Analysis of the Criminal Justice System's Data Architecture

• NCJ Number: 250964
• Author(s): Diane Lacy
• Date Published: July 2017
• Length: 88 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2011-IJ-CX-K051
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research Paper; Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Technical Assistance); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description; Grants and Funding

Annotation

This report of the Criminal Justice System Data Architecture project includes an assessment of the state of the national data architecture framework for criminal justice and public safety information- sharing in the United States, and it models this assessment based upon Enterprise Architecture (EA) principles for information architecture as developed by John Zachman in 1987.

Abstract

The criminal justice system in the United States is a complex national enterprise that consists of a multitude of independent units of government that must coordinate their activities in order to achieve the common goal of an efficient and effective justice system. The effective coordination of criminal justice activities nationwide requires information sharing; however, due to its diversity and decentralization, the justice system nationwide lacks a common framework for sharing data. The current research found significant gaps between the current and ideal future state of the criminal justice system's data architecture. Although the criminal justice community has invested in the development of information-sharing standards, which are critical components of a data architecture, it has not developed a complete "enterprise" view of the justice process that properly identifies all of the components required to understand the entire enterprise; nor has it properly scaled these exchanges to maximize their utility across organizational boundaries. The current research moved this discussion forward by developing a framework for assessing the state of the justice data architecture. Justice stakeholders can use this framework to capture, document, and measure the components that exist; and they can add to it in developing a robust National Justice Data Architecture (NJDA). 27 exhibits, 27 references, and appended practical application of the architecture and links to Federal and State Enterprise Architecture sites