The 21st century may well be viewed by historians as an era dominated by citizen demands for effective and efficient government services. In recent years, electronic information has become a driving force in commerce and popular culture and, in many ways, it has helped fuel an atmosphere of growing public expectations. Funding strategies and successful programs that support high standards in education, strong economic development and safe communities are highly prized solutions sought after by government officials throughout the country.
It is in this environment that the Office of Justice Programs (OJP) has been recognized by state, local and tribal governments as a resource for supporting the development of information systems that would enable the appropriate sharing of justice information. This unique environment also represents a time when special attributes affecting program management include sweeping changes in information technology (IT) capabilities, OJP funding growth, and dependence on attaining unprecedented cooperation among a diverse group of public and private stakeholders. These are exciting and challenging times for individuals who are assigned the responsibility of coordinating activities to meet the needs and demands of the justice community.
The term frequently used to describe information sharing across various justice disciplines is integration: the application of technology to improve information management and information sharing between justice enterprise agencies at all levels of government. Supporting the endeavors of the justice community to electronically share information is the focus of the Global Justice Information Network Advisory Committee and the OJP and COPS technology initiatives described in this document.
The Federal Government has historically supported state and local criminal justice initiatives through legislation providing for financial support of various criminal justice initiatives. Since 1968, legislative initiatives have addressed civil uprisings, juvenile justice, multi-jurisdictional drug crime, victims' rights and assistance, violence against women, and community oriented policing. Funding for information technology equipment, training and technical assistance is available through a variety of U.S Department of Justice (DOJ) programs, most notably the COPS Program, the Local Law Enforcement Block Grants Program, the Byrne Program, and the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants Program, among others. Traditionally, funding from these programs has been "program," or purpose specific, and has led to the implementation of different computer systems with limited purposes serving the various justice components in state, local, and tribal governments. Many of these "stove-pipe" systems are incapable of sharing information and perpetuate, rather than alleviate, the inefficiency of the justice enterprise.
The role of Federal Government in solving communication and information sharing problems in state, local, and tribal justice systems is to encourage and facilitate the design and implementation of "enterprise-wide" technology solutions. The federal role is not to mandate technology design, but rather to offer planning support and guidance from a national perspective. Federal Government coordination is critical to the development of justice information systems within an "enterprise framework": a broad, yet defined set of principles, standards, and policies for justice integration.
In 1998, the Global Justice Information Network Advisory Committee charter was signed, granting Global the authority to serve as an advisory body reporting to the Attorney General or his/her designee under the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Today, the membership of Global represents many of the agencies and organizations from across the country that influence and guide the justice community. It is expected that Global will play a vital role as a unique body of leaders helping to build a national consensus, guide national policy, and facilitate the development of national standards.
Within Global, there are four subcommittees focusing on the following areas: security, privacy/public access, infrastructure/standards, and communications. One goal of Global is to coordinate efforts to facilitate appropriate information sharing among the various bodies who manage local, state, interstate, federal, and international criminal records systems. Global is further committed to support improved information sharing among law enforcement officials, public defenders, prosecutors, courts, correctional facilities, probation and parole officers, and other affiliated government agencies.
Achieving effective and efficient information sharing across the country requires the coordination of local, state, federal, and tribal efforts nationally and throughout the international justice community. The role of Global will be crucial to the success of this endeavor.
The implementation of funding and award guidance strategy to promote the efficient and coordinated deployment of information technology funding from OJP and its Bureaus is a crucial objective. The basis for OJP's funding strategy is found in over 40 of its Bureaus' statutory provisions that contain express or implied language authorizing the purchase of information technology. Each of these statutes provides for and encourages the development of information sharing systems to further the fight against crime. Coordinating these statutes in a strategy that provides necessary planning, training, and technical assistance grants is key to enabling state and local governments to implement technologies that are interoperable within, as well as outside, individual state, local, regional, and federal information systems and networks.
Additionally, the field has recommended that OJP use its funding authority to promote and encourage communication and coordination between state and local jurisdictions. To this end, OJP has adopted special condition language for all OJP technology awards. The language requires recipients of information technology funding to advise a point of contact designated by each Governor in their state that they are undertaking an information technology project. This guidance strategy is designed to ensure that state agencies and local jurisdictions receiving federal information technology funding are in communication with bodies responsible for statewide justice integration initiatives and can use their resources to build interoperable, rather than isolated, systems.
OJPs Fiscal Year 2000 (FY 2000) and 2001 (FY 2001) Information Technology Initiatives were designed to capitalize on OJPs resources and authority to support and facilitate state, local, and tribal integrated justice systems. OJPs future strategy is to support information sharing at the state, local, and tribal levels through additional action items, field outreach, education, training, and technical assistance and to coordinate with Global and the DOJ's other technology initiatives.
In FY 2001, OJPs Information Technology Initiative is pursuing projects in eight broad areas of concentration:
The National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP), established in 1995, provides grants to all states to upgrade the quality and accessibility of criminal records, including records of protection orders, domestic violence, and sex offender registries. The NCHIP program is closely coordinated with the FBI and assists states to develop record systems which interface with the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), the FBI's National Protection Order File, and the National Sex Offender Registry.
State Grants: To date, over $354 million has been awarded directly to states under the program and all states and eligible territories have received awards. Priority areas under this program are: participation in NICS and the Interstate Identification Index (III); support for court automation; establishment and upgrading protection order files; and participation in the Interstate Crime Control and Privacy Compact. Systems developed with NCHIP funds are required to be compatible with the FBI and relevant state standards.
The NCHIP Technical Assistance (TA) program directly assists states to implement programs, policies, and technologies to upgrade criminal records and improve interface with the FBI's national systems. TA is provided through onsite visits, web training, telephone, training classes, and workshops and conferences.
Privacy and Technology: Under the NCHIP privacy program, BJS and SEARCH established a Task Force on Privacy, Technology and Criminal Justice Information and supported both a conference on privacy issues and a national survey of public attitudes toward uses of criminal record data. NCHIP is conducting a survey to identify public attitudes toward uses of biometric identifiers and plans to convene a conference on privacy issues during 2002.
Criminal Records Survey: To assist criminal justice personnel and policy makers in assessing progress relevant to the operation of NICS and III, NCHIP surveys the status of state record systems every two years. The next survey will present data as of year-end 2001. A survey of state privacy legislation is conducted every two years.
Firearm Inquiry Statistics Program: Under the NCHIP, BJS conducts the FIST survey which collects data on the number of NICS presale firearm inquiries, the number of applications rejected, and the basis for rejections in states that serve as points of contact to the NICS system. Findings for calendar year 2000 describing background checks for firearm transfers, including inquiries and rejections by surveyed states, were released summer 2001.
Summary of State Sex Offender Registries: BJS has collected information from all 50 States and the District of Columbia on the status of centralized state sex offender registries. Information collected from the states includes: the size and coverage of the registries; their level of automation and capability to receive, store, and transmit not only text but also digital fingerprints and photos; their operation, sources for information, and verification or reregistration procedures; and their procedures for disseminating information to criminal justice agencies, to schools and youth-serving organizations, and to the general public, including their use of the Internet.
NIBRS Implementation Program: This program is designed to improve the quality of crime statistics in the United States by assisting jurisdictions to implement the FBI's new approach to uniform crime reporting, the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Funds were available to states working together with units of local government and were awarded pursuant to a public solicitation issued by BJS. In FY 2001, BJS awarded over $13 million to 26 States to improve their ability to measure crime and report crime information at the national level by implementing or enhancing NIBRS systems. Funds were also awarded to support a technical assistance program to help states that received funding
Criminal Case Tracking System for Tribal Jurisdictions: BJS, with funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) and cooperation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Department of Interior has funded three American Indian jurisdictions to develop an automated criminal case-tracking system. The integrated system, which links police, courts, and corrections data, will enable tribal jurisdictions to track violent offenders, domestic abuse cases, the impact of drug testing, and probation and other forms of supervised release. These jurisdictions can serve as a model to all interested tribes pending completion and testing.
National Tribal Justice Statistical Assistance Center: A national technical assistance center will be established in FY 2002 for tribal criminal justice agencies to obtain expertise in developing their statistical collection and reporting processes as well as to ensure their participation in national information systems. Technical assistance will include oversight for the conversion to NIBRS-compliant crime reporting and the development of other types of crime data to ensure participation in BJS statistical reporting programs. Technical assistance will also be provided to help tribal authorities participate in national criminal justice information systems (anti-stalking, criminal history background checks, NCIC). The Center will be pro-active in identifying exemplary models in Indian Country for statistical collection/analysis activities, undertaking multi-tribe demonstrations, and locating tribal agencies most in need of assistance. The Center will initiate activities with tribes and will ensure a high level of coordination with BIA tribal law enforcement policies, practices, and new initiatives.
Crime Victimization Survey Software: This software is now available to help communities conduct local crime and attitudinal surveys. The Crime Victimization Survey (CVS) software package, designed by BJS and the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), allows communities to conduct their own telephone surveys of residents to collect data on crime victimization, attitudes toward policing, and other community issues. Using the established methods and questions of the National Crime Victimization Survey, this software allows communities to generate crime and victimization estimates that facilitate comparisons among similar jurisdictions.
The software can be accessed and ordered free of charge from the BJS Web site or from NCJRS for a small shipping and handling fee by calling 1-800-851-3420. To date, more than 1,800 requests for copies and downloads of the software have been made from police departments, local agencies, and criminal justice researchers. In addition to the software, both the online file and the CD-ROM include the CVS Software User's Manual, released 10/99 (NCJ 176361) and Conducting Community Surveys: A Practical Guide for Law Enforcement Agencies, released 10/99 (NCJ 178246), which is a brief overview of the issues related to conducting local surveys. The CD-ROM version comes with printed copies of both documents.
Agencies or communities interested in conducting local victimization surveys are encouraged to contact local universities or research organizations. BJS will assist researchers and statisticians with specific software support and sampling issues. This software is a major step forward in empowering communities to examine crime and its consequences for victims.
Criminal Victimization Surveys in Indian Country: Funds will be provided to survey organizations to carry out crime victimization surveys among residents of Indian Country. Three to five sites will be awarded funds to conduct crime victimization surveys among tribal residents. Special emphasis will be made to collect detailed information on the role of alcohol in violent crime victimizations and to better understand the characteristics of domestic violence incidents. The Crime Victimization Survey (CVS) software developed by BJS will be made available to participating grantees. CVS software contains the survey instrument used by the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and can be easily adapted for local use. Funds will be provided for development and implementation of the survey instrument, sample design, data collection, analysis, and reporting of survey findings.
Cybercrime Statistics: In 2001 BJS initiated development of a comprehensive statistical program to measure changes in the incidence, magnitude, and consequences of electronic or cybercrime. Cybercrime statistics will include data on both personal and property crimes, ranging from e-mail threats and harassment to illegal use of or access to networks to commit fraud or theft. BJS will work with the Census Bureau to operationalize this plan for collecting data on electronic crime. There may be supplements to ongoing commercial and household surveys and enhancements of periodic collections from law enforcement agencies and the courts.
Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories: This survey collects data from all public and private DNA laboratories on management and administrative statistics, including staff size and characteristics, staff training, budgets, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) testing procedures, processing policies, and archival capacity. The survey also obtains information on the degree of laboratory compliance with national standards and participation in the national database of DNA samples. The survey, first carried out in 1998, was conducted again in early 2001. BJS works closely with the state and local crime laboratory directors and the FBI's Forensic Science Systems Unit in the design and conduct of these surveys. Findings are useful to crime laboratory directors to compare procedures and capacities among laboratories, as well as to measure compatibility between the national DNA database and state databases.
Web-based Data Collection: New capabilities, emerging technologies, more efficient computer languages, and improved standards offer promising improvements for the way BJS collects justice statistics. In 2000 BJS began experimental use of the web to collect administrative data from selected state and local criminal justice agencies. BJS currently maintains over 2 dozen data collection programs that obtain information describing the workload of approximately 50,000 federal, state and local agencies, offices, and institutions. Until now, all BJS collection efforts sent paper questionnaires to law enforcement agencies, prosecutors' offices, probation offices, local jails, courts, pretrial release agencies, public defender offices, and prison and parole authorities. Like many other governmental and private-sector data managers, BJS has begun the transition from paper-based data collection to direct Internet submission of information to a database. In FY 2001, BJS conducted data collections using the Internet for the Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories, the Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, and the Annual Survey of Jails.
BJS Web Site Database and On-line Analysis Capabilities: Aside from the hundreds of BJS reports and the numerous links to other sites available to users, the BJS website provides a number of significant features to enhance user access including regularly updated Key Facts at a Glance; a keyword search capacity; access to simple spreadsheets covering a wide variety of crime and justice issues; and on-line tabulation, datasets, and codebooks to access and analyze National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) data, Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data, Federal Justice Statistics Program files, and BJS data on prison admissions and releases. BJS will shortly release an on-line database of criminal justice statistics focusing on summary-level statistics by jurisdiction.
The National Institute of Justice (NIJ), a component of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice, supports research and development programs, conducts demonstrations of innovative approaches to improve criminal justice, develops new criminal justice technologies, and evaluates the effectiveness of OJP-supported and other justice programs. NIJ also provides major support for the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS), a clearinghouse on justice issues.
The following are NIJ Information Technology Initiatives:
AGILE Project: The Advanced Generation of Interoperability for Law Enforcement (AGILE) Project is designed to perform research and develop key communications and information technology tools that law enforcement will need in the future, including shared databases, information access, knowledge mining, security, and the transfer of voice, images and data and their convergence with wireless technologies.
Technology Standards: NIJ is working with the Office of Law Enforcement Standards (OLES) at the National Institute of Standards (NIST) to identify, adopt, and, when necessary, develop a suite of information technology standards for use by public safety agencies. Funding in FY 2001 will be used to accelerate wireless standards activities so that they will be in sync with information technology activities.
Cybercrime: NIJ plans to develop a series of cybercrime quick reference guides for use in crime investigations and prosecutions. Other activities include plans to (1) develop a national Software Reference Library for use by computer forensic examiners; (2) perform verification of commercially available and government-generated computer forensic software tools; and (3) provide technology assistance to state and local law enforcement agencies in the Northeast United States. NIJ is building a National Electronic Crime Partnership Initiative (NECPI) with federal, state, and local agencies, programs, and task forces, and with private industry and academia. The focus of the NECPI is to provide conduits between these groups to promote sharing and prevent duplication in the area of cybercrime.
Communication Interoperability and Information Sharing: NIJ is funding various communications and information technology initiatives in the areas of adaptive surveillance, facial recognition, high-intensity drug tracking areas, inter-regional information sharing among law enforcement agencies, tracking/locating projects, voice recognition technologies, and the Southwest Border Anti-Drug Information System.
Crime Lab Improvement Program: NIJ is seeking to improve the capacity and capability of public labs. Forensic areas include DNA, trace evidence, impressions, toxicology, ballistics, and questioned documents. Objectives include (1) development of forensic testing capabilities in states with limited testing access (2) improving or expanding testing in state and local labs that already conduct testing (3) fostering compatibility and cooperation among labs concerning the implementation of national databases; and (4) helping state forensic labs meet national standards.
DNA Backlog Reduction: NIJ funding is aimed at reducing the backlog of DNA testing of convicted offenders. The program provides assistance to states that have a backlog of samples awaiting DNA analysis. The objectives are to achieve rapid analysis of unanalyzed samples, with results being uploaded into the National DNA Index System (NDIS) through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), and to analyze convicted offender samples in a more timely manner so that their profiles may be entered into state and national DNA databases. This will assist states in the investigation of crimes involving biological evidence.
DNA Research and Development: NIJ funding supports a program that harnesses the tremendous growth in the field of DNA technology by directing research toward the development of highly discriminating, reliable, economical, portable, and rapid DNA testing methods for suspect identification or exclusion in violent crime investigations. Projects implemented under this program will improve the speed, sensitivity, and reliability of current and new forensic DNA markers.
Non-DNA Forensics Research and Development: This program funds innovative research projects that have the potential to enhance or improve the use and reliability of the non-DNA forensic sciences in the criminal justice system. Grants are awarded through a competitive solicitation process that may focus on a specific area of forensic science, including pathology, trace evidence, toxicology, document examination, entomology, odontology, firearms, and fingerprint identification.
The Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), a component of the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), U.S. Department of Justice, supports innovative programs that strengthen the nation's criminal justice system by assisting state and local governments in combating violent crime and drug abuse. Established by the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended, BJA accomplishes its mission by providing funding, evaluation, training, technical assistance, and information support to state and community criminal justice programs, thus effectively forming partnerships with state and local jurisdictions.
The following are BJA Information Technology Initiatives:
NASCIO Architecture Project :
BJA is partnering with the National Association of State Chief Information Officers
(NASCIO) to conceptualize and implement appropriate architectures, frameworks,
and information sharing standards to facilitate and simplify the movement of
justice information across jurisdictional boundaries.
National Center for State Courts (NCSC): BJA has several initiatives aimed at supporting state courts through partnerships with the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) and some of their affiliated organizations such as the Conference of State Court Administrators (COSCA), the National Association of Court Management (NACM), and the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ). The NCSC has developed functional standards for civil case management systems and is working on the development of functional standards for adult criminal and juvenile case management systems and for domestic relations courts. They have plans to develop similar standards for traffic and probate courts.
American Probation and Parole Association (APPA): The American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) has submitted a concept paper proposing the development of functional standards for probation and parole similar to those currently being developed by the courts.
Corrections Technology Association: BJA is exploring the possibility of partnering with the Corrections Technology Association (CTA) to develop functional standards for the corrections community in cooperation with the Association of State Corrections Administrators (ASCA).
Global serves as a focal point for justice information activities in order to facilitate the coordination of technical, funding and legislative strategies at the state, local and federal levels. The Global Advisory Committee (GAC) is an advisory body to the Assistant Attorney General, OJP and the U.S. Attorney General, created to support broad-scale exchange of pertinent justice information. The GAC consists of key officials from local, state, tribal, federal and other justice-related entities.
The GAC has subcommittees that deal with privacy/information quality, security, infrastructure/standards, and outreach. These subcommittees meet throughout the year to address the issues relevant to their topic area and to address and overcome the barriers to justice information sharing across agencies, disciplines, and levels of government. The GAC strives to improve the effective sharing of justice information and to increase public safety by providing justice practitioners with information critical for effective and informed decision-making. Global's Infrastructure and Standards Working Group (ISWG) will make recommendations and support OJP's efforts to coordinate the distribution of standards developed by components of the justice system and provide a collaborative forum for resolution of variances. Additionally, BJA is collaborating with Global on a number of state and local information privacy guidelines.
Technology, Data, Policy, and Functional Standards: BJA and Global are working cooperatively with the NIJ AGILE program and the National Institute for Standards in Technology (NIST) on wireless and integrated technology standards. NIST works with industry to develop and apply technology, measurement and standards.
The primary objectives for establishing an XML Standards Initiative are to quickly facilitate increased sharing of information, provide a way to link existing legacy systems in a cost effective manner, provide guidance to developers of integrated justice information systems and establish the kind of ground floor standards needed by practitioners faced with the responsibility of implementing systems in the near-term future.
Global has been engaged in building a process for assessing and assimilating a variety of XML-based standards that are appropriate for use in the justice and public safety communities. Their recent recommendations to the Global Advisory Committee have resulted in actions aimed at establishing a Standards Registry that will be web enabled. It will facilitate the proper vetting of proposed standards among the various interested jurisdictions that are justice related.
A formal report has been produced through the collaboration of the following groups: the Joint Task Force for Rap Sheet Standardization, the Regional Information Sharing System (RISS) group, and the "Electronic Court Filing Proposed Standard" Legal XML group. This document contains processes, lessons learned, principles, procedures, guidelines and a resulting dictionary of 128 data elements.
The next steps in the Standards Initiative will be to institutionalize the recommended process, kick off the Standards Registry Program on the OJP IT Initiatives Web site, begin submitting candidate standards (starting with the 3 XML Reconciled Specifications), begin reaching out to identify new candidates for inclusion in the process and begin adding to the initial XML Data Dictionary.
In October 2001, OJP announced the public launch of its Information Technology Initiatives Web Site. This comprehensive resource is designed for justice practitioners and policy-makers at all government levels who are involved in varying degrees of the technical integration process. This site highlights many topics, such as: information sharing initiatives, the Global Justice Information Network, computer systems information exchange processes, policy and technology developments, procurement, model information sharing systems, information sharing "lessons learned" and promising practices.
The Web site also includes a self-populating event calendar and online news forum for users to submit upcoming events as well as local, state and federal news. Agencies, organizations and practitioners are encouraged to visit and provide input, ideas and content contributions concerning the site.
REI Development of Integrated Justice Information: BJA has selected REI Systems Inc. as the vendor to provide Internet access, server operation, and Web site design to the OJP IT Initiatives Web site. REI is continuing to update and further develop the preferred site option.
National Center for Rural Law Enforcement Development of Content for Integrated Justice Information: Through a grant award, the National Center for Rural Law Enforcement (NCRLE) will collect and coordinate the provision of content for the OJP Information Technology Initiatives Web site.
BJA Internet Project: Funding from the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) allows the NCRLE to provide free Internet access to rural law enforcement agencies throughout the country.
When the BJA Internet project began in 1996, 222 agencies signed up to take advantage of this service. Today, that number has grown significantly. The BJA Internet Project now provides free Internet service to more than 1,600 rural agencies across the country, maintains more than 3,600 electronic mail accounts, and hosts more than 100 law enforcement Web sites. In addition, the NCRLE provides a toll free number and highly trained technical support personnel to provide technical support to agencies that are on-line.
As data is shared across systems, two important concerns are protecting personal information from unauthorized individuals, and avoiding propagating incorrect and error-filled data. BJA and its partners have worked to develop a comprehensive draft document that covers a multitude of privacy and information quality issues. BJA recently formed a small workgroup to edit and revise this document as a basis for beginning a Global Privacy Working Group that will meet for the first time in November 2001.
The Privacy Initiative continues to follow an inclusive strategy that involves a wide band of support. For example, the University of New Orleans held a National Privacy and Ethics Conference in FY 2001 and is currently working on a project exploring privacy and ethics. Other significant partners include NCJA, BJS, SEARCH, and the Justice Management Institute.
National Governors Association Initiative: BJA awarded $16.4 million to 25 states to help them connect information networks that will allow police officers, court administrators, corrections officers, and other officials at the state, local, and federal levels to share relevant justice information. Grants to individual states, made available under a program authorized by the Crime Identification Technology Act of 1998 and administered by BJA range from $40,000 to $1 million. States had to submit project proposals that attributed directly to justice information sharing that could be attainable within two years. The National Governors Association, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers, and the National Center of State Courts reviewed the proposals and offered recommendations to BJA.
Center for Technology in Government Self-Assessment of Integration Capability: BJA is working with the Center for Technology in Government (CTG) to develop a project to measure and assess the degree of maturity of integration in justice information systems. CTG will provide a web-enabled capability that allows organizations to determine where they currently stand in integration and information sharing technology.
Information Exchange Points Study: BJA is partnering with SEARCH to identify and document key exchange points where justice information is transferred from one jurisdiction to another in the justice enterprise. A computerized model is being developed to illustrate this flow of information and to facilitate the development of appropriate standards for integration.
Indian Country Initiatives: BJA and the OJP American Indian and Alaska Native Affairs Office are partnering with the Office of Tribal Justice to facilitate the planning, design and implementation of integrated information systems by various Indian nations. In particular, BJA has supported an effort to share justice information among the Navajo, Hopi, and Zuni nations. BJA also supported the Navajo Nation's Summit on Integration in March 2001.
Court Information Technology Technical Assistance Program: The Court Information Systems Technical Assistance Project is funded by a cooperative agreement between BJA and SEARCH to provide no-cost IT technical assistance to state court systems in the development and operation of an automated court systems and integrated justice information systems from a court perspective. The project is guided by a National Task Force on Court Automation and Integration, a partnership among BJA, SEARCH, the Conference of State Court Administrators, (COSCA), the National Association for Court Management (NACM), and the National Center for State Courts (NCSC).
BJA also supports NCSC projects conducted in partnership with CCJ, COSCA and NACM including the development of functional standards for case management systems, the development of a data dictionary, and the development of a a web-crawler capability to facilitate gathering appropriate information from various state court administration Web sites.
SEARCH/BJA Integration Conferences: Each year SEARCH sponsors more than 75 national conferences, symposia, and workshops throughout the country. The 2001 conferences will present the latest developments concerning how justice agencies can share information on an interagency, interjurisdictional, or multijurisdictional basis while taking into account privacy, confidentiality, data ownership, security, governance structure and other challenging issues.
International Association of Chiefs of Police: BJA funded the development of an Integration planning Model and published a final report on the study titled, Toward Improved Criminal Justice Information Sharing: An Information Integration Planning Model. Phase two of this project offers technical assistance to justice agencies across the country currently addressing information integration issues. The technical assistance is based on the Information Integration Planning Model and is offered in the form of regional symposiums and/or jurisdiction specific assistance.
SEARCH Justice Information Systems Technical Assistance Program: SEARCH offers technical assistance to local and state justice agencies in the development, management, improvement, acquisition and integration of their automated information systems. SEARCH works with both individual justice agencies and multidisciplinary groups of justice agencies to assist them in planning for and integrating their information systems at local, regional, and state levels. SEARCH technical assistance programs have provided onsite and in-house technical assistance to justice agencies throughout the country.
Business Case Assistance: BJA has funded the development of guidance to state and local governments for the preparation of business case concepts to aid state and local governments in securing needed resources and leadership support for integration and information sharing. The Center for Technology in Government (CTG) developed a guideline document based on input gathered during a workshop combining the participation of elected and appointed executives with leaders from the criminal justice community. The document is available on the OJP IT Initiatives Web site.
Law Enforcement Intelligence: BJA is sponsoring the quarterly meeting of the Law Enforcement Intelligence Forum (LEIF) to recommend appropriate processes, standards and policies for improving the management of intelligence information by the law enforcement community. The Forum fosters discussions on methods of integration by researching and analyzing existing and proposed systems. LEIF comprises officials with an interest in law enforcement intelligence systems from state and local law enforcement agencies across the United States. Additionally, the Forum includes federal agency representation.
Justice Integration Earmarks: BJA will monitor initiatives established by Congress as earmarks for projects to implement integrated justice information systems. Examples of this type of project include initiatives in eastern Kentucky, southwestern Alabama, and Minnesota.
Grantee and Technical Assistance Provider Coordination: There have been two conferences in recent years concerning grantee and technical assistance (T.A) provider coordination. The most recent was held in April of 2001, in Madison, Wisconsin. The objectives of the conferences were as follows: to provide an opportunity for each grantee to brief other grantees concerning the initiative they have undertaken or are planning to undertake in response to OJP tasking and grant funding from OJP; to provide an opportunity for grantees to learn from other grantee organizations about OJP-funded criminal justice information integration and information sharing initiatives that are either underway or planned for the near future; to exchange views concerning ways to leverage the value to be attained from existing and planned initiatives; and to provide recommendations to OJP concerning ways to more adequately coordinate initiatives planned and funded by OJP. The objective for the T.A provider meeting was to determine additional coordination measures that may be needed in support of T.A providers.
Integrated Justice System Project Management: BJA is partnering with the Industry Working Group (IWG), Auburn University, and the Center for Society, Law and Justice at the University of New Orleans to develop a curriculum aimed at educating and certifying state and local officials in the field of Integrated Justice System Project Management.
University of New Orleans Courses: The Center for Society, Law and Justice, University of New Orleans, provides, under a cooperative agreement with BJA, specialized training and technical assistance related to criminal justice information systems. The Center offers training programs and conducts research, policy and conference services responding to needs defined by OJP. Recent activities include a national privacy and ethics conference, a study on the consequences of non-integrated information systems, and a survey of project management resources. Courses offered include: Managing Criminal Justice Technologies into the 21st Century, Deploying Power Users for the 21st Century, and Criminal Justice Information Technology Project Management.
NCJA/IWG Institute Decision-Maker Seminars on Emerging Technologies: Seminars on Emerging Technologies for Integrated Justice are designed specifically for persons responsible for the planning and purchase of justice technology. Seven seminars for the period August 2001 through May 2002 have been scheduled at various locations across the country. These seminars will be particularly important for state, local and tribal government officials and legislators who make decisions concerning the purchase and operation of justice technologies in their jurisdictions.
State Governance Models: BJA has been working with NCJA to survey the states to identify and document the characteristics of state-level governance models employed to oversee the development and implementation of integrated criminal justice systems. This study can be downloaded off the OJP IT Initiatives Web site.
Local Governance Models: BJA funded Public Technologies Inc. to examine local governance structures in a document titled, Strong Governance Structures for the Integration of Justice Information Systems. This publication will highlight and enhance the efforts of local jurisdictions engaged in promising justice information systems integration and to encourage similar efforts in other jurisdictions. It can be downloaded from the OJP IT Initiatives Web site.
Industry Working Group (IWG): BJA is working with the private sector through an Industry Working Group to elicit private sector viewpoints on various planned policy and implementation initiatives and to get recommendations for improvement of government approaches to procurement reform, technology refreshment, standards, and software development. Also, BJA is examining the feasibility of tasking a non-profit spin-off of the Working Group to provide technology assistance to various state and local government organizations that request help in managing the confusing aspects of information technology.
Transportation Systems: A Memorandum of Understanding has been signed by the U.S. Department of Transportation and DOJ regarding Joint Integrated Information Systems Projects. The objective of this understanding is to develop and exploit advanced technology and systems that will permit accomplishment of a nationwide sharing of information to enhance and improve the ability of transportation, public safety, and emergency personnel to respond to emergencies and natural disasters. This agreement establishes a working relationship for the development of national standards and prototypes to be used in the creation, integration, and application of technology programs.
National Governors Association (NGA): BJA is partnering with the National Governors Association to support an endeavor to more personally involve the governors of states in the integration development process and to provide incentives to states to compete for additional implementation grants based on competitive review of their plans by NGA and an advisory board established by NGA.
Council for State Government: BJA is exploring ways to support the efforts of the Council of State Governments to conduct an intergovernmental conference in 2002 with a focus on integration of justice information systems across the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of state government. Additional plans call for partnering to develop a series of tele-conferences for elected and appointed state executives on various aspects of integration and information sharing in state government.
National Conference of State Legislators: BJA is working in partnership with the National Conference of State Legislators to identify legislative initiatives affecting the justice community and to elevate the understanding of integration and information sharing issues in the minds of state legislators. NCSL also displays a compilation of legislation concerning integrated justice from around the country on its Web site.
Federal Web Consortium (Digital Government Consortium): OJP has entered into an interagency agreement with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to join the Federal Web Consortium. This agreement allows OJP to attend Federal Web Consortium symposiums, exchange ideas with other federal agencies about the future of technology, learn what research is being conducted that might affect our future plans, identify research needed to assist OJP in improving support to the criminal justice community, and partner with NSF and other research agencies to pursue projects that will be mutually beneficial. Federal Web Consortium membership allows OJP to become familiar with the research community and to inform and excite them about developing new technologies with criminal justice applications. OJP staff members have regularly attended local Web Consortium presentations on cutting edge technologies in areas such as Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and knowledge (data) management.
Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) Critical Infrastructure Awareness Campaign: OJP, through a Memorandum of Understanding between OJP, BJA, NIJ, OJJDP, and the DOJ Criminal Division's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section, has partnered with ITAA to develop an awareness campaign to educate youth to the seriousness and danger of computer hacking to both themselves and society at large.
Justice practitioners have voiced a need for an education and marketing tool for executives, legislators, the judiciary, and the public that explains the necessity and benefits of integrated justice. The field refers to this tool as the Business Case for Integration. OJP asked the Center for Technology in Government (CTG) of the State University of New York at Albany to work with elected officials and justice leaders to develop a guideline for assisting justice practitioners in designing business cases for their integration initiatives. CTG convened a Business Case Workshop and the subsequent document has been viewed as a powerful tool to reach government and elected officials to gain support for justice integration. The business case guideline examines strategies and guidelines that help practitioners garner funding and support by explaining how integration improves the fairness, efficiency, and economy of the justice system toward the ultimate goal of increased public safety. A copy of And Justice for All: Designing Your Business Case for Integrating Justice Information can be obtained on the web. It is also available on the OJP IT Initiatives Web site.
BJA has been working with NCJA to survey the states to identify and document the characteristics of state-level governance models employed to oversee the development and implementation of integrated criminal justice systems. This study can be downloaded off the OJP IT Initiatives Web site.
BJA funded Public Technologies Inc. to examine local governance structures in a document titled, Strong Governance Structures for the Integration of Justice Information Systems. It can be downloaded from the OJP IT Initiatives Web site.
OJP has combined the three documents, Privacy Design Principles for an Integrated Justice System; Privacy Impact Assessment for Justice Information Systems; and Public Access to Criminal Justice Electronic Records, into one comprehensive document. Click for privacy information
OJP is developing a strategy to improve procurement processes for information technology initiatives, including RFPs. The field has recommended that OJP work with legislatures and the private sector to rethink the procurement process. Currently, the IWG is developing a white paper, working with NCSC to develop a model RFP, and creating a PowerPoint education tool highlighting the steps to developing useful RFPs and successful strategies used in current RFPs. These resources are designed to illustrate how state and local governments can overcome outdated procurement processes and design and implement procurement for integrated and interoperable justice systems. This information is available on the IWG Web site.
In 1998, BJA awarded NASCIO a grant to conduct a State Information System Architecture Survey. The NASCIO architecture survey gained national attention in 1999, resulting in a vision and plans to develop an architecture template to be adopted by the states. NASCIO continues work to implement the architectural template (planning guideline) at the state and local level.
Awarded through a competitive application process, the COPS MORE (Making Officer Redeployment Effective) program provides funding to state and local law enforcement for Information Technology that results in sworn officer time saving or redeployment into community policing. In FY 2001, the COPS Office will have $81 million in discretionary funding to apply towards the fourth year of the COPS MORE Technology Initiative. Common technology applications funded under the program include mobile computing, computer aided dispatch and records management systems, and associated hardware, software and networking infrastructure. Since 1994, close to $1 billion has been awarded to nearly 3,500 state and local law enforcement agencies for technology through this program and through other COPS technology efforts including the Tribal Resources Grant Program and the Advancing Community Policing programs.
Given the limited funding available in FY 2001 for COPS MORE, award amounts have been capped at $1 million for agencies serving populations over 150,000, $500,000 for agencies serving populations between 50,000 and 150,000, and $250,000 for agencies serving populations less than 50,000.
COPS Training and Technical Assistance: Since 1994, COPS has invested over $700 million in information technology resources for state and local law enforcement via the COPS MORE discretionary program. Recognizing the challenges to acquiring and implementing Information Technology, the COPS Office took specific steps in FY 1999 and 2000 to assist its 3,500 technology grantees with direct technical assistance. This assistance has come in the form of onsite assistance for agencies with serious challenges, redeployment workshops, information technology conferences, and distance learning materials to overcome information technology impediments and ultimately achieve and document their required efficiency gains.
To date, more than 1,100 grantee representatives have either attended a technical assistance meeting or received direct onsite/phone assistance from COPS and its technical assistance providers. In FY 2000, technical assistance training sessions were held in Boston, Chicago, Austin, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. The course objectives were to help new grantees overcome challenges to successful technology development and implementation, and to engage all attendees in the process of strategic information technology planning to support management, user, and community priorities. Additionally, the redeployment workshops completed this training by providing guidance on how to track and monitor the efficiency gains generated from the information technology investments.
In FY 2001, a greater emphasis has been placed on grantees who were funded for more complex and sophisticated information systems. The largest 100 grantees have been selected to attend workshops in 5 locations around the country. The session objectives are similar to those of FY 2000 but will also focus on regional and large-scale information systems and data integration and on realizing the efficiency gains from the deployment of technology that agencies are required to monitor and report to the COPS office.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides grants to states and units of local government to help them improve their juvenile justice systems. OJJDP also sponsors innovative research, demonstration, evaluation, statistics, replication, technical assistance, and training programs to help improve national understanding of delinquency prevention and response to juvenile and delinquency.
The following are OJJDP Information Technology Initiatives:
Planning for the Technologically Advanced Juvenile Justice System: Information Technology Strategies for Juvenile Justice: Development Services Group (DSG), the grantee competitively selected to provide training and technical assistance to support the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants (JAIBG) program, conducts training for State and local governments who are recipients of JAIBG funds. The Information Technology training directly relates to purpose area ten, which is one of the twelve purpose areas outlined in Title III of H.R. 3, the Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants Act of 1997. The goal of the training is to provide the participants with the skills and knowledge necessary to begin the process of understanding and planning an integrated system, including the sharing of information in their juvenile justice communities. This is an annual training event, and is but one step in the overall strategy to assist JAIBG subgrantees in developing and implementing their technology plans.
Information Systems to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency Training and Technical Assistance: The purpose of this program is to increase the capacity of State and local collaboratives to establish and manage effective multidisciplinary, multiagency information sharing systems that improve the decision making and coordination of services to at risk children and juveniles in the juvenile justice system. The program aims to strengthen systemic responses to the problems of at risk and delinquent youths through training and technical assistance to juvenile justice, education, health, child welfare, and other youth serving systems or organizations within the context of integrated information architectures being developed in the justice, education, and health and human services communities. OJJDP and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, through an interagency agreement, awarded $500,000 in FY 2000 to begin this program. OJJDP will provide additional funding in FY 2001 to enhance the program.
Team Youth Court (YC): This new Web site supports a national Management Information System (MIS) and was funded through awards from BJA and OJJDP to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. Currently, it is funded through OJJDP/JAIBG grant funds allocated to New York State. It supports Youth Courts in the U.S and operates in conjunction with OJJDP’s National Youth Court Initiative. NYS allows other states to use this MIS and is downloadable off the internet by going to the Team YC Web site (available in multiple languages). Currently, 104 of the 800 Youth Courts are using this Web site.
Safe Start: The purpose of the Safe Start Demonstration Initiative is to prevent and reduce the impact of violence for young children and their families by developing a comprehensive service delivery system. This comprehensive service delivery system should improve accessibility, delivery, and quality of services for young children at high risk of exposure to violence or who have already been exposed to violence, along with their families and caregivers, at any point of entry into the system. The selected demonstration sites have developed long-range strategic plans and initiated the implementation of service and program enhancements as well as systemic changes including policy, fiscal, administrative, legislative, and technological improvements. Sites are enhancing service coordination and integration through increased information sharing, management information systems, and information technology capacities. For Safe Start, OJJDP has awarded approximately $20 million including demonstration funding, training and technical assistance and evaluation grants.
Safe Kids/Safe Streets: Streets: Community Approaches to Reducing Abuse and Neglect and Preventing Delinquency (SKSS): OJJDP has supported this 5 ½ year program since 1997 in partnership with the Executive Office for Weed and Seed and the Violence Against Women Office, and with support from BJA, OVC, and BJS. SKSS is designed to break the cycle of early childhood victimization and later juvenile or adult criminality, and to reduce child and adolescent abuse and neglect and resulting child fatalities. It strives to do this by providing fiscal and technical support for local efforts to restructure and strengthen the criminal and juvenile justice systems to be more comprehensive and proactive in helping children and adolescents and their families. The program also seeks to implement or strengthen coordinated management of abuse and neglect cases by improving policy and practice of the criminal and juvenile justice systems and the child welfare, family services, and related systems. These require communities to develop, implement, and/or expand cross-agency and information-sharing strategies and technologies and to partner with natural network stakeholders. OJP has provided more than $11 million to date in award support to the five demonstration sites, national evaluation project, and training and technical assistance support associated with this project.
National Statistics on Juvenile Offenders and Victims: OJJDP's Research Division monitors trends regarding juvenile victims and offenders, including self-reported offending and official statistics on juvenile offenses, juvenile arrests, juvenile offenders, and juvenile victims. Working with other branches of DOJ (e.g., BJS, FBI) and other government agencies (e.g., Bureau of the Census, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Labor Statistics), the Research Division gathers information that offers the most complete look at the nature and extent of juvenile delinquency and victimization in the United States. The Research Division also produces Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A National Report, which distills the most frequently requested information about juvenile crime and victimization into a user-friendly format. This report is available by calling (800) 638-8736.
To help gather and manage this information, the Research Division supports the following:
The National Juvenile Courts Data Archive: The archive collects, stores, and analyzes data about youth referred to U.S. courts for delinquency and status offenses. OJJDP fact sheets and bulletins about these data inform the field on a regular basis of trends and their implications for the juvenile justice system.
Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement: Conducted for the first time in fall 1997, the Census of Juveniles in Residential Placement (CJRP) collects detailed information on youth in juvenile residential placement facilities as a result of contact with the juvenile justice system. Examples of the type of information CJRP collects include characteristics of juveniles in the facilities (date of birth, race, sex, and most serious offense), court of jurisdiction (juvenile or criminal court), adjudicatory status (pre-adjudication or post-adjudication), and the state or county that has jurisdiction over the juvenile. OJJDP and the Bureau of the Census developed CJRP to more accurately represent the number of juveniles in placement and to describe the reasons for their placement. The new census is expected to result in more accurate, timely, and useful data on the juvenile population, with less reporting burden for facility respondents.
Survey of Youth in Residential Placement: This survey will examine the characteristics of juveniles placed out of the home because of contact with the justice system, including their demographic makeup and offense history. It will also examine risk and protective factors encountered by these individuals and their experiences in custody. OJJDP anticipates a 2-year development phase with the first full implementation of the survey in 2001. This will be the first time that researchers will collect individual-level data directly from a national sample of juveniles in placement.
Juvenile Residential Facility Census: OJJDP has created a census of juvenile facilities that will provide important information on how these facilities function. The census covers security arrangements, health services, mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment, education opportunities and resources, and facility capacity. The Bureau of the Census initiated a feasibility test of this project in October 1998. The first full implementation took place in October 2000 and the results will be available in fall 2001.
Juvenile Probation Survey: OJJDP is developing a survey of juvenile probation that will complement the various censuses that deal with juvenile custody. Juvenile probation has rightly been described as the workhorse of the juvenile justice system. However, few data exist on the use of this sanction, and no data exist on the number of juveniles under probation at any one time. This new survey will fill that gap. OJJDP has entered into an agreement with the Bureau of the Census to develop the survey, which will be field-tested in 2001 and fielded in 2003.
Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force Program: As of November 3, 2000, 30 task forces, composed of more than 125 law enforcement agencies, had participated in the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC Task Force) Program. These regional task forces provide forensic, prevention, and investigative assistance to parents, educators, prosecutors, law enforcement, and other professionals working on child victimization issues.
OJJDP administers the program with the ICAC Task Force Review Board and has established operational and investigative standards to facilitate interagency case referrals. Composed of law enforcement managers and prosecutors from participating agencies, the Board reviews undercover operation proposals and formulates policy recommendations. The standards foster information sharing to avoid redundant or disruption of ongoing investigations, ensure the probative quality of undercover operations, and facilitate interagency case referrals through the standardization of investigative practices.
Congress directed OJJDP in the FY 1998 Justice Appropriations Act, Public Law 105B119, to stimulate creation of a state and local law enforcement cyber-units to investigate child sexual exploitation. Congress continued the ICAC Task Force Program through the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 1999, Public Law 105B277, and Fiscal Year 2000 Consolidated Appropriations Act, Public Law 106B113. The FY 2001 Conference Report provides $6.5 million to continue the ICAC Task Force Program. This brings the total program funding to $13 million in three years.
Community Assessment Centers: OJJDP's Community Assessment Center (CAC) initiative is designed to help facilitate earlier and more efficient prevention and intervention service delivery at the front end of the juvenile justice system. During FY 2000, Human Service Associates, Inc. (HSA) in Orlando, Florida, and the Denver Juvenile Court in Denver, Colorado, worked to develop a fully operational CAC. Grantees are implementing a centralized point of intake and assessment for juveniles who have come or are likely to come into contact with the juvenile justice system. Grantees are also conducting immediate and comprehensive needs assessments on youth at the front end of the juvenile justice system; implementing a management information system (MIS) to manage and monitor youth served; and providing integrated case management for youth including making service recommendations, facilitating access to services, conducting follow-up and periodically reassessing youth. To effectively monitor a youths’ progress through multiple treatment programs, possibly in different systems, CAC needs an infrastructure that supports integrated case management. The CAC concept advocates developing a comprehensive and integrated data system for multiple agencies and service providers to use to accomplish this task. Ultimately, an integrated MIS would serve as the cornerstone of the single point of entry and assessment process.
For CACs, OJJDP has awarded approximately $3.2 million over four years, including $250,000 in training and technical assistance.
SafeFutures: OJJDP has supported the SafeFutures (SF) Partnerships to Reduce Youth Violence and Delinquency programs since 1995. The program emphasizes the importance of providing a continuum of care at all developmental stages for youth who are or at risk of being delinquent. Since 1995, OJJDP has awarded annual grants of up to $1.4 million each year to Boston, Massachusetts; Contra Costa County, California; Fort Belknap Indian Community, Montana; Imperial County, California; St. Louis, Missouri; and Seattle, Washington. The sites have been developing comprehensive plans that provide appropriate prevention, intervention and treatment services and graduated sanctions for at-risk and delinquent youth. During FY 2000, the sites focused on refining this continuum of care approach through better integration and coordination of services, including work toward implementing management information systems to better share information across systems. Specific attention has also been given to systems change and program sustainment. For the SF Program, OJJDP awards, including training and technical assistance, total approximately $42.3 million.
Systems Improvement Training and Technical Assistance Project: The primary goal of the Systems Improvement Training and Technical Assistance Project (SITTAP) is to help the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, and the communities they serve, to develop, expand, and enhance their skills and capacity to make systemic changes leading to an integrated system of care for at-risk and delinquent youth and their families. In FY 1998, the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) received funding from OJJDP to implement SITTAP. SITTAP seeks to: (1) strengthen and sustain the capacity of selected sites (six SF and five Safe Kids/Safe Streets sites) so that they are far more able to achieve and sustain their systems reform goals; and (2) use the SF and Safe Kids/Safe Streets (SKSS) experiences to educate and inform other communities and the field about how they can more effectively pursue community-based systems reform. Through SITTAP, IEL is building a talented learning community of training and technical assistance providers with diverse backgrounds, knowledge and expertise in systems change. Work to improve communities’ sharing of information and information technology capacity is critical to SITTAP's ongoing systems reform work. For SITTAP, OJJDP has made awards totaling approximately $1.1 million.
OJJDP Formula and Block Grants Programs: The State and Tribal Assistance Division of OJJDP provides grant funding to states for a variety of juvenile crime prevention strategies. As part of this effort, many states and units of local government choose to use grant funds to establish and maintain interagency, information-sharing databases. The information technology enables the juvenile and criminal justice systems, schools, and social service agencies to make more informed decisions regarding early identification, control, supervision, and treatment of juveniles who repeatedly commit serious delinquent or criminal acts.
Through training and technical assistance providers, the State and Tribal Assistance Division has provided assistance to communities on how they can share information on juveniles while still protecting the confidentiality requirements of local, state and federal laws. As a result of the technical assistance, many communities have adopted policies that have increased the coordination and effectiveness of services for juvenile offenders.
Tools and Strategies for Protecting Kids on the Internet: Public Law 105B314 (Protection of Children from Sexual Predators Act of 1998), Title IX, Section 901, mandated that "not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall request that the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), acting through its National Research Council, enter into a contract to conduct a study of computer-based technologies and other approaches to the problem of the availability of pornographic material to children on the Internet, in order to develop possible amendments to Federal criminal law and other law enforcement techniques to respond to the problem.
In response to this congressional mandate, the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board and the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the National Research Council (NRC) developed a proposal to convene a committee of experts to explore the pros and cons of different technology options and operational policies needed to support the use of those options. At the request of OJJDP and the Department of Education, the study's scope was broadened beyond the original mandate to address a range of issues and topics pertaining to children's use of the Internet. OJJDP and the Department of Education awarded NAS $500,000 to complete the study.
The subject of controlling children’s access to inappropriate materials on the Internet is highly charged politically and emotionally in the national debate. As a general rule, any approach to this problem is cast in simplistic terms of "protecting children from exposure to harmful material" vs. "protecting free speech and open access to information." The final report for this project will include: (1) an objective description of the costs and benefits of various tools and strategies that can be used to promote children's safe and appropriate use of the Internet; (2) an explication of how "packages" of different tools and strategies that can be used together to promote different social goals; and (3) case studies of how different communities have approached the promotion of safe and appropriate children's use of the Internet. Providing a better understanding of different tools and strategies can promote a more reasoned consideration of various public policy options. The study is expected to provide a foundation for a more coherent and objective national debate on the subject, but it will avoid making specific policy recommendations that embed particular social values in this area.
Risk-Focused Policing at Places: An Experimental Evaluation of the Communities That Care Program in Redlands, California: The Police Foundation is conducting a randomized experimental evaluation of the Redlands California Communities That Care (CTC) program, which uses a problem-oriented, crime-mapping policing approach. The CTC program in Redlands uses mapping to identify census block groups where the risk of juvenile delinquency is high. The Redlands Police Department then employs a problem-oriented approach to develop and implement strategies to reduce risk factors in these areas while simultaneously reinforcing protective factors. The program is aided by crime and data mapping tools that allow the police department to draw from multiple databases in defining areas for intervention and developing innovative solutions.
The Police Foundation is working closely with the Redlands Police Department to randomly assign block groups to either the control group or experimental group. The control block groups will continue to receive the same services and the experimental groups will get enhanced services and treatment. The use of the CTC student survey will be used to determine risk in sites as well as monitor changes over the course of one year. The Redlands, California, Police Department and School District have agreed to cooperate fully with the Police Foundation in conducting this evaluation. OJJDP provided $30,000,000 in funding.
OJJDP, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, have embarked on a program to increase the capacity of State and local collaborative's to establish and manage effective multidisciplinary, multiagenecy information sharing systems that improve the decision-making and coordination of services to children at risk and juveniles in the juvenile justice system. The project, Integrated Information Sharing to Prevent Juvenile Delinquency: A Training and Technical Assistance Approach aims to strengthen systemic responses to the problems of at risk and delinquent youths through training and technical assistance to juvenile justice, education, health, child welfare, and other youth serving systems or organizations. The goals of this first national effort of juvenile justice integrated information sharing are to:
To support these goals, the Center for Network Development will conduct 12-two day results oriented trainings for multi-agency collaborations that are in the initial phases of planning an IIS or are working to improve their implementation and system development. These instructional sessions will provide interactive discussions with hand-on practitioners experienced in the areas of collaboration, confidentiality and technology.
The first training is scheduled for December 3-6, 2001 in Phoenix, AZ. Registration details are available by contacting the Center for Network Development at (303) 893-6848.
The Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) administers victim compensation and assistance grant programs created by the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 (VOCA). OVC also provides funding, training, and technical assistance to victim service organizations, criminal justice agencies, and other professionals to improve the nation's response to crime victims. OVC's programs are funded through the Crime Victims Fund, which is derived from fines and penalties collected from federal offenders.
The following are OVC Information Technology Initiatives:
Pan Am 103-Lockerbie Family Web site: OVC awarded a grant to Syracuse University College of Law to design, implement, and maintain a Web site to provide families of the victims of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 with information and analysis about the criminal trial which was held in a Scottish Court in the Netherlands from May 3, 2000 - January 31, 2001. During the initial project period, Syracuse Law School reviewed trial background and Scottish criminal law and procedure, addressed particular issues relating to the trial, established procedures for daily and weekly trial summaries, wrote analyses and responded regularly to family feedback questions. The Web site continues in operation as one defendant convicted at the Lockerbie trial has appealed. The length of the appeal is uncertain at this time. The Web site will allow OVC and the Scottish Court to keep victim families informed throughout the appeal.
Terrorism Victim Assistance Web Site: In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, OVC awarded a contract to the Brook Group for the design and maintenance of a terrorism victim assistance Web site. On Monday, September 17, OVC activated this special Web site for victims and families of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Web site was modeled upon the Lockerbie Trial-Families Project Web site created by OVC for the Pan Am 103 families. A basic Web site is now open to the public but once a significant percentage of victims have been officially identified, the Web site will be available to these victims and families on a password-only basis. The Web site is expanding rapidly to include a wide range of information for victims, including official messages from the FBI, OVC and other components of DOJ. The Web site is intended to serve as a practical, timely and cost-effective way to keep the extraordinarily large number of domestic and international victims and their family members informed.
This project centers on victims of the September 11, 2001, terrorist incidents in New York City, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon. This site will also serve as the template for similar future sites, and will incorporate a hub page that will ultimately serve as the home page for all such sites.
American Medical Women's Associations: OVC awarded a grant to the American Medial Women's Association (AMWA) to educate physicians and other health care professionals throughout the nation about comprehensive and effective approaches to recognizing and treating victims of domestic violence. This, in turn, may improve the health outcomes of women at risk for and victimized by domestic violence. To accomplish this objective, the AMWA will adapt the educational curriculum developed by the Family Violence Prevention Fund in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Improving Health Care Response to Domestic Violence: A Resource Manual for Health Care Providers, into a web-based format. The web-based curriculum will be promoted through AMWA publications, leadership mailings, member and nonmember listservs, and a special mailing to solicit interest in website linkages from related medical, specialty, and women's health organizations.
Sexual Assault Resource Service: OVC has awarded grant funding for the past three years to the Sexual Assault Resource Service of Minneapolis to develop and administer a website (www.sane-sart.com) for Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) and other members of Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs). This site provides up-to-date information and direct technical assistance to SANEs and SARTs across the nation to improve their response to victims of sexual assault, and to enhance their efforts to investigate and prosecute these crimes. The site serves as a central registry for SANE programs throughout the country, with 443 programs signed up as of May 2001. These SANE programs provide aggregate program data via secure access, which, in turn, is used to develop and refine information and technical assistance that is provided to them. Currently, the grantee is assembling a panel of national experts who can respond to queries from the field, covering a broad range of victim, investigative, and prosecutorial issues.
Denver Victim Services 2000: OVC made funding available to the Denver Victim Services 2000 site to use technology to improve agency and community response to crime victims. The Denver initiative focuses on the development of an information system that uses both simple and complex innovations to enhance services, increase efficiency, and improve the way victim service providers do their job. The system enables electronic mail communication over the Internet, allowing victim service providers to easily share agency information about training and other activities. It also provides a continually updated, comprehensive online resource directory for easy use by service providers and the general public; facilitates coordinated case management, ensuring integrated services for victims across multiple agencies and eliminating duplication and re-victimizing intake processes; and eases discussion of communication, efficiency, and access to information throughout the country by victim services providers and crime victims.
Wiconi Wawakiya Telemedicine Project: OVC provided funding to the Wiconi Wawakiya, Inc. organization to support state-of-the-art medical evaluations for maltreated children on the Crow Creek reservation and surrounding reservations, in South Dakota. The goal of the project is to encourage collaboration and reduce the need for multiple interviews or examinations of child abuse victims. Through this project, medical professionals are able to provide online consultation to the medical practitioner while the child is being examined and throughout the case. The project also supports a multidisciplinary approach for the investigation and prosecution of child abuse to include federal and tribal law enforcement, state and Bureau of Indian Affairs social services, and mental health services from Indian Health Services.
Automated Systems for VOCA Crime Victim Compensation and Victim Assistance Programs: OVC has authorized state crime victim compensation and victim assistance grantees to use federal formula grant funds to develop automated systems to facilitate the delivery of services and assistance to crime victims. Crime victim compensation programs continue to update and develop new automated claims processing systems, create web pages and provide for online submission of applications. State victim assistance programs use federal funds to develop and maintain automated grants management systems, information and referral systems, web pages, provider case tracking systems, victim notification systems, and technology supported interagency communications among service providers.
Crime Victim Services Planning With Geographic Information Systems (GIS): OVC is working with the National Institute of Justice Crime Mapping Research Center to develop use of GIS for victim services planning. This work builds on use of GIS for crime mapping but expands beyond criminal justice usage to include human services and other factors required for effective planning for delivery of crime victim services. A bulletin titled, "Using Geographic Information Systems to Map Crime Victim Services - A Guide for State Victims of Crime Act Administrators and Victim Services Providers," is due for publication in November of 2001.
Training Materials Adaptation to Web-based Format: Through its Training and Technical Assistance Center, OVC tasked a consultant to develop an electronic handbook/guide in laymen's terms. The handbook will provide technical assistance to OVC grantees in creating informational and training material, especially in Web-ready formats for OVC's website. In addition, OVC has asked the consultant to adapt existing victims and the media curricula/training material into succinct, online training sessions.
American Association of University Affiliated Programs (AAUAP): With grant funding provided by OVC, AAUAP has developed an online searchable database of descriptions and contact information for training resources that focus on victims of crime with disabilities, including book listings, training manuals, videos, and training programs. The database, which is expected to be available during the summer of 2001, is for the use of service providers, educators, victim assistance professionals, criminal justice personnel, researchers, and persons with disabilities. Information contained in the online resource guide can be accessed by organization name, product title, product type, target group, and by keyword entry for convenience in searching. Organizations and individuals will be able to enter and edit information about available resources.
OVC Training and Technical Assistance Consultant Database: OVC developed and maintains on its website an automated consultant database whose members have relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities with respect to the criminal justice system and are experienced and skilled in planning, program development, service delivery, and assessment. This consultant database is organized by subject area, such as domestic violence, child abuse, DUI/DWI, program management and development, Native American issues, victim-offender mediation, workplace violence, restitution, compensation, and victim services. The database is continually updated to include new consultants with a wide range of expertise, experience, diversity, and geographic representation.
Automated Federal Victim Information and Notification System: OVC provided funding to support the development of an automated victim information and notification system for the federal criminal justice system. OVC has transferred funding to the Executive Office for United States Attorneys to take the lead in this project with the assistance of a working group composed of representatives from the FBI, OVC, and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP). The automation group hired an outside consulting agency, Price Waterhouse Coopers, to develop a detailed Requirements Analysis that: (1) determines each component's requirements for an automated system; (2) reviews current available systems that may be expanded to meet the specific needs of this initiative; (3) conducts an independent estimate to determine system cost; and (4) establishes timelines associated with accomplishing required tasks. The analysis was completed in January 1999; pilot-testing began May, 1001 in the Middle District of Florida, and full, national implementation begun October 2, 1001. The expected outcome of the system is to establish an automated victim's information database and a means to provide timely notification of mandated events in the federal criminal justice system among the FBI, U.S. Attorney's offices, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. This system will be easily adapted to other investigative agencies at a later date.
Victims of Crime Act Listservs: OVC has three very successful listservs. The first is for State VOCA Administrators and provides information on funding, publications, other information relevant to programs, and instructions on changes in grants making. Administrators respond regularly with questions specific to their programs and provide information to OVC on promising practices in their states. A Subgrantee Listerv has been recently implemented and now has approximately 1,000 members. This listserv provides state subgrantees with information on publications, funding, job openings, and other information of interest to local programs. The most recent listsevr created is Terrorism9112000 for VOCA administrators in states most impacted by the terrorism events of September 11, 2001. This listserv allows for more effective coordination among states and release of updated information quickly when time is of the essence.
Volunteer Bank: OVC has developed an automated volunteer bank of individuals and groups offering to serve victims of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Information from the Bank will be provided to organizations on request.
VAWO, through its discretionary and formula grant programs, is funding information technology projects for several states, tribes, and local communities to enhance offender accountability and victim safety and to ensure coordinated community responses to domestic violence. Projects include the development of multiagency case tracking systems that allow the secure sharing of information on domestic violence cases among the courts, law enforcement, prosecution, probation and parole, and other components of the criminal justice system. Other projects focus on enhancing evidence collection including digital images, increasing on-scene law enforcement access to domestic violence case data, developing and linking protection order registries, and enhancing existing criminal justice data systems to accommodate domestic violence case data.
The Violence Against Women Act of 2000 adds as a purpose of the Grants to Encourage Arrest and Enforcement of Protection Orders across state and tribal jurisdictions through the provision of technical assistance, computers, and other equipment to criminal justice agencies. Future VAWO funding for information technology initiatives may support development and enhancement of protection order registries and the replication of effective technologies developed under previous grants. For example, the State of New York, in partnership with the Center for Court Innovation, has developed a model Internet-based case tracking system to improve the efficiency of domestic violence case processing and tracking in felony and misdemeanor domestic violence courts. The system links the courts with law enforcement, prosecutors, batterer intervention programs, probation, and governmental victim advocacy service providers. Innovations in this system include the use of electronic orders of protection, signed digitally by judges and uploaded automatically to the state domestic violence registry; links between multiple agencies and the court which allow for secure and timely updates on offender compliance with treatment and probation terms; and the ability to add new multidisciplinary partners to the secure Internet-based system at minimal cost.
The Information Technology Initiative (ITI) will be an instrument designed to connect the needs of local, state, regional, tribal, and international agencies with the resources of BJA, and those of agencies throughout the Office of Justice Programs, to facilitate the effective use of information technology across all components of the justice community.
ITI will serve those seeking knowledge pertaining to the application of justice information systems and technology; it will strive to foster appropriate interagency and interjurisdictional exchange of information, support the formulation of appropriate standards, facilitate the emergence of cooperative strategies for planning and development, and promote a consensus model of national partnerships.
ITI will serve the interests and needs of all components of the state, regional, local, tribal and transnational justice enterprise by supporting the promotion, planning, funding, and implementation of integrated information technology systems, thereby improving the quality of justice, the safety of law enforcement personnel, and the well-being of citizens.
ITI will focus on facilitating the exchange of appropriate information among a diverse group of public and private stakeholders, members of academia, and all branches of government.
ITI will promote an environment that supports endeavors in which consensus regarding models, approaches, and standards can be reached.
ITI will encourage coordination and assistance between OJP Bureaus and Offices, and affiliated partners, to support the collection, organization and analysis of information from members of the justice community, provide access to these resources, and offer a forum for open dialogue between interested parties.
ITI will advocate the use of an approach that recognizes the value of creative partnerships, multiagency planning, and collaborative decision making to achieve innovative problem-solving and information sharing.
Web Site - URL
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs
National Criminal History Improvement Program (NCHIP) - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/nchip.htm
Privacy and Technology - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/sschis99.htm
Criminal Records Survey - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/sschis99.htm
Firearm Inquiry Statistics Program - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/bcft00.htm
Summary of State Sex Offender Registries - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/sssordp.htm
NIBRS Implementation Program - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/nibrs.htm
Information on CITA funding - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/cita
Crime Victimization Survey (CVS) Software can be accessed and ordered free of charge - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cvs.htm
Survey of DNA Crime Laboratories - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/sdnacl98.htm
BJS Web Site Database and On-line Analysis Capabilities - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/dtd.htm
National Institute of Justice (NIJ) - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/
National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) - http://www.ncjrs.org/
Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/BJA/
NASCIO Architecture Project - http://www.nasire.org/
National Center for State Courts (NCSC) - http://www.ncsconline.org/
American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) - http://www.appa-net.org/
Global Justice Information Network (Global) - http://it.ojp.gov/global/
National Institute for Standards in Technology (NIST) - http://www.nist.gov/
Standards - XML: The Justice Information Sharing Bridge? - http://www.it.ojp.gov/global/standards/xml.html
Electronic Court Filing Proposed Standard - http://www.legalxml.org/
Information Technology Initiatives Web Site - http://www.it.ojp.gov/
Institute for Intergovernmental Research (IIR) - http://www.iir.com/
National Center for Rural Law Enforcement Development of Content for Integrated Justice Information - http://www.ncrle.net/
Center for Technology in Government Self-Assessment of Integration Capability - http://www.ctg.albany.edu/
SEARCH - http://www.search.org/
Information Integration Planning Model - http://www.theiacp.org/pubinfo/research/statewide
Law Enforcement Intelligence - http://www.iir.com/
NCJA/IWG Institute Decision-Maker Seminars on Emerging Technologies - http://www.ncja.org/
National Conference of State Legislators - http://www.ncsl.org/login.htm?returnpage=http://www.ncsl.org/
And Justice for All: Designing Your Business Case for Integrating Justice Information - http://www.ctg.albany.edu/
Privacy Information - http://www.it.ojp.gov/services/privacy.html
Industry Working Group (IWG) - http://www.ijis.org/
Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) - http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) - http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/
Team Youth Court (YC) - http://www.teamyc.com/
Juvenile Offenders and Victims: A National Report - http://ojjdp.ncjrs.org/
Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ovc/
Violence Against Women Office (VAWO) - http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/vawo/
Business Case Assistance Documentation - http://it.ojp.gov/why/bus_case.html
International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) - http://www.theiacp.org/
AFIS (Automated Fingerprint Identification System) - A database of digitized offender fingerprint files. A user can enter a fingerprint and a computer will generate a list of possible matches within minutes. The matches are then examined and verified by a fingerprint expert.
ANSI - American National Standards Institute. See Standards Organizations.
AVL (Automatic Vehicle Locator) - Uses Global Positioning System technology to locate the position of patrol cars on a digital map. This information assists the dispatcher in knowing which calls should be assigned to which officers.
Agency - A governmental unit; in the narrowest sense, a governmental unit of the executive branch.
Architecture - Those characteristics of a network, operating system and/or application program which facilitate information interchange. May refer to either hardware or software or a combination of both.
Asynchronous Communication - A communication pattern in which the two (or more) parties involved are not communicating at the same time. Telephone conversations are an example of synchronous communication: both parties must be on the telephone at the same time. An email message is an example of asynchronous communication: one party can send a message and the other can read it hours or days later.
Authentication - Any of the methods used to assure that the alleged source of the received data is the actual source, and that the message received is the same as the one sent in every respect.
Bios (Basic Input/Output System) - Controls the startup of the machines or computers and other functions such as the keyboard, display, and disk drive. The BIOS is stored on read only memory and is not erased when the computer is turned off. The BIOS on newer machines is stored on flash read-only memory, allowing it to be erased and rewritten to update the BIOS.
Broadband - A general term for high-volume, multiple-channel telecommunications capacity available via a single medium (e.g., a wire or cable). While narrowband (the equivalent of one telephone voice channel) is adequate for the transmission of text and numerical data, broadband connections allow the efficient and reliable delivery of voice, data, and video over one integrated network. Because multimedia content is seen as vital to businesses and consumers alike, electronic networks are increasingly moving to broadband, which in turn will have important long-term implications for commercial development and civic life.
CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) - A computer system which assists 911 call takers and dispatch personnel in handling and prioritizing calls. Enhanced 911 will send the location of the call to the CAD system, which will automatically display the address of the 911 callers on a screen in front of the call taker. Complaint information is then entered into the computer and is easily retrievable. The system may be linked to MDT’s in patrol cars allowing a dispatcher and officers to communicate without using voice. The system may also be interfaced with NCIC, AVL, or a number of other programs.
CDPD (Cellular Digit Packet Data) - A data transmission technology which uses unused cellular phone channels to transmit data in packets.
CIO (Chief Information Officer) - The CIO is the highest-level person responsible for policy concerning information systems and telecommunications systems.
CJIS-WAN (Criminal Justice Information Services Wide Area Network) - A nationwide state-to-federal network operated by the FBI to serve fingerprint-based information exchange.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) - Used to format structured data for display or printing.
CTO (Chief Terminal Officer) - In each state, the single person responsible for intrastate connections with the information systems and networks provided by FBI.
Client/Server Architecture - A network model in which a computer or process (server) provides services to the workstations (clients) connected to that computer (server). This architecture allows the client to share resources such as files, printers, and processing power with other clients.
Collective Data - Distinguished from transaction data. A collective data object contains data from several transactions (e.g., an incident description plus all the outcomes of the incident, or all incidents in a time period with their outcomes).
Common Native Language - Information sharing technique which relies on multiple databases but a single data dictionary.
Compliant - The ability of hardware and software to satisfy a particular requirement such as manipulation of four-digit dates.
Computer Crime Mapping - Technology that allows a department to display calls for service on a computerized pin map, which aids in crime analysis efforts.
ConOps (Concept of Operations) - A description at a relatively high level of the participants in information sharing, the information flows involved, and the functional requirements at each step of sharing.
Consolidation - Information sharing technique that relies on tightly coupled application programs interacting with a single database.
Conversion - The translating of valid values into another format on a permanent basis.
DTD (Data Type Declaration) - A specification in SGML and XML. See Semantic Data.
Data - The raw material of information. Data may be structured or unstructured; dynamic or static; textual or graphic. Raw data plus its associated metadata equals information.
Database - A set of data structured to support the storage, retrieval, and analysis of information, often custom-designed for specific business applications. Databases are central to information processing because they allow new and more efficient ways of assembling records and organizing work. A key step in developing databases is implementing consistent definitions or standards so that data can be meaningfully shared among users. Examples include standard charts of accounts for financial data, standard methods of coding geographical information, and standard templates for archiving audio and video material. See Standards.
Data Dictionary - A file which defines the basic organization of a database. It will contain a list of all files in the database, the number of records in each file, and the names and types of each field.
Data Esperanto - Information sharing technique which relies on the ability of each sharing system to transform from its own database format to a single transfer format, and from that transfer format to its own format.
Data Schema - Definition of the permissible data to be included in a specified data element, or by extension to all data elements of a file, table or document. See Semantic Data.
Data Standards - Agreed-upon descriptions of the terms, meanings, and formats of the data elements required for operation of automated systems and interchange of those data elements among different systems.
Data Warehouse - Information sharing technique which relies on a separate database created by transforming data from several sources into a single database, along with application programs to retrieve the transformed data.
Digital - Data that has been created, transmitted, or stored as a string of signals coded as "1" (on) or "0" (off). Data in digital form (text, numbers, graphics, voice, video, etc.) can be stored and processed by computers and communicated at high speed over electronic networks with complete accuracy and reliability. Exact copies of digital data can be made in which the copy is indistinguishable from the original.
Digital Signature - Any of the methods used to assure that the alleged source of a message is the actual source, and that the attached message is the intended one.
Document - As used in this report, an information-exchange message for structured information; the document structure, data content, and edit requirements are defined before the information exchange takes place. See Message.
800 Megahertz - Refers to public safety radio systems using channels located in or near the 800 MHZ band. Approximately 300 channels located in the 800 MHZ spectrum band have been assigned for use by state and local public safety entities. The disadvantage is that this higher frequency has less range and so a greater infrastructure is needed to cover the same range as lower frequencies. Currently there are problems with incompatibility between different 800 MHz trunked systems built by different vendors.
E-government - A term commonly used to describe the interaction between government and citizens over the Internet. E-government has evolved rapidly from merely publishing or disseminating government information electronically to online interactions and transactions between government and citizens. As governments begin to reorganize and integrate their work processes to take advantage of computer networks, e-government may come to define a new or transformed relationship between citizens and government enabled by networks.
EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) - Refers to the transfer of government benefits (funds or resources) to individuals through the use of a card technology. Individuals access their benefits through Automated Teller Machines or retail point-of-sale terminals.
Electronic Commerce (or e-commerce) - Transactions where money is exchanged for valuable goods and services with either the money and/or the goods and services transported over computer networks.
Encryption - The act of scrambling information into a form called a cipher, usually to keep it from being read or modified by unauthorized parties. This is achieved through the use of algorithmic "keys" that scramble the information at one end and unscramble it at the other. Computer-based encryption can be used both for purposes that society wants to prevent (criminal and terrorist communications) as well as those it wants to support (private and secure social and commercial communications). The reader of an encrypted file must have a key to decrypt the file.
Exchange Point - An event within a process at which information sharing does or should occur; either information is collected which is useful to another entity, or information from another entity is needed, or both.
Firewalls - A system designed to prevent unauthorized access to or from a private network. Often used to prevent internet users from accessing private networks connected to the Internet.
Formatting Data - Metadata which expresses the appearance of data on a page or screen. XSL and CSS style sheets contain formatting data.
Function - A capability of an application program, for example case initiation, meeting notification, decision outcome recording, etc.
Functional Specifications - A formal description of a software system that is used as a blueprint for implementation. Specifications should state the purposes of the program, provide implementation details, and describe the specific functions of the software from the user’s perspective.
Functional Standards - Descriptions of the required features, functions, and operational capabilities of automated systems as defined by a qualified group of practitioners and experts. Functional standards describe WHAT a system must do, not HOW it must do it or which data elements it must contain or use.
GIS (Geographic Information System) - A set of hardware and software tools used to gather, manipulate and analyze geographically referenced data into a map to facilitate analysis, decision making, and planning. GIS is used by many government agencies. For example, transportation departments use GIS to determine the most efficient corridors for highway construction, and housing departments use GIS to help select the best locations for urban renewal projects. For justice purposes, a GIS may use or include a CAD system, crime mapping program, AVL system, and GPS.
GPS (Global Positioning System) - A system that uses satellites and small, portable receivers to determine the physical position of an object or person. It provides coded satellite signals that can be processed by a GPS receiver enabling the receiver to compute position, velocity and time. Increasingly ubiquitous, these systems are used to track the locations of airplanes, boats, cars, and even individuals to within an accuracy of a few meters.
GUI (Graphical User Interface) - Often pronounced "gooey," a GUI uses a computer’s graphic systems to make a program more user friendly. A GUI may include standard formats for representing text and graphics which make it easier to share data between programs running on the same GUI.
Governance Model - A model associated with a specific ConOps which describes the rules for making decisions concerning ongoing operation of a system, in this case the information sharing system. Items include requirements for participation, placement of and services to be provided at the central site, expenses and payments, adoption of and changes/additions to the sharing vocabulary or document list, and sanctions for inappropriate behavior.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) - A message tagging method used to instruct concerning the appearance of the message, primarily on the screen. See Markup Language and World Wide Web.
HTTP (Hyper Text Transmission Protocol) - See Transmission Protocols.
Hardware - Broadly, the physical components of information technology: computers, peripheral devices such as printers, disks, and scanners, and the cables and switches that link digital networks. The key components of computer hardware are microprocessor chips, which have doubled in productivity every 18 months, as measured by instructions executed per dollar (a phenomenon referred to as Moore’s law). See Software.
IAFIS (Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System) - IAFIS is a new (July 1999) national online fingerprint and criminal history database run by the FBI. Criminal justice agencies which submit urgent electronic requests for identification will receive a response within 2 hours.
IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) - See Standards Organizations.
III (Interstate Identification Index) - Run by the FBI, this system, part of IAFIS, contains criminal history records for almost 30 million offenders and can be queried using a name, birth date, and other information.
IT (Information Technology) - The umbrella term that encompasses the entire field of computer-based information processing: computer equipment, applications and services, telecommunication links and networks, digital databases, and the integrated technical specifications that enable these systems to function interactively. See also Information Infrastructure. The rapid development and expansion of these technologies over the last 20 years have ushered in the current historical period widely referred to as the "Information Age" or "Information Revolution," comparable in economic and social magnitude to the Industrial Revolution of the early 19th century. The profound transformations brought about by computer networking have made information processing (rather than industrial manufacturing) the key factor in economic productivity and global commerce, thereby supplanting large segments of the traditional blue-collar labor market with a white-collar force of information or knowledge workers.
Information Infrastructure - The interdependent capacities and standards for digital communication and data processing (both hardware and software) that support the flow of information, much as a highway infrastructure supports the flow of vehicles. (Hence, the vernacular catchphrase, "Information Superhighway," as a general reference to the interconnected system of computer networks exemplified by the Internet.) The ongoing expansion of this information infrastructure raises vital issues about when and how to establish and refine the technical standards on which it operates, including important related questions about funding, security, privacy, and collective democratic values.
Information System - Computer hardware, software, network and personnel directed toward the collection, organization, and dissemination of information.
IP (Internet Protocol) - See Transmission Protocols.
ISO (International Standards Organization) - See Standards Organizations.
ISO 8859-1 - International standard for an 8-bit character set. First 128 characters (7 bits) are the same as ANSI/ASCII codes.
Interface - A program or device which connects programs and/or devices.
Internet - The vast global network-of-networks that uses open rather than proprietary standards to support computer-based communications at an incredibly large and efficient worldwide scale. Originally developed by the U.S. Defense Department (DARPA) for use in research in the 1960s, the Internet has become the foundation of our information infrastructure, an ever-expanding universe of network services and applications organized in geographically dispersed rather than centralized form.
Intranet - A secure private network which uses TCP/IP protocols.
Knowledge-based Economy - A term used to describe an economy in which the defining factor of production is knowledge. The 19th century saw the rise of the industrial-based economy in which goods were produced in large industrial manufacturing plants. Today, a growing number of people produce, use, and share knowledge in their day-to-day work. Because information can be expressed digitally, computer networks have enabled the rapid growth of the knowledge-based economy.
LAN (Local Area Network) - A computer network that connects workstations and personal computers and allows them to access data and devices anywhere on the LAN. A LAN is usually contained within one building.
LAWN (Local Area Wireless Network) - A LAN that uses high frequency radio waves rather than wires to communicate between nodes.
LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) - A standardized way to connect with a directory which might hold passwords, addresses, public encryption keys, and other exchange-facilitating data.
Laptop - A computer which has capabilities beyond that of the Mobile Data Computer. It may contain report writing and accident reconstruction programs.
Leadership - Any act by an individual member on the behalf of a group, with the intent to get the group to better meet its goals. Leadership for previously known problems relies heavily on authority and technical expertise, while leadership for new or adaptive problems relies on getting the group to confront the inadequacies of its old values and routines, and thereby develop more effective solutions. In general, the challenges of the information age (which involve a high degree of confusion and conflict resolution) call for adaptive leadership.
Legacy System - Older software and hardware systems still in use and generally proprietary.
Live Scan - A machine which replaces ink and roll fingerprints. Fingers are rolled across a platen and scanned into a computer and then converted to a digital form of storage. Fingerprint cards are then printed out on a laser printer. The machine will immediately reject low-quality prints.
MDC (Mobile Data Computer) - A microcomputer used by law enforcement to access databases for information on persons and property. The MDT uses wireless communication and allows an officer to exchange information with the dispatcher and other officers without using voice channels.
MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) - A set of Internet standards used to express, in email format, data which does not fit the limitations of the basic standard.
Marginal Cost - The cost of the next in a series of products. Typically, first products cost more because of the expenditures required to set up the production process, with the unit cost then falling over time as the volume of activity increases. For most manufactured goods, however, diminishing returns-to-scale eventually cause marginal costs to rise. With information technology products, by contrast, the dynamics are dramatically different: extremely high set-up costs (hundreds of millions of dollars for some software products) followed by almost zero costs for extra copies and no diminishing returns-to-scale for extremely high production volumes. Pricing policies for information goods are thus markedly different than for traditional industrial goods, and pricing policies in the economy at large are likely to change as the Information Age progresses.
Markup Language - A method of providing context to a message. The context may provide a description of how each portion of the message should appear on paper or in print (SGML, HTML, XML) or the semantic data (q.v.) for each portion of the message (XML). The method for providing the context is to enclose each message portion in beginning/end markers called tags, hence the description tagged-field formats.
Message - Alternatively means the same as Document or can refer to unstructured data requiring human inference for interpretation.
Metadata - Data about data. There are at least three types of metadata: semantic data, which give the meaning of the "raw" data; formatting data, which describe the appearance of the data on screen or on the page; and intellectual property data, which describe data ownership conditions.
Multi-Functional - Pertains to an information exchange which crosses between two entities which have different operational objectives. School-to-probation exchanges are multi-functional; school-to-school district exchanges are not.
NCIC (National Crime Information Center) - A computer system maintained by the FBI that can be queried by local agencies via state computer systems known as "control terminal agencies." NCIC contains 17 files with over 10 million records, as well as 24 million criminal history records within the Interstate Identification Index (one of the 17 files). Files include the III, the Missing Persons File, the Unidentified Persons File, the U.S. Secret Service Protective File, and the Violent Gang/Terrorist File.
NCIC 2000 - System in development which will improve the current NCIC system. NCIC 2000 will allow for the electronic transmission of photographs, mug shots, photographs of stolen property, and fingerprint data. It will have an ASIS capability which will identify someone based on a right index fingerprint when the subject presents no identification or is suspected of presenting a false identification. NCIC 2000 will also include expanded fields which will allow for additional information, improved search techniques, and a capability to link all records relating to the same crime. A mobile imaging unit installed inside police cars will contain a hand-held fingerprint scanner, a hand-held digital camera, and a small printer. This unit is expected to become a main component of the NCIC 2000 system.
NIBRS (National Incident Based Reporting System) - NIBRS is an incident-based reporting system run by the FBI through which data are collected on each single crime occurrence. NIBRS data are designed to be generated as a by-product of local, state, and federal automated records systems. NIBRS collects data on single crime incidents and arrests within 22 offense categories made up of 46 specific crimes called Group A offenses. For each of the offenses coming to the attention of law enforcement, specific facts are collected. In addition to the Group A offenses, there are 11 Group B offense categories for which only arrest data are reported. NIBRS is expected to eventually replace UC.
NIST (National Institute of Standards) - See Standards Organizations.
NLETS (National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System) - A high-speed communications network and message switching that connects almost every law enforcement agency in the country. It allows local agencies to make inquiries into state databases to access criminal history records, vehicle registration records, driver’s license files etc. NLETS also interfaces with NCIC and other national files and allow states to exchange information with each other.
Network - A set of communication paths (or channels) and the points (or nodes) they connect, including switches to determine which channel will be used when more than one is available. Computer networks, like telephone networks, can be thought of as telecommunications highways over which information travels. Networks benefit greatly from economies of scope and scale. Digital networks typically use packet-switching rather than circuit-switching to greatly increase efficiency and throughput. See Switching.
Node - In a network, a node can be a computer or some other device such as a printer. Every node has a unique network address.
OMG (Object Management Group) - See Standards Organizations.
Object Oriented Programming - Combines data structures and functions (computer directions) to create “objects.” Makes it easier to maintain and modify software.
Open Architecture - The system design allows it to easily be connected to devices and programs made by other manufacturers.
Open-Source - Computer programs that are distributed as open-source are distributed along with access to the source code, the program instructions as written by the programmer. Once distributed as open-source, the author of the program must allow users to modify the code and redistribute it freely, while users are prohibited from selling the program or any derivative thereof. The open-source nature of the program is usually protected by an open-source license such as the GNU General Public License (GPL). The rationale behind open-source is that a larger community of programmers will use, improve, and develop the program.
Open Standard - Standard arrived at under the aegis of a Standards Organization (q.v.). So-called proprietary standards are not open, nor are most so-called industry standards.
Operating System - The basic program used by a computer to run other programs. An operating system recognizes input from the keyboard, sends output to the display screen, and keeps track of files and directories on the disk and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers. Operating Systems provide a platform for other software applications.
Pen-based Computer - A computer that the user interacts via an electronic pen or stylus rather than a keyboard or mouse. Most PDAs or hand-held computers are pen-based computers.
Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) - A small hand-held computer that can be carried around by an individual and that is most commonly used for personal management tasks such as storing phone numbers, reading email, or scheduling. As wireless technologies continue to develop, PDAs are also being used to communicate over networks.
Platform - Underlying hardware or software for a system. The term is often used as a synonym for operating system.
Portal (or Internet Portal) - On one level, a gateway or single point of entry through which the user can access related information from a variety of sources. For example, many governments are launching portals as a single point of entry to government information. It is interesting to note, however, that as governments adjust to the concept of a single point of entry, they are beginning to rethink how they interact with constituents. Rather than organizing the user’s experience around agency boundaries, they are breaking down these boundaries to organize information and interactions around the user’s needs.
Privacy - Involves the right to control one’s personal information and the ability to determine if and how that information should be obtained and used. Privacy entails restrictions on a wide range of activities relating to personal information: its collection, use, retention, and disclosure.
Productivity - The ratio of goods produced in relation to the resources expended in production. Increasing living standards largely depend upon increasing productivity. Production processes that use information efficiently will typically be much more productive overall than older industrial production methods. This is the principal driving force behind the commercial, social, and political changes catalyzed by information technologies.
Proprietary - Generally refers to a system whose manufacturer will not divulge specifications that would allow other companies to duplicate the product. Also known as a closed architecture.
Public Goods - Goods with impacts that "spill over" beyond those directly involved in buying and selling, thus weakening market forces as the mechanism for efficient resource allocation. Computer-based services have the potential of providing many positive spillovers to the public sector, since the marginal cost of IT production over time is virtually zero. One of the paramount political questions of the Information Age is where to draw the boundary between public and private benefits and, therefore, who should pay.
QOS (Quality of Service) - A guarantee of service quality for an information or telecommunication service; it may include promises concerning time between failures and time to repair failures, minimum bandwidth availability, database accuracy, or other measurable descriptors of the service to be provided.
RMS (Records Management System) - A system which stores computerized records of crime incident reports and other data. Such a system may automatically compile information for UC or NIBRS reporting and can perform greater functions when integrated with other systems such as CAD and GPS.
Regression Test - A test performed before production to identify and prevent errors and verify that unchanged software will continue to function as designed.
Relational Database Management System - A type of database management system which stores data in related tables. New types of data can more easily be added and the user can view the data in multiple ways.
Rosetta - Information sharing technique which relies on the ability to transform from any one of many database formats to any other of the same large number of database formats; a many-to-many transformation capability.
SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) - A legacy tagging standard. Its progeny includes HTML and XML. See Markup Language.
SQL (Structured Query Language) - Database language used by a relational database to query, modify, and manage information.
Scalable - Describes how well a system can be adapted and expanded to meet increased demands.
Scope Creep - The slow and continuous expansion of the scope, resulting in a broad, unfocused and unmanageable scope, usually leading to cost-overruns, missed deadlines, and loss of original goal.
Security - Encompasses data, computer and network, physical and procedural security which must be deployed to protect personal information from a wide range of threats; complementary term to privacy, but not synonymous.
Semantic Data - Data about the meaning of the data in a message. This can be expressed as a data schema, a data dictionary, an XML, or SGML DTD (data type declaration).
Server - A computer program that provides services to other programs or computers. Also used to describe the computer on which such a program operates. In the "client-server" network model, client programs make requests from servers connected to the same network. On the World Wide Web (see below), a browser acts as a client program, making requests for files or other information from web servers. These servers can be located any place in the world that is connected to the Internet.
Smart Card - A small electronic device or token (often the size of a credit card) that stores information in a memory chip. Information can be added, read, or changed using a smart card reader.
Software - A catch-all term for the sets of instructions (programs) in an electronic format used to operate computer hardware. Software production and maintenance today has become a primary determinant in the success or failure of business and government organizations.
Spectrum - Radio spectrum refers to the array of channels, like the channels on a television, available for communications transmissions. Commonly referred to as spectrum, these channels are a finite natural resource; they cannot be created, purchased, or discovered.
Standards - In the context of electronics, standardized technical specifications allow functions to be coordinated by automatically adhering to the set standard. Thus, standards for the voltages used for signaling allow devices to "talk to one another" in a consistent format, and standards for financial accounting allow for the meaningful aggregation and analysis of financial databases. With information technologies there is an inherent tension between the creation of new capabilities through innovation (a few people trying new ways to do things) and the subsequent applications of those capabilities through standardization (many people following established ways of doing things). Determining when and how to set standards is therefore a critical leadership issue, as is deciding whether such standards should be "open" for use by the general public or whether patent statutes should copyright or protect them.
Standards Organizations - Organizations which have defined procedures for the determination that a standard is necessary, the creation of a standard, and the periodic review of a standard. ANSI, IETF, ISO, NIST, OMG, WWWC (W3C) are examples of standards organizations.
Structured Data - Data (q.v.) which carries with it the associated semantic data (q.v.) or a pointer to it.
Style Sheet - A method for describing the appearance of a document in print or on screen, such as CSS and XSL.
Switching - The engineering mechanism that designates alternate channels or paths in a telecommunications network. Historically, telephone networks have used circuit switching, where an entire channel between two connections is made available for the duration of the communication. Most computer networks, by contrast, have been designed to use packet-switching, which breaks up the transmitted data into individual units or "packets," each of which contains the destination address of the data. The packets are then independently routed through the network and reassembled by the computer at the destination address. Packet switching allows data from multiple users to efficiently use the same path on the network. Major developments are now underway to enable packet-switched networks to carry digital voice and video more effectively.
Systems Software - Operating system and all utilities that enable the computer to function.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) - Standard transmission protocols used to connect hosts on the Internet.
TQM (Total Quality Management) - A management philosophy that became popular in the 1980s and 1990s. TQM is focused on continuously improving the performance of all individuals and processes in achieving customer satisfaction.
Tag - A marker within an information exchange document which points to a full description of the semantic data associated with the tagged data. <DateBorn> is an XML tag which points to a precise description of how to read the numbers which follow it as a date and which date it is (the date of birth).
Tagged Field - Tagging is a method of imposing structure on a document. Each information field has a tag; each tag has a name which points to data-dictionary-like information such as meaning and edit criteria.
Technical Standards - Descriptions of the requirements for hardware, system software (as opposed to application software), communications, and other aspects of the technology infrastructure needed to support a software application.
Transaction Data - The descriptors or attributes of a single activity. (For example, the court disposition transaction data includes the court name, data, case, charges, decisions, and sentences.)
Transmission Protocols - Transmission protocols provide the mechanism for the transfer of information. IP controls transmissions between networks and is the fundamental mechanism of the Internet and many large WANs. TCP provides a mechanism for information transfer on a single WAN, and is often used with IP. HTTP is the key transmission protocol of the World Wide Web and provides for hot links to a URL.
UCR (Uniform Crime Reports) - A city, county, and state law enforcement program, run by the FBI, which provides a nationwide view of crime based on the submission of statistics by law enforcement agencies throughout the country. The following offenses are recorded: murder and non-negligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; aggravated assault; burglary; larceny/theft; motor vehicle theft; arson; and hate crimes.
UML (Unified Modeling Language) - An industry standard language for describing, specifying, visualizing, and documenting an automated system or the business processes that an automated system must support through its features, functions, and capabilities.
URL (Universal Resource Locator) - A unique address for a page on the World Wide Web.
Validation - Evaluation of a system during or at development completion to determine if it satisfies all the requirements.
W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) - See Standards Organization.
WAN (Wide Area Network) - Two or more LANs connected via telephone lines and radio waves.
Web Browser - A software application used to locate and display web pages. May be able to display graphics, sound, and video in addition to text.
World Wide Web (www or the Web) - Standardized tools and software that allow non-technical users to find, display, and communicate text, graphics, voice, and video located on the Internet. The Web's fundamental components include HTML (hypertext markup language), pointers or hyperlinks (which rapidly access specific material that may reside on computers halfway around the world), and browsers (software that allows users to display and interact with Web content). Web technology is credited with democratizing the Internet by simplifying and streamlining key networking tools and functions for the general public.
XML (Extensible Markup Language) - A message tagging method used to mark up a document with semantic data and style data. See Markup Language and XSL.
XSL (XML Style Sheet) - A method used to format structured data for display or printing, as well as to convert from one XML form to another.
NOTE: The terms and definitions contained within this glossary are a compilation, with additions, modifications, and deletions that were provided through the generous support of the following organizations and related publications: