Criminal Justice Coordinating Council

Criminal Justice Coordinating Council
Criminal Justice Coordinating Council

Contact Us

Location: County Courthouse
Hours: Mon - Fri, 8am - 5pm
Contact: Administration

The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC) was established by the Board of Douglas County Commissioners on March 9, 2016. The purpose of the Council is to provide a working forum to support communications and collaborative coordination between and among key criminal justice system officials, advisory bodies, agencies, departments and community leaders to promote public health, public safety and an effective, fair and efficient criminal justice system in our community.

About the CJCC

CJCC Bylaws 

Current Membership List 

Criminal justice experts Douglas County has worked with since 2015 

Douglas County Data Dashboards

Information about people with serious mental illness in the correctional facility.

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Detailed snapshot of the current Douglas County Correctional Facility population.

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Dashboard describing all correctional facility bookings and offenses, with data download option.

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Information on bonds issued by Douglas County District Court and municipal courts for peopled booked into jail.

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Law Enforcement Contact Study

In December 2018, under the leadership of the CJCC, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Lawrence Police Department, University of Kansas Public Safety, Eudora Police Department and Baldwin City Police Department mutually agreed to contract with Northeastern University to study law enforcement pedestrian and traffic stops in Douglas County.

They were hired through a $175,000 contract to:

  • Develop and implement a process for documenting traffic and pedestrian stops
  • Analyze the data to determine if any disproportionalities exist
  • Formulate any solutions and assist in developing any necessary procedures and processes related to disproportionate minority contact

The study had three phases: planning, data collection, and analysis. The final report can be found here: Douglas County Pedestrian and Traffic Stop study 2020-2021.

Public presentations about study:

Support Staff

Katy Fitzgerald

Katy Fitzgerald comes to Douglas County from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, where she was a management analyst in the Criminal Justice Services Department since January 2014. In her role with the Criminal Justice Services Department, Fitzgerald has served as a grant writer and recipient, a project manager for several cross-system reform initiatives, a data analyst for the Department and external justice system partners, and as staff to the local criminal justice coordinating council.

Through various grant awards, Katy has: led the development of online training modules in pretrial justice and implicit bias topics; worked closely with Juvenile Justice officials to implement the Reclaiming Futures model, which resulted in an almost three-fold increase in the number of juvenile justice involved youth who received behavioral health screenings; and managed a Driver License Restoration Clinic, which provided indigent residents with legal assistance to reinstate their driving privileges.

Since 2018, Katy worked in pretrial release or detain decisions and bail policy space, facilitating a work group of criminal justice executives to revise and monitor the implementation of the local bail policy, focusing on the elimination of bail schedules, an expansion of pretrial supervision eligibility, a reduced use of financial release conditions, and improved access to defense counsel prior to first appearances.

Matt Cravens

As Senior Data Analyst, Matt Cravens supports the work of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. Cravens, who grew up in Lawrence, brings a significant amount of experience to the position. He previously worked as a statistician for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Citizenship and Immigration Services in Washington, D.C. While there, he analyzed and provided reports on immigration data. He collaborated with field officers and leadership and helped develop guidelines and performance measures.

He also has worked as a senior associate in research for the Pew Charitable Trusts’ Public Safety Performance Project, where he conducted analysis on public safety, juvenile placements, adult incarceration and policy reforms. For about three years, he was a visiting assistant professor and postdoctoral research associate at Dartmouth College’s Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and the Social Sciences. Cravens has received a bachelor’s degree and doctoral degree in political science.

Douglas County Courthouse

Massachusetts Street 1040
Lawrence, KS 66044
United States

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Douglas County Courthouse