A groundbreaking project to untangle and analyze decades of Cook County Circuit Court data got a crucial early assist from Harris Public Policy graduate students and Harris’ own Center for Survey Methodology.
Their work assisted the Better Government Association, The Chicago Reporter, DataMade and Injustice Watch in launching The Circuit, a collaborative initiative that combines data analysis and watchdog journalism.
Using data, The Circuit journalists aim to “decode” the system, The Circuit website says, detecting trends, patterns and inequities in one of the largest unified court systems in the world. They can, for example, analyze cases by defendants’ race or judges’ rulings or follow a case from beginning to end, tasks impossible before this project began. The Circuit’s award-winning work has led to headlines like “Meet the Cook County judge attorneys least want to appear before.”
Such high-impact projects with complicated, massive datasets give Harris students invaluable real-world experience.
