NCJ Number
143178
Date Published
1992
Length
37 pages
Annotation
The Code of Criminal Procedure in Texas mandates improvements to the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) starting in September 1993, although several achievements have been realized since 1989.
Abstract
An enhanced computerized criminal history system has been developed by the Texas Department of Public Safety, successful testing of electronic data reporting over telecommunication lines has occurred, and an automated system has been devised for sending inmate commitment packets electronically from county sheriff offices prior to inmate transfer to State facilities. Local law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, court clerks, and data system experts have contributed ideas for improving the CJIS. The CJIS will consist of two primary components, a computerized criminal history system and a corrections tracking system. Electronic reporting will eliminate the manual reporting of court filing and disposition data, reduce costs incurred by the State from manually entering data received from automated counties, decrease the backlog associated with entering data into the State system, and facilitate the transfer of data prior to prisoner transfer. The improved CJIS design will increase and enhance currently available information on offenders by providing a comprehensive data base of criminal history, disposition, and supervision information to local law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, courts, and supervision agencies. The CJIS will also link counties with the State system and will be tied into the incident-based reporting system implemented by the U.S. Department of Justice. Specific recommendations are offered to improve criminal justice reporting requirements, compile arrest data, standardize offense codes, include ethnic categories as a data field in the CJIS, enhance investigative capabilities of the CJIS, and implement a system to notify probation and parole offices through CJIS of the rearrest of individuals under their supervision. The Offender Based Policy Analysis System is suggested to maximize policy relevant research uses of CJIS data. Recommendations received from forums for local input are appended.