The most important purpose of criminal justice information is public accountability. Accurate statistics are essential in the management of a criminal justice system for several reasons: citizens want to know how much crime there is in a country and why the government takes certain crime prevention measures; the delivery of criminal justice is expensive; statistics offer insight into national crime indicators; statistics help in the evaluation of the effectiveness and fairness of the criminal justice system; statistics give the public information on how the justice system is applied on a national basis; and statistics allow international comparisons to be made. Functional requirements of a system of criminal justice information, which are described here, include a management process, a process to obtain and maintain commitment of stakeholders, political neutrality and respect for privacy and confidentiality, technical and subject matter resources, and clear articulation of scope and content.