Creating a List
Everyone
How to search, Google, and collect information into a simple document (like a Word doc or Spreadsheet).
An Open-Source Dataset of all Prosecutors in the United States
Everyone
How to search, Google, and collect information into a simple document (like a Word doc or Spreadsheet).
Beginner
Once you've created a list of prosecutors, here's how you can submit it to our open-source database.
Intermediate Developers
Not recommended. If you're interested in data scraping, you can tweak our Python scripts to get information from a variety of websites for entry into the U.S. Prosecutor Database.
If you'd like to contribute, please note we have completed Basic Prosecutor Profiles for the following states at the District Attorney level:
Open the USPD Basic Prosecutor Profile spreadsheet. (If you can't access it, please email Billimarie.)
Pick a State to focus on. Create a new sheet (left side, bottom of page; there's a plus sign you can click). Name your new Google Sheet after the state you're focused on (example: CA for California).
Update the "NAME" column with all of the prosecutor names.
Then, update the "BODY" column with Basic Prosecutor Profile information:
That's it! Be sure to email Billimarie when you're finished.
To get the names of District Attorneys, look up the state's District Attorney Association. (Example: "Delaware District Attorney Association")
If there is no District Attorney association, look for the state's election results.
Please note: only three states elect their District Attorneys (Alaska, Connecticut, and New Jersey). Everywhere else holds prosecutor elections.
1. Clone this repo to your local environment
git clone git@github.com:billimarie/prosecutor-database.git
2. Switch to the csv-json-data folder
cd [repo]/csv-json-data
3. Create a new branch for your work (example: ny-da)
git checkout -b [state]-[role]
4. Install Node modules (one-time installation)
npm install
5. Install the csvtojson module globally (one-time installation)
npm install -g csvtojson
Once you've completed the steps above to create your local environment, you're ready to start collecting data. We work in a narrow scope: LOCATION (State) and ROLE (ex: District Attorney). You will see this emphasized repeatedly as State-Role. Your branch should only consist of data from one state, one role. It is okay to submit multiple pull requests, as long as you keep your work isolated in this manner.
1. Create a new .csv file as [state]-[role].csv. Add the Basic Prosecutor Profile columns:
2. Search for your chosen state's prosecutor association.
3. Collect the data in your .csv file. Remember: One state, one role, one branch.
4. Run the csvtojson Node module (ex: ny-da.csv > ny-da.json):
csvtojson [state-role].csv > [state-role].json
5. Add, Commit, and Submit a Pull Request:
git add .
git commit -m "Added [state] [role] as .csv and .json"
git push origin [branch]
Below is a brief summary of how far we've progressed.
If you'd like to contribute, please note we have completed Basic Prosecutor Profiles for the following states at the District Attorney level:
June 19th, 2018
Hosting Tutorials over the phone; updating GitHub Repo, GitHub Pages.
June 17th, 2018
Importing batch data.
June 10th, 2018
Discussing avenues for getting the USPD out
November 29th, 2019
Updated tutorials & relaunched web app
April 15th, 2018
Volunteer introductions, updating Basic Prosecutor Profiles
May 27th, 2018
Manual data entry.
June 3rd, 2018
Reading white papers, taking notes.
March 25th, 2018
Building Basic Prosecutor Profile for Florida and Pennsylvania District Attorneys as well as Attorney Generals
April 1st, 2018
Creating a local developer site for rendering out open-source prosecutor data.
April 8th, 2018
Building out taxonomies for locations based upon counties, searching for prosecutor articles.
March 4th, 2018
Gathering data based on primary elections.
March 11th, 2018
Gathering data based on primary elections.
March 18th, 2018
Building internal legal knowledge regarding prosecutorial misconduct.
April 30th, 2017
We researched the demographic and political landscape of the U.S. prosecutors at federal, state, and local levels.
May 13th, 2017
Led a team of women-identified developers in gathering prosecutor data for the upcoming Philadelphia District Attorney election.
May 21st, 2017
Beginning of collecting data based on elections.
April 7th, 2017
Created a new project to house U.S. Prosecutor data. Originally called light pollution.