Users are cautioned to avoid drawing inferences based on the demographics from the sentencing dataset. Many factors are before a court making an individualized sentencing decision. Matters contained in pre-sentence investigations that give insight into prior supervision, mental-health issues, response to treatment for addiction and other factors inform a judge's deliberations and decisions, and they are not available to the public.

A proper study of sentencing outcomes requires controlling for multiple variables, examining the accuracy and source of the reported data (is race self-reported? observed?), definitions and other matters.

The most that can be properly said from this data is that, over time and many cases, the patterns and judicial philosophy of local courts begin to emerge. Drawing inferences about race-, sex- or age-based influence is dangerous, incendiary and not supported by the level of detail available in this dashboard.