44.493 Issues in Criminal Justice Technology & Security

home > unit 5: criminal justice system use of data and statistics

• Supreme Court upholds publication of photos of offenders on registries
  • "The court came down on the side of public safety in both cases, but left the door open for future constitutional challenges."
  • Plaintiffs said they'd already been punished, and this was an additional punishment. Judge Kennedy wrote, "Our system does not treat dissemination of truthful information in furtherance of a legitimate governmental objection as punishment. The purpose and the principal effect of notification are to inform the public for its own safety, not to humiliate the offender."
  • "In a dissent, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that 'however plain it may be that a former sex offender currently poses no threat of recidivism, he will remain subject to long-term monitoring and inescapable humiliation.'" Justice Stevens said that in both rulings his colleagues "fail to decide whether the statutes deprive the registrants of a constitutionally protected interest in liberty."
  • Also upheld a ruling that denied challenge by sex offenders who said they deserved a chance to prove they aren't dangerous to avoid having their pictures and addresses put on the Internet.
• Some argue the laws must be fine tuned to distinguish between repeat offenders and those who serve their time for a single offense and live without another incident

Erroneous criminal records due to identity theft
sometimes, the damage from identity theft isn't limited to credit problems: people who steal your identity then commit crimes and you have a criminal record.

Global Justice XML Data Model
XML is a series of hypertext tags that facilitate sharing structured text (especially data) and information across the internet.

Global JXDM is a specialized XML schema (a subset of overall XML) specifically created to allow exchange of criminal justice data:"The Global JXDM is an XML standard designed specifically for criminal justice information exchanges, providing law enforcement, public safety agencies, prosecutors, public defenders, and the judicial branch with a tool to effectively share data and information in a timely manner. The Global JXDM removes the burden from agencies to independently create exchange standards, and because of its extensibility, there is more flexibility to deal with unique agency requirements and changes. Through the use of a common vocabulary that is understood system to system, Global JXDM enables access from multiple sources and reuse in multiple applications."

"Approximately 16,000 justice and public safety-related data elements were collected from 30 unique local and state governmental sources to develop the Global JXDM. These elements were analyzed and integrated to produce approximately 2,750 reusable components (550 types and 2,200 properties). These components of the Global JXDM have been implemented in applications across the nation and have evolved to include the data dictionary (identifying content and meaning), the data model (defining structure and organization), and the component reuse repository (database). Other supporting tools and resources have been developed to facilitate implementation. ...Since its creation, more than 50 law enforcement and justice related projects have been implemented using the Global JXDM, and over 500 users and developers have received training. In support of homeland security, public safety, and justice information sharing, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of State and Local Government Coordination and Preparedness has adopted the Global JXDM specifications as a requirement for all future homeland security IT projects." (my emphasis)

Developed by the Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative.

• being used for nationwide Amber Alert program.
• already being used in a variety of ways
• critical to fighting terror because of wide range of data that must be integrated
  

Widespread roll out of XML can have both criminal justice and economic advantages.

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