The guidelines are intended to encourage information systems to adopt coding schemes for a core set of important data elements to promote the compatibility of data from year to year within the court, among various courts, and with available State and national crime and census data. The information is also intended to promote the use of well documented and clearly defined data elements and values by presenting samples of the level of detail such documentation should meet. Moreover, coding structures based on these recommendations will be consistent with the categories used in the Uniform Crime Reports, the National Crime Survey, and other Federal information sources. Definitions of general terms as well as specific elements.