Bill > S1558

This bill aims to improve data collection in the juvenile justice system. The key provisions are: 1. Requires the Child Advocate to report annually on statistics and data points related to the utilization and decision-making within the juvenile justice system, including demographic information like age, sex/gender, race/ethnicity, and geographic location. 2. Mandates various state agencies (e.g., law enforcement, courts, probation, corrections) to collect and provide specific data points to the Child Advocate on a quarterly or annual basis to facilitate the comprehensive reporting. 3. Allows the Child Advocate to request and receive individual-level data from these agencies, while ensuring the confidentiality of such sensitive information. 4. Provides definitions for "gender identity" and "sexual orientation" to be used in the data collection and reporting. 5. Expands the scope of data collection and reporting to include interactions with the child welfare system, in addition to the mental health care system. The overall goal is to establish a robust, standardized data collection and reporting system to better understand and improve the juvenile justice process in the Commonwealth.

Budget and Finance, Justice

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/192/S1558