NCJ Number
87590
Date Published
1982
Length
92 pages
Annotation
New York State's Executive Advisory Commission on the Administration of Justice presents recommendations for structural changes designed to improve the coordination of the criminal justice effort throughout the State.
Abstract
The Commission recommends that the Governor appoint an administrator of criminal justice, whose primary function would be to advise the Governor on criminal justice matters. Further, the administrator would coordinate the executive's criminal justice programs and the development of criminal justice plans. Existing programs would be monitored through sophisticated data collection and analysis to determine if statewide criminal justice efforts are being coordinated efficiently and effectively. Both short-term and long-term plans would be proposed by the administrator. To bring together State and local officials, the creation of a criminal justice policy council is recommended. Citizen representatives as well as criminal justice professionals would meet quarterly to promote coordination of criminal justice efforts in such areas as resource enhancement, sentencing policy, sentence alternatives, prosecution priorities, and substance abuse treatment programs. A specific task of the council would be to prepare impact statements on proposed criminal justice legislation, including a recommendation on the legislation. The State should also establish an integrated criminal justice information system. In conjunction with this effort, a director of criminal justice information must be jointly appointed by the chief judge and the Governor to integrate criminal justice information in the separate branches of government. Research studies of the commission bearing upon the current state of criminal justice operations in the State are appended.