Training Course in the Analysis of Crime and the Criminal Justice System, Module 8 - Analysis of System Capabilities

• NCJ Number: 82354
• Author(s): R Sklower
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 0 pages
• Publication Format: Film
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: *This document is currently unavailable from NCJRS. Videotape, total running time 48 minutes, black and white, 1 inch. Part of the training course in the Analysis of Crime and the Criminal Justice System. See also NCJ-82345-82355 and NCJ-82357 for other videotapes. There is no Module 10 in this series; it was a training exercise.

Annotation

The director of the Statistical Analysis Center in Louisiana examines criminal justice system capabilities in terms of system resources and their management/allocation, with attention to the development of alternative strategies for resource allocation and the uses of management and administrative statistics (MAS) in the allocation process.

Abstract

Primary inputs into the criminal justice system are the collection of criminal acts committed and the calls for services that they generate. The relationship between criminal justice system performance and system resources defines the system's capability. Management must heighten the criminal justice system's response in terms of both the type and effectiveness of services delivered. Resource allocation should be based on MAS, which covers system costs, productivity, personnel allocation, and workloads. MAS may be applied to impact studies, police resource allocation, and trial delay studies. The resource analysis planning process involves looking at the system's current state and asking questions about it, performing an analysis, and building on the results of that analysis for the development of strategies and recommendations of the most optimal alternative strategy to use. To effectively allocate resources, planners need to know about personnel, agencies' characteristics and hiring practices, workloads, equipment, facilities, and budgets. With adequate data and analytical procedures, criminal justice planners should be able to identify and define problems, know what resources are available to deal with the problems, and know how to allocate resources to solve the problems.