Re-Validation of the Florida Department of Corrections' Correctional Operations Trend Analysis System (COTAS)

• NCJ Number: 247029
• Date Published: September 2013
• Length: 18 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2006-IJ-CX-K007
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

This report presents the methodology and findings of a re-validation of the Florida Department of Corrections (DOCs) Correctional Operations Trend Analysis System (COTAS), which is designed to be used as a tool for DOC staff and administrators in "identifying issues before they develop" by consolidating historical information with a predictive scoring system available on a comprehensive web site.

Abstract

COTAS was initially validated between February 2011 and May 2011 by Florida State University (FSU) Center for Criminology and Public Policy Research and ELENC, Inc. This validation provided the DOC with a list of 21 recommendations intended to achieve 3 objectives: increases in the validity of the predictive models within COTAS, DOC users understanding of the utility and function of COTAS, and the validity of the COTAS software. The re-evaluation addressed in the current report examined the 21 recommendations of the initial validation in order to determine whether or not each recommendation has been addressed; and if so, the extent to which it has been implemented by the DOC. The re-validation determined that the DOC has addressed the vast majority of the issues identified in the original validation. Although a few small issues remain, COTAS is a significantly better system than it was when the original validation study was completed. An updated user's manual has been developed and disseminated, which addresses significant confusion about COTAS among users during the initial validation. In addition, the DOC has fixed almost all of the issues identified in the original validation. The current report documents each of the recommendations of the first validation and documents any problems that persist. The re-validation was conducted by the FSU Center for Criminology and Public Policy Research and Infinity Software. Each of these reviewers had designated tasks, and their methodologies were slightly different. Their methodologies are described.