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Justice
records improvement program
Criminal
Records Statistics -
Summary findings, publications, related sites |
Justice
Records Improvement Program
On this page:
Program Summary | Program
Impact & Accomplishments | State-by-State Summary
|
National Initiatives | Related
sites
In this section:
Program objectives | Program
components | Uses of criminal records |
Integrated record systems | Funding
history
Program Objectives
To ensure that accurate records are available for use in law enforcement,
including sex offender registry requirements, and to protect public safety
and national security.
To permit States to identify -
- ineligible firearm purchasers
- persons ineligible to hold positions involving children, the elderly,
or the disabled
- persons subject to protection orders or wanted, arrested, or convicted
of stalking and/or domestic violence
- persons ineligible to be employed or hold licenses for specified positions
- persons potentially presenting threats to public safety
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Program components
BJS provides -
Direct funding to the States to improve the quality, timeliness
and immediate accessibility of criminal history and related records
(see Funding history).
Technical assistance to the States through an ongoing program
incorporating surveys, evaluations, national forums for considering
privacy issues and strategies, and direct guidance to States (see National
Initiatives).
This assistance is designed to promote participation in and improve
the interface between States and the national records systems including:
- the FBI administered National Instant Criminal Background Check
System (NICS)
- National Protection Order File
- National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR)
- the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS)
(See Glossary of terms for
definitions.)
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Uses of criminal records
Criminal history records describe an arrest and all subsequent actions
concerning each criminal event that are positively identifiable to an
individual.
Accurate, timely and complete criminal history records -
- enable States to immediately identify persons who are prohibited from
firearm purchase or are ineligible to hold positions of responsibility
involving children, the elderly, or the disabled.
- enable criminal justice agencies to make decisions on pretrial release,
career criminal charging, determinate sentencing, and correctional assignments.
- are critical to assist law enforcement in criminal investigations
and decision making.
- are required for background checks for national security, employment,
licensing and related economic purposes, as required under recent legislation.
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Integrated record systems
Complete records require that data from all components of the criminal
justice system, including law enforcement, prosecutors, courts and corrections,
be integrated and linked. NCHIP assists States to establish the integrated
infrastructure which meets the needs of all components.
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Funding history
The NCHIP program was initiated in 1995 and awards are made annually
to each applicant State and eligible territory. A Program Announcement
is issued annually which describes program goals, program priorities,
application procedures and allowable costs.
Fiscal Year 2004 Program
Announcement, 03/04
- Earlier announcements:
- 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997
Program priorities in FY 2004 are:
- Participation in NICS and the III
- Support for court automation and interface with the State repository
- Support inclusion of mental health records in background check systems
- Facilitate NICS checks by providing records to the denied person's
file and addressing "open arrests" in older records.
- Establishment and upgrading of protection order files
- Improvement of National security standards
- Participation in the Interstate Crime Control and Privacy Compact
- Implement new record-keeping requirements for checks conducted by
the National Instant Criminal Background Check system.
NCHIP awards are made to the agency designated by the Governor to administer
the program. (See NCHIP agency addresses.)
Funds distribution is based upon need rather than population or other
formula-based methodology.
Total expenditures to date between FY 1995 - FY 2003, were approximately
$438 million. All States and eligible territories have received funds
under the program. (See State-by-State funding
summary.)
Starting with FY 2000, NCHIP has been funded under the Crime
Identification Technology Act of 1998, P.L.105-251 (CITA).
In addition to State awards, funds are also allocated for National
Initiatives (technical assistance, privacy, national conferences
and workshops, surveys, evaluations, intergovernmental coordination, and
review of presale firearm inquiries and rejections).
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Program
Impact & Accomplishments
See also, Improving Criminal History Records for Background Checks
- Improved records: From the inception of NCHIP in 1995 to 2001, the number of criminal history records held nationwide grew 29% while the number of automated records increased 35%. Over the same period, the number of records available for sharing under the FBI's Interstate Identification Index (III) climbed 75%.
- III Participation: Since 1993, the number of States participating
in III grew from 26 to 47 as of September 2004.
- National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS): The
NICS is now supporting nearly 8 million checks annually at the presale
stage of firearms purchases. The NICS infrastructure, developed through
NCHIP funding, seamlessly transitioned from Brady-based of Chief Law
Enforcement Officers (CLEO) - conducted checks to the current system
of Point of Contact (POC)/NICS and NICS only checks.
- Domestic Violence and Protection Orders: States have used NCHIP
funds to initiate the flagging of criminal history records evidencing
convictions for domestic violence or the issuance of a protection order.
As of September 2004, there are 45 States, District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands
submitting data to the National Protection Order File which became operational
in May 1997.
- Sex Offender Registries: NCHIP funds have assisted States in
building sex offender registries and participating in the FBI's National
Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) which became operational in July 1999.
As of September 2004, 50 States, Guam, the Virgin Islands
and the District of Columbia have provided nearly 360,000 records to
the NSOR.
- New Identification Technologies: As of September 2004, 48 States,
3 territories (American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands)
and the District of Columbia are participating in the FBI's Integrated
Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS), a program which
became operational in July 1999 but for which States have used their
NCHIP funds to prepare to become participants.
See also, Individual
State Accomplishments
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State-by-State
summary
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NCHIP National Initiatives
In this section:
Technical Assistance | Privacy
| National Conferences and Workshops |
Surveys | Evaluation
| Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) Project
| Intergovernmental Coordination
Technical Assistance: 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 (See
below). Since inception, the technical assistance program has
been managed
under a grant from BJS.
Onsite TA visits are coordinated with the FBI to facilitate participation
in FBI programs such as the Interstate Identification Index (III). To
date, almost all States have received some assistance under this component
of NCHIP and over 30 onsite visits have been made. Requests for assistance
must be originated by the NCHIP grantee agency, although the assistance
may be provided to any agency designated by the grant recipient.
Privacy: Advances in technological development
have raised new questions about privacy policy relevant to criminal record
systems. To meet these needs, BJS has for over 20 years supported a privacy
program under an award to SEARCH, The
National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics. The
goal of the NCHIP privacy program is to identify and analyze the privacy
impact of changes in the systems environment, to provide a forum for the
discussion of these issues, and to develop standards which may be applicable
to the collection, maintenance and dissemination of criminal record data.
Most recently, under it’s Millennium Privacy Project, BJS supported -
A survey was conducted to determine public attitudes toward uses of biometric
identifiers and a Working Group has been established to focus on the increasing
extent to which data is collected and released through nongovernmental
entities.
National Conferences and Workshops:
NCHIP supports conferences and workshops on a regional and national basis
to provide information to practitioners and policy makers, to permit exchange
of information among representatives of varying agencies across the 50
States, to respond to needs of grantees receiving NCHIP funds, and to
coordinate with other units of State and federal government which are
involved in record improvement activities and the operation of the national
record systems.
2000 Criminal History Operations Workshop - The first in a series
of workshops co-sponsored by BJS and SEARCH. Attendees shared information
on a variety of topics, including compiling and disseminating criminal
history records, disposition reporting, fingerprint issues, the role
and responsibilities of repositories, and data quality issues.
2000 Protection Order/Domestic Violence Information Workshop
- This second in the series of workshops was organized to help States
improve their ability to collect, utilize, and exchange protection order
and related domestic violence information.
2001 Sex Offender Registry Workshop - This third in a series
of workshops co-sponsored by BJS and SEARCH was designed to allow State
representatives to come together to discuss issues, problems and successes
in establishing federally-mandated State sex offender registries.
National Conference on Privacy, Technology & Criminal Justice Information - The National Conference capped a two-year "Millennium
Privacy Project" undertaken by BJS and SEARCH. The conference featured
the report of the National Task Force on Privacy, Technology and Criminal
Justice Information, including findings and recommendations for managing
criminal justice information in the new technological environment. A
public opinion survey of public attitudes toward privacy issues was
also presented and released at the conference.
Beyond the Technology: The Law & Policy Implications of Increased Biometric Use, held November 2002 and co-sponsored by BJS and SEARCH, examined the law and policy ramifications of biometric counter-terrorism solutions.
See also "Developing Improved Identification Systems: Biometric Systems for Investigations and Background Checks", a presentation by Lawrence A. Greenfeld, BJS Director.
Surveys: NCHIP funds regular surveys to
determine levels of record improvement, public attitudes on privacy and
related issues, State responses to current issues and firearm procedures.
Surveys are conducted under grants to SEARCH and REJIS and are released
as part of the BJS publication series.
At the direction of the Attorney General, BJS is conducting a survey
of the States to identify major impediments to disposition completeness,
with a primary focus on the linkage between criminal records repositories
and the courts and prosecutors. The survey seeks information on:
- procedures for transmission of arrest and disposition data from law
enforcement agencies and the courts to the repository
- processes for integrating justice systems records in terms of disposition
capture and linking of dispositions to arrest records
- participation in national programs of the FBI such as the Interstate
Identification Index (III) and the National Fingerprint File (NFF)
- NICS and POCs inquiries and record accessibility
- an analysis of the age of records and their completeness
Evaluation: BJS supports a continuing evaluation of activity being
undertaken by States with NCHIP funds, as well as with funds received
from other Federal and State sources. The program is supported under a
grant to Structured Decisions Corporation (SDC). BJS is also working with
SDC in developing a Records Quality Index (RQI) which will assist in examining
a wide variety of performance measures over time and across jurisdictions.
Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) Project:
The Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) project was established in 1995
to collect and publish annual data on presale firearm inquiries required
to be conducted pursuant to the Brady Act. The project collects data on
the number of inquiries processed by States in connection with presale
firearm checks and the number and basis for rejection of such applications.
Data is also collected describing procedures followed by each of the 50
States in connection with firearm checks. The project findings are released
in BJS Bulletins and the report
Survey of State Procedures Relating to
Firearm Sales. The project is conducted under a grant to the Regional
Justice Information System (REJIS).
Intergovernmental Coordination: Background
checks require that information be available on an interstate basis coordinated
though the FBI’s national systems. BJS works with the FBI and the Department
of Justice Office of Legal Policy to ensure that NCHIP programs support
the needs of the national systems. Complete records also require that
data be obtained from all components of the criminal justice system within
each State. NCHIP coordinates with the other Office of Justice Programs
(OJP) initiatives designed to support record development and systems integration
in order to ensure that all expenditures under NCHIP are consistent with
OJP programs. Recipients of funds under NCHIP assure that systems developed
with NCHIP funds are compatible with standards and procedures governing
national systems (III, NICS, Protection Order File) and with State and
local integration programs designed to ensure record compatibility. Funds
are also available to implement State plans for system integration.
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Related
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