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All of these types of linkages are rare, and integration with non-criminal justice data, such as labor market outcomes, is especially rare 1. Criminal justice data must be linked with other socioeconomic data to conduct dynamic benefit-cost analyses of spillover effects of criminal justice involvement. To identify effective policy levers, we must be able to connect criminal justice processes from arrest to sanction.
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There are important national data programs that cover criminal offenses or justice processes, such as the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP), but these programs do not allow us to understand how justice system processes are connected.Ĭomparable measures of criminal justice system performance require the integration of data from across the country. The lack of data infrastructure reflects the highly decentralized structure of the criminal justice system, as data are held across thousands of disparate jurisdictions. criminal justice system, evaluating its policies, or understanding the population that interacts with it. Yet there is no unified data infrastructure for measuring the U.S.
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In addition to the substantial costs of crime to victims, involvement in the criminal justice system not only has significant impacts on people accused or convicted of criminal offenses, but also on their families and communities. In the United States, the social cost of crime is immense.
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