Data Analyst

The New York City Criminal Justice Agency (CJA) is a not-for-profit service and research organization that operates in partnership with the New York City Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.  CJA is the City’s main pretrial services agency, combining operations, pilot projects, and research under one roof.  CJA utilizes procedural justice practices to provide pretrial services to over 100,000 arrested annually in New York City. Information collected about these arrestees and subsequent case processing is maintained in the agency’s internal and externally shared database systems, which are used to conduct descriptive and evaluation research on arrestee characteristics, case processing and court outcomes, and on issues and potential reforms to criminal justice policy in New York City. CJA’s programs operate in the criminal courts and detention facilities 24 hours a day seven days a week within the 5 boroughs of NYC, employing over 300 employees, citywide.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­PROGRAM SUMMARY

DART – We lead research and analytics that turn CJA’s unparalleled justice system data into insights that drive policy and practice. Drawing on over 100,000 annual face-to-face interviews and comprehensive data feeds from police, courts, and corrections, we analyze complex trends, evaluate emerging policies, and apply causal techniques to assess the impact of policy and applied interventions. Through rigorous analysis, compelling visualizations, and impactful publications, we illuminate the workings of New York City’s justice system and advance new lines of inquiry to shape a fairer, more effective system. 

The Data Analyst will support DART’s applied research and analytic work by defining study populations, pulling and cleaning administrative data, conducting descriptive and exploratory analyses, and producing tables, visualizations, and written products for technical and non-technical audiences. 

The analyst will collaborate with DART staff and other CJA teams to answer research, policy, and operational questions, contribute to project scoping and analytic planning, conduct quality assurance, document methods and limitations, and help ensure that findings are accurate, reproducible, and responsive to stakeholder needs. 

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Analytics & Data Science – Use R or Python and SQL to prepare, clean, validate, and analyze data. Conduct descriptive and exploratory analyses and contribute to reproducible, well-documented analytic workflows. Develop dashboards, visualizations, and data tools to make analyses accessible to technical and non-technical stakeholders. 
• Research Support - Support short- and longer-term research projects by helping define analytic questions, developing measures, conducting analyses, reviewing results, and updating prior work as needed. 
• Program and Policy Analysis - Conduct analyses that help CJA understand programs, operations, trends, and outcomes. Work with colleagues to translate policy and operational questions into clear analytic approaches. 
• Collaboration – Create clear tables, visualizations, presentations, dashboards, and written summaries that communicate findings to technical and non-technical audiences. Collaborate with DART colleagues, staff across CJA, and external partners as needed to clarify questions and share results. 
• Project Management: Manage assigned tasks and timelines, communicate progress and potential issues, and balance multiple projects with guidance from the supervisor. 

• Experience: Minimum of 2 years of experience in data analysis, applied research, program evaluation, public policy research, or a related field. Experience working with administrative data, government data, or criminal justice data is a plus. 
• Education: Master’s degree preferred in statistics, data science, economics, public policy, social science, computer science, or another quantitative field, or equivalent professional experience. 

• Problem-solving skills: Ability to multitask and adapt to a fast-paced environment working with urgency on requests/situations that require a quick turnaround.  Work collaboratively to identify and troubleshoot technical problems and find solutions. Proven ability to collaborate with complex stakeholder relationships as well as technical and nontechnical staff. 
• Exceptional communication skills: A positive attitude and a customer-oriented approach are required as well as the ability to communicate clearly and effectively at all organizational levels and with stakeholders that are both highly technical and non-technical.  
• Problem-solving skills: Ability to multitask and adapt to a fast-paced environment working with urgency on requests/situations that require a quick turnaround.  Work collaboratively to identify and troubleshoot technical problems and find solutions.  
• Mission Oriented: Committed to CJA’s mission and values of commitment, fairness and innovation.

Each employee at CJA is guided by these values in our work:

• Commitment: We are committed to being active partners in criminal justice reform through initiatives and creative problem-solving that evaluates different methods and strategies for alternatives to detention.
• Fairness: We are guided by fairness and the presumption of innocence for those who are detained and work with integrity and without bias to protect the privacy and interest of court-involved people and their families.
• Innovation: We value curiosity as a driving force to lead the way in pretrial services. We use innovative techniques in research, pilot programs, and engaging justice-involved communities to execute our mission of reducing unnecessary pretrial detention.