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Issues in Criminal Justice Technology & Security
In this unit, we will consider
how the criminal justice system collects and uses data for prevention
and response.
- criminal history records
- Uses of this data:
- Background checks for firearm
transfers
sex
offender registry
- Controversy: erroneous criminal
records due to identity theft
Criminal history
records and uniform statistics
These are the most important statistics compiled and used in the
criminal justice system. They describe any arrests and subsequent
dispositions attributable to an individual.
"Complete, accurate, and immediately accessible records enable
states to:
- immediately identify individuals
with prior criminal records in any state
- more effectively identify felons
and others prohibited from firearm purchases
- check backgrounds of persons
responsible for child, elder and disabled care
- identify individuals who have
a history of domestic violence or stalking
- make informed decisions relating
to pretrial release and detention of offenders, prosecutions
of career criminals and appropriate correctional confinement
- conduct background checks to
protect public safety and national security"
- as of Dec. 31, 2001, 89%of the
criminal history records that states maintained were automated.
---"Criminal
Record System Statistics"
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program
17,000 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies contribute
crime statistics. Latest iteration is the National Incident-Based
Reporting System (NIBRS).
- It doesn't record penal,
prosecution, or conviction statistics -- collects "data on known offenses
and persons arrested by police departments....since the intent
of the data collection is specifically to assist in identifying
the law enforcement problem.
- specific crimes reported
-- because they are "most
likely to be reported and most likely to occur with sufficient
frequency to provide an adequate
basis for comparison" -- are:
- Murder and Non negligent Manslaughter
- Forcible Rape
- Robbery
- Aggravated Assault
- Burglary
- Larceny-Theft
- Motor Vehicle Theft
- Arson.
Why
are uniform crime statistics important? What do they allow us
to do that couldn't be done without uniform statistics?
Provides capability to break down and combine crime offense data
into specific information. Without it, couldn't do valid comparisons.
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