of the most creative people of 2020.
Stand Together Trust inspires and invests in social entrepreneurs developing solutions to America’s most pressing problems. Read more about our support for social entrepreneurs committed to criminal justice.
