This is a beta version of the Justice Equity Need Index (JENI) created to solicit feedback on the tool’s methodology and design. It is not meant for public distribution or policy planning purposes.

JENI 2022 Overview

The JENI 2022 updates our JENI indicators and uses a new methodology to rank ZIP Codes by need aligned with the JESI methodology. The JENI 2022 additionally breaks out our indicators into three components to measure different contributing factors to justice equity need:

  • 1. System Involvement: The system-involved population in a ZIP Code and direct need for justice equity, measured by adult and youth probation.
    • Indicators: Adult Probation (per 1K), Youth Probation (per 1K)
  • 2. Inequity Drivers: Root inequities across communities that contribute to racial and economic disparities seen in incarceration and policing.
    • Indicators: Black, Latinx, AIAN, and NHPI Percent of Population (average percentile); Unemployment Rate (%), Population age 25+ without a High School Diploma (%), Population below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (%), Violent Crime Rate (per 1K)
  • 3. Criminalization Risk: Conditions where the criminal justice system has historically taken a detention-first, prevention-last approach.
    • Indicators: Mental Health Hospitalizations (per 1K), Substance Use-Related Hospitalizations (per 1K), Homelessness Rate (per 1K)

ZIP Codes with populations less than 500 or that are missing at least half of the indicators within each component are excluded from the JENI for data reliability.

Additional Changes from JENI 2019

  • Percentile methodology: For 2022, we calculate the JENI based on a percentile methodology. The JESI follows the same methodology where ZIP Codes are ranked based on percentile score rather than z-score. We calculate individual indicator scores within each JENI component, average these percentiles, and calculate a new combined percentile per component. The final JENI percentile represents the average of the component percentile.

  • Race Composite Indicator: For JENI 2022, we use a different method for calculating percent people of color. Rather than taking the total percent of the population that is Black, Latinx, AIAN, NHPI, Other, or Two or More, we calculate a race composite score that accounts for the percent of the population that is Black, Latinx, all-AIAN, or all-NHPI treated as separate indicators that are then averaged into one composite percentile score. This helps ensure that areas with a high AIAN or NHPI population are given equal weight even if their total percent of the population is not as high as a high Latinx area (e.g. an area that is 8% AIAN compared to an area that is 90% Latinx). We also exclude Two or More and Other from the race composite indicator after additional analysis revealed areas that are high in Two or More or Other are often not aligned with areas historically impacted by the criminal justice system in the county.

Relationship to the JENI 2019

The JENI 2022 with components is strongly correlated with the JENI 2019 (r=.88).

Justice Equity Need Index Results

Justice Equity Need Index Component Results

System Involvement

Inequity Drivers

Criminalization Risk

Justice Equity Need Index Data Table