NCJ Number
91881
Date Published
1983
Length
50 pages
Annotation
This report presents recommendations derived from a 5-year study of Illinois criminal justice information systems.
Abstract
The legislative proposal, entitled the 'Criminal History Record Information Act,' provides that criminal justice agencies would be held accountable for the quality of the information they collect, maintain, and disseminate, and all criminal history record information (except for nonconviction information older than a year) would be publicly available through the Bureau of Identification within 2 weeks of request. It is recommended that access to nonconviction information more than 1 year old be limited to law enforcement purposes and to those persons or government agencies having a legitimate need to have it. Ambiguities in the current disposition-reporting law should be eliminated to ensure the timely delivery of accurate and complete criminal history information to criminal justice officials. Also, the Department of Law Enforcement's computerized criminal history system is in need of major modifications to ensure efficient entry of data and to support the daily decisions of the system's users and managers. A major shortcoming in the current system is its failure to provide complete records on all active offenders. Further, there must be a mechanism directly responsible to the Office of the Governor that will reconcile competing budgetary, management, and operational demands of the justice community. The Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority should consider coordinating a State criminal justice budget that will transform sound public criminal justice information policies into cost-effective public programs. (Author summary modified)