NCJ Number
145435
Date Published
1990
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This was a report for the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, which was to meet in Havana, Cuba, August 27 to September 7, 1990.
Abstract
The focus of this report is on computerization of the administration of criminal justice. Sections cover the benefits of computerization, planning, objectives, applications to criminal justice, and implementation. Criminal justice systems should adhere to three guiding principles: 1) top management should be directly involved and responsible, not only to make decisions about the scope and nature of computerization, but to commit appropriate resources and handle organizational matters; 2) the task of computerization should be tackled from the top down, to facilitate coordination among all parts of the entire system; and 3) computerization should proceed in careful, gradual steps. Through appropriate computerization, a criminal justice system can achieve great cost savings and improved service; inappropriate computerization can result in just the opposite.