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Manual for the Development of a System of Criminal Justice Statistics

NCJ Number
200311
Date Published
2002
Length
161 pages
Annotation
This guide presents an updated, general framework for a national system of criminal justice statistics.
Abstract
Criminal justice statistics help policymakers and activists determine appropriate legislation and programs that will help reduce criminal offending. As such, accurate and uniform criminal justice statistics are important in order to compare rates nationally and determine where problem areas lie. This guide presents a uniform system of collecting, managing, and analyzing criminal justice data. The guide is written for a wide audience, including those who have limited computer knowledge. It is intended for anyone who works with criminal justice data, both governmental and nongovernmental entities. The guide sets forth the purposes and requirements of a system of criminal justice statistics and then presents organizational models, including both centralized and noncentralized approaches to data management. The scope of the system and the content of criminal justice data are also reviewed, including a look at the requirements of reporting demographic, social, and economic information. The guide also offers tips for collecting, processing, and analyzing criminal justice statistics. The role of victim surveys in complementing police-reported data is underscored and types of victimization surveys are reviewed. The guide also reports on how to examine and utilize data derived from the United Nations’ surveys on crime trends and the International Crime Victim Surveys. Finally, the annex contains materials that highlight practical issues related to the design and creation of a solid data collection system. The annex offers examples of data collection forms, statistical tables, an offense classification system, and an offense severity scoring rule. It is hoped that by creating a uniform, national criminal justice statistics program, criminal activities may be better monitored and deterred.