NCJ Number
153466
Date Published
1991
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the government funds that finance criminal justice concludes that the amount of money spent on criminal justice activities by Illinois government units may be more than 40 percent higher than indicated by conventional expenditure analysis.
Abstract
In almost every Illinois county, the indirect costs of various services used by criminal justice agencies are not included in their own budgets. These indirect costs include accounting, maintenance, purchasing, and others. Other agencies incur these costs in providing services to specific criminal justice agencies. By including these costs in each criminal justice agency's expenditures, a more accurate picture of the total cost of criminal justice activities emerges. Government funds include general revenue funds; special revenue funds from fees, fines, and other sources; Federal grant funds; and Federal revenue-sharing funds. An increasing number of nontraditional funding strategies have been implemented in the hope of relieving the burden on traditional taxing bodies. Although policymakers have tried to generate nontax revenue for almost every function of the Illinois criminal justice system, these special revenue funds and fees and fines will not significantly relieve the overall burden of financing criminal justice activities in Illinois in the future. Figures, tables, notes, and 7 references