Student analyzing juvenile justice data for the Center for Improving Youth Justice Data-Driven Decision-Making Externship

Correlation Analysis

Data Visualization

Python

Statistical Research

AI for Data Analysis

Evidence Based Policy

Center for Improving Youth Justice Data-Driven Decision-Making

20+ years of juvenile justice data. Real correlations. Real policy impact. Your analysis goes straight to legislators.

8 weeks

Live Sessions Start

July 6, 2026

Start Onboarding Today

Somewhere in America right now, a kid is sitting in a juvenile facility where staff outnumber youth two-to-one — and it’s still not safe. Meanwhile, another facility with fewer staff but better training has half the assaults. A teenager of color is spending longer in room confinement than a white peer for the same behavior. A younger kid with no family contact is spiraling into more serious incidents with no one connecting the dots.

CIYJ has 20+ years of data that captures all of it — youth and staff surveys, incident reports, demographic records, outcome measures — and they need analysts who can find the signal in the noise.

In this externship, students dig into that dataset to test the assumptions juvenile justice has operated on for decades, surface the correlations that actually matter, and deliver findings that go straight into CIYJ’s advocacy work with state agencies and legislatures. This isn’t a practice dataset. The insights you find could change how a facility operates — and what happens to the kids inside it.

Project Output

‍

Analyze a real multi-file dataset spanning 300+ juvenile justice facilities to develop research questions, conduct statistical analyses in Python, and deliver a professional findings package — including a written brief, data visualizations, presentation deck, and recorded presentation — that goes directly into CIYJ’s advocacy work with state agencies and legislators.

Get Started with Onboarding Today Before Live Sessions Begin

Join this 8-week Externship with the Center for Improving Youth Justice to analyze real juvenile justice data and deliver findings that drive policy change!

Start Project Today

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Skills You'll Gain

Analyze large real-world datasets to identify meaningful trends and relationships.

Conduct statistical analyses using Python and Google Colab.

Develop research questions supported by available data and evidence.

Evaluate findings using structured analytical review frameworks.

Create professional data visualizations and communicate insights to non-technical audiences.

Your Schedule

8 weeks

Week 1

—

Orientation

Week 2

—

Establish the Case For Structural Analysis

Weeks 3-4

—

Build a Focused Research Question

Weeks 5-6

—

Select & Run Your Analysis

Week 7

—

Stress-Test & Revise Your Findings

Week 8

—

Write Your Practitioner Findings Brief

About Center for Improving Youth Justice

The Home Depot is not accepting or considering any applications for this Externship through other channels.

Meet Your Host

Brendan Donahue

Data and Technology Director

Brendan Donahue is the Data and Technology Director at the Center for Improving Youth Justice, where he leads digital innovation to advance juvenile justice reform. Since joining CIYJ in 2006, Brendan has served as the project manager for new initiatives supporting the Performance-based Standards program for juvenile residential facilities.

He has designed and deployed interactive survey kiosks that collect real-time feedback from youth, staff, and families, and led the development of a web application providing researchers and universities with access to one of the most comprehensive datasets on juvenile justice facilities in the country. Most recently, he developed the Reentry Roadmap mobile app to support young people transitioning back into their communities.

Meet Your Host

Get Started Today

Join this 8-week Externship with the Center for Improving Youth Justice to analyze real juvenile justice data and deliver findings that drive policy change!

Start Project Today