In 1997, the Portfolio Corrections Statistics Committee was formed and mandated to establish a standard set of key statistics on corrections and conditional release to be used as a common source of statistical information within the Portfolio as well as external communications. This report is known as the Corrections and Conditional Release Statistical Overview (CCRSO). It is a coherent set of statistics on key information on the correctional system placed in a format easily understood by a non-expert in the field and is viewed as beneficial. To guide the compilation of data or statistics for the CCRSO, five operating principles were adopted: (1) address all major aspects of the system; (2) be based on the most valid and reliable data available; (3) be presented in a format that would be understandable to a lay audience; (4) be produced in a standard way on a regular basis; and (5) be easily accessible for internal use and by external audiences. The first issue of the CCRSO was published and released in 1998. The CCRSO is divided into five sections: (1) statistics on crime and the criminal justice system; (2) statistics related to corrections administration; (3) statistics describing the offender population; (4) the granting and timing of conditional releases and outcomes; and (5) information on detention cases and by judicial reviews. The CCRSO holds or occupies a particular place in performance measurement reporting and presents an overview of statistics on corrections and conditional release, along with trends in the broader criminal justice system.