Cross-Tracking Dashboard FAQs
Q: What is Cross-Tracking?
A: Cross-Tracking is the Commonwealth’s new statewide data initiative to standardize criminal justice information. Conceived as part of the criminal justice reform law, the fully integrated data framework is designed to enhance transparency, improve access to criminal justice data, and facilitate high-level analysis for the public, stakeholders, and researchers to inform public policy and improve public safety.
Q: Why create this dashboard, and what impact will it have on justice involved individuals?
A: Criminal Justice Reform required the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS), in consultation with the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS), to create a data collection and Cross-Tracking System for criminal justice agencies and the Trial Court.
The system was designed to provide a streamlined, 360-degree view of an individual’s engagement with the criminal justice system following them from the point of arrest to entry into a custodial institution and eventual release to Parole Supervision.
The integrated data system has six primary goals:
- Drive operational efficiency and effectiveness;
- Connect individual records across the criminal justice system;
- Increase criminal justice data availability, quality, and public trust;
- Empower data-driven decision making and monitoring;
- Analyze disparities and evaluate effectiveness of reform programs; and
- Enable internal and independent studies of recidivism and other criminal justice research.
Q: What steps has EOPSS taken thus far to develop the Cross-Tracking System?
A: EOPSS approached this complex process knowing that it required technological expertise and consensus among public safety partners. The integrated Cross-Tracking System required state leaders to develop uniform data collection and reporting standards across a broad range of agencies and independent constitutional offices. EOPSS promulgated regulations to this end which established consistent data definitions, defined the governance framework, outlined integration requirements, and developed operational and implementation procedures. Additionally, EOPSS supported the Sheriffs’ Offices’ Offender Management System upgrade to allow for the collection of the consistent data elements. EOPSS further coordinated with various Sheriffs’ Offices in securing LiveScan devices to provide more fingerprinting capabilities during the booking procedure. EOPSS also secured a Data Use License Agreement from each phase one criminal justice partner agency.
Together, the partners strategized how to standardize data for presentation, moved data securely from agencies to the dashboard, and developed public-facing visualization designs. EOPSS is excited for users to engage with this dashboard, review data trends, and provide feedback to EOPSS. As the first of its kind, EOPSS anticipates improvements throughout the development of Cross-Tracking.
Q: What are the counties referred to in the graphs?
A: In the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, there are 14 counties: Barnstable, Berkshire, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Nantucket, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester. Each County Sheriff’s Office operates a jail and house of correction, except for Nantucket where individuals in their custody are immediately transferred to the care of the Barnstable County Sheriff’s Office. For this reason, Nantucket does not have custodial population data.
Q: What is a house of correction, jail, state facility, or prison?
A: There are several kinds of correctional facilities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Each County Sheriff's Office, excluding Nantucket, oversees a Jail. A Jail is a pretrial holding facility where individuals awaiting trial or sentencing are housed at the discretion of a judge. The Sheriffs oversee Houses of Correction. An Offender sentenced to a House of Correction will receive a sentence limited to 2.5 years. But an Offender with a state prison sentence may also be transferred to a House of Correction and subsequently released to a Department of Correction (DOC) institution. DOC operates state correctional facilities (also referred to as prisons) housing various Offenders. Depending on their security and programming needs, individuals entrusted to DOC’s care live in a pre-release, minimum, medium, or maximum-security facility.
Q: What agencies are referred to in the dashboard models?
A: The data displayed in the Populations, Admissions and Releases, and Primary Caretaker dashboards includes data from the following agencies:
- The DOC;
- The Barnstable, Berkshire, Bristol, Dukes, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Plymouth, Suffolk, and Worcester County Sheriffs’ Offices.
The data displayed in the Reproductive Health Needs dashboard includes data from the following agencies:
- The DOC;
- The Barnstable, Bristol, Essex, Franklin, Hampden, Middlesex, and Suffolk County Sheriffs’ Offices.
The Reproductive Health Needs dashboard excludes data from agencies that do not have female Offenders which includes:
- The Berkshire, Dukes, Hampshire, Norfolk, Plymouth, and Worcester County Sheriffs’ Offices.
Q: Will the dashboard allow members of the public to access information about a specific person?
A:No, due to Criminal Offender Record Information Laws (CORI) which prohibit the dissemination of information regarding justice-involved individuals to the public, the public facing information does not include any personally identifiable information. While criminal justice agencies can access person-specific information to develop effective, personalized rehabilitation plans, the public facing dashboard should be used to understand trends across the larger system.
For more information about a specific individual, you may request access through the Department of Criminal Justice Information Services (DCJIS).
Q: Were any data exclusions made?
A: With the exception of the Reproductive Health Needs dashboard, these dashboards display information for Offenders in custody on January 1st for the years 2017 through the most recent year.
Excluded from these counts are:
- Civilly Committed Individuals;
- Juveniles;
- Individuals under the jurisdiction of the federal government, or another state’s jurisdiction through an Interstate Compact Agreement by Parole or DOC;
- Any person sentenced in Massachusetts and serving custody in another jurisdiction via interstate compact; and
- Any individual booked by another criminal justice agency and held temporarily at a Jail or House of Correction under a Safe Keep Agreement. A person who was previously booked by another criminal justice agency and then transported to a Jail or House of Correction to be held for pre-arraignment or detention purposes. This is known as a “Safe Keep.” (not pretrial or convicted)
The Reproductive Health Needs dashboard includes data from 2022 through the present for Sheriffs’ Offices and 2025 forward for DOC.
Q: How does the dashboard display data that predates Criminal Justice Reform (CJR)?
A: Given that data submitted by the participating criminal justice agencies predates the CJR data reporting standards outlined in the new governing regulations, EOPSS has taken great care to review and match the records from the various agencies to consolidate the data seen in the dashboard. In doing so, some of the older data, known as legacy data, was not able to meet these matching criteria and therefore, is not shown in the dashboard. EOPSS will continue to work through the legacy data with its stakeholders to ensure accuracy to be able to display it on the dashboard.
Q: Will additional data become available in the future?
A: Yes, the system will continue to expand in response to the modernization efforts for record management systems utilized by Commonwealth criminal justice agencies. When fully achieved, the Cross-Tracking System will provide quality, standardized data to all agencies improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the criminal justice system. Equally important, the Cross-Tracking Dashboard provides anonymized and comprehensive data on the criminal justice populations to the public and any interested party.
Q: Can Offenders be included in the dashboard more than once?
A: Yes, if the Offender was in custody on January 1st of different years, then they will be in the sample more than once. This can occur if the Offender has a long sentence and/or a period of pretrial incarceration, resulting in custody over multiple January 1st dates, or if the Offender was released from custody and then reincarcerated at some later point.
Q: How is the age of the Offender determined?
A: Age is defined as the age of the Offender at the custodial date, that is the January 1st date when the Offender was in custody or under community supervision. Ages will be assigned to the following groups consistent with the existing public dashboard:
- 18 to 24
- 25 to 29
- 30 to 39
- 40 to 49
- 50 to 59
- 60 and above
Q: How is the race and ethnicity of the Offender determined?
A: Race is self-reported by the Offender. Consistent with reference to the race categories used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division, Uniform Crime Reporting Program, National Incident-Based Reporting System User Manual, race shall be entered by the criminal justice agencies as follows:
- A – Asian
- B – Black or African-American
- I – American Indian or Alaska Native
- P – Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
- W – White
- UN – Unknown
For purposes of the dashboards and to allow for legacy data to be incorporated, the following race fields are displayed on the dashboards:
- American Indian / Alaska Native
- Asian / Pacific Islander
- Black / African American
- Other / Unknown
- Unavailable
- White
If the records management system indicated multiple races were reported or the race was not properly identified, that Offender’s race is displayed as “Other / Unknown.” In OMS agencies, if an Offender’s race was recorded as Hispanic, that Offender’s race is displayed as “Unavailable.” In JMS, if an offender’s race was recorded as Hispanic, that Offender’s race is displayed as “Other/unknown”.
Ethnicity has three values:
- Hispanic / Latino
- Not Hispanic / Latino
- Unavailable
Q: How is the sex of an Offender determined?
A: As defined by 501 CMR 18, Assigned Sex is the biological sex that was assigned to a person at the time of the Offender's birth.
Q: How is the reproductive health status of the Offender determined?
A: This information is self-reported by the Offender upon admission and applies only to individuals with an assigned sex at birth of female. Offenders are asked: “Are you requesting enhanced medical care for reproductive health needs for pre- or post-natal care?” Answers are recorded as Yes, No, or Unknown. Any answer recorded as refused, rejected, or null will be displayed as Unknown.
Q: How is the primary caretaker status of the Offender determined?
A: This information is self-reported by the Offender upon admission and applies to both male and female offenders. Offenders are asked: “Are you the primary caretaker of a minor child?” or “Were you the parent or legal guardian of a minor whose primary residence was with you at the time of your incarceration?” Answers are recorded as Yes, No, or Unknown. Any answer recorded as refused, rejected, or null will be displayed as Unknown.