11/20/2018

RESEARCH STATISTICS
STATISTICS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE LEADERSHIP

PABLO VALDEZ
RAYNA J. LONGSHORE; BCJ
STATISTICS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE LEADERSHIP

Introduction

The statistics on criminal justice have acquired relevance due to three fundamental

aspects. The first corresponds to the crystallization of the culture of crime in the society, which is

reflected through the significant concern of citizens and the demands for greater control and

punishment. The second aspect is linked to the modernization of the State, in particular of public

services, where this issue has been discussed. a strong political connotation; this has defined

mechanisms of intervention. and management in front of the main nodes of the public

administration linked with the design and implementation of public policies. The third aspect

results from the fact that the information society has promoted access to topics and the

dissemination of information, and issues that are relevant to the community, especially those that

are affect their daily lives. This process is boosted by the growing technology and efficiency in

the information gathering process.

Statistical support to criminal justice

Attempting to "measure" violence and crime is a complex task. It becomes even more

difficult to do so through available sources of information, both official and non-governmental.

In the case of the former, there are substantial differences around the unit of analysis considered,

as well as in the process of systematizing the qualifications, according to aspects such as

institutional mechanisms that are relevant to its functioning.

The confidence of citizens in public security institutions and the criminal justice system

is a key factor both for the operational of these institutions and for the collection of police

statistics. The uncertainty of the citizenry limits the actions of the police and the justice system,

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and thus reduces the possibilities of collecting quality data to better understand the reality of

crime through complaints.

The criminal justice administration dimension plays a significant role in the consolidation

of statistics on violence and criminality. From an integrated perspective, various sources are

needed to complement each other in order to address the issue. In this way, other areas have

made contributions such as health statistics, mainly for deaths from external causes, and

information generated from the criminal justice sphere, such as the Public Prosecutor's Office,

the Criminal Defender's Office and the Courts of Justice themselves. In spite of this, this type of

process is not as fluid in several cases in the region, due to institutional reluctance, added to the

strategic nature of the information, which limits coordinated actions and possible institutional

synergies.

Criminal justice research in support of community policing

Community policing is the press at which the police officers are allocated in the diverse

areas at which they are required to intersperse with the residents in order that they turn out to be

acquainted and integrate with the local people. This makes typically comes from the statistical

facts which shows that the regulation enforcers are not in touch with the citizens and which makes

them not to make reports approximately the criminal who're within them. This integration of the

makes the community and the society as whole to have an experience of ownership and they sense

that they have an obligation in making sure that the society is safe and secure by using reporting

the persons who're violating the rule of law. this could be making the ultimately see the police

being capable of apprehend the criminals as soon as possible.

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STATISTICS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE LEADERSHIP

Criminal statistics generated from police registration systems present several difficulties.

The first one is that a large number of crimes do not enter the system because they are not reported

and also because of the high selectivity for certain types of facts. (Bjs.gov, 2018). The information

systems on violence and criminality are a process in continuous development due to the fact that

there are different stages in their construction process as well as efforts to consolidate them for the

states and cities of the region.

In this way, police institutions continue to have primacy in the management of information

on presumably criminal facts. The main reason for this is their strategic nature, since they are part

of the planning of police work or could be inputs for intelligence work, which would justify certain

limits to transparency. This information may be restricted because it is sometimes catalogued as

sensitive to the functioning of police entities or by the competent authorities.

Criminal justice research in support of community engagement

There are entities linked to the justice system itself, which carry out the task of collecting

and systematizing criminal information in accordance with criminal procedure. In this sense, the

respective prosecutors' offices, as the process of criminal procedure reform has been

consolidated in the country, begin to manage information on aspects related to the functioning of

the system and jointly of criminal acts.

There are non-governmental entities that have a role in the dissemination or articulation

of official information generated by public entities. Many of them manage to compile and

systematize primary data that are not directly available. In part, this reflects the existing

limitations on the delivery of information from the responsible public institutions, both due to

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technical difficulties and the lack of interest in disseminating it in a transparent manner in order

to avoid greater tensions of a more politically order.

Statistical data on criminal justice could contain data that shows that the policies and

practices implemented are not in line with the needs of the culture and community as a whole.

This involves the renovation of policies and programs in order to successfully to be in line with

the service that the community and society expects.

The information which is essential in determining the level at which penalties are efficient to the

violators of the law. The information shows if the penalties been administered are efficient and

justifiable to the crimes committed by the culprits. When the penalties are not justifiable the law

enforcers and the legislators come together and design better penalties which are in line with the

crimes which are committed. It may result to more severe penalties been put in place for the

delinquents who commit certain crimes. The severe penalties would be aimed at reducing the

incidents of the crime in future as most culprits would be fearing been severely punished.

Conclusion

Criminal justice statistical data is important in giving the convicts statistics in form of

their demographic location and their sexes. This is to the respect of the total number of the

inmates. With this information the government is able to know which location the level of the

insecurity is high and also which gender in the community is have high possibility to engage in

criminal activity. When the information is well analyzed the concerned government, agencies

come up with programs and initiative to averse the trend in future. With this the levels of crimes

which were high in certain location is reduced as the level of the gender which was highly

involved in criminal activities reduce with reducing the criminal activities in general.

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Reference:

 Fox, J., Levin, J. and Forde, D. (2014). Elementary statistics in criminal justice research. Boston:
Pearson.

 SAGE Publications Inc. (2018). Statistics for Criminal Justice and Criminology in Practice and
Research. [online] Available at: http://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/statistics-for-criminal-justice-
and-criminology-in-practice-and-research/book235724 [Accessed 20 Nov. 2018].

 Bjs.gov. (2018). Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - Community Policing. [online] Available at:
https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=tp&tid=81 [Accessed 20 Nov. 2018].

 Bjs.gov. (2018). Bureau of Justice Statistics Criminal Justice System Description. [online]
Available at: http://www.bjs.gov/content/justsys.cfm [Accessed 20 Nov. 2018].