Question
Write a 1,050- to 1,400-word paper discussing how and why statistical data should be used by criminal justice leadership.
A few examples include: Statistical support to criminal justice policy making or criminal justice research in support of proactive policing.
Include at least three peer reviewed references
Answer
Statistics and Criminal Justice Leadership
The groundbreaking report given by the commission appointed by the president on administration of justice and law enforcement indicated by (Skogan, 1975) was the turning point for criminal justice in the United States of America. The commission proposed more than 200 recommendations which if were effectively implemented would give an assurance of minimizing the trends in the crime each year. Among the recommendations forwarded includes the role of statistical data in criminal justice, and how important it would be to eliminate crime in the society. Despite the clear road map being established in the succeeding years accompanied with frequent review of polices to match to the current advancement in criminal acts, achieving a satisfactory goal has proven very elusive. Hence, this paper is going to explore the purpose of the statistical data as well as expound on the reasons why the criminal justice leadership needs to exploit its capability in handling crime.
Crime in the society causes a lot of panic and discomfort; its recurring impact can be profoundly felt i.e. it costs the states a lot regarding revenue loss, loss of lives and property. It is, therefore, imperative that the law enforcement agencies such as the police, put in more effort towards eliminating such vices. Moving away from the traditional system of handling crime the 21st-century police has the capability to involve new systems and methods of addressing crime. The advancement in technology has offered justice systems with substantive plans to collect accurate data, and store them safely for reference on demand. The last decade has seen a rise in the use of statistics to devise better methods of ensuring a decline in crime rate. Various policing departments have implored science and research to look for best alternatives in curbing crime, with results being some models likes CompStat (Nally, Greenspan, & Willis, & Weisburd, 2003) which have played a crucial role in crime control and policing.
Predictive policing
Predictive policing has been an initiative that accredited to the significance of statistical data. It is the employment of statistics models to anticipate increased risk of crime. The result obtained from the statistics provides the authority with the level at which a particular crime has infiltrated in the society and hence devices means to ensure that there are prompt interventions. It is very crucial since the leadership can find a general trend that different crime cases show, the possible accelerating factors or influences that cause identified crime with the intent to eliminate the vice. This type of policing is becoming very, has since been borrowed by states governments and in 2015, the Miami police came up with a predictive tool called hunchlab (Gibbs, 2015) which received a grant of $600,000 from the Bureau of Justice and an aid to implement the system.
Allocation of resources
The data on the main crimes can be obtained by the leadership from various bodies vested with responsibilities track them in the state. For instance, the data provided by the NIBRS system provides accurate crime data that can furnish the leaders with a comprehensive, clear report on various crimes cases i.e. terrorism. Such a report will be critical to devise means to allocate the various security organs in the affected different regions and hence to utilize the power of prevention before an occurrence of criminal activity. When an early prevention of a possible occurrence of crime is executed, the safety of the citizens is assured and besides the States does not face massive losses of revenue, and lives which are equally crucial for the growth of a country. Areas that shows a great trend of crimes will require deployment of a vast number of the security officers, and besides the spotted areas can be treated with infinite intelligence (Weisburd, 2000).
Security preparedness
Security preparedness by a country is pivotal. It can be achieved by procuring of resource needed to protect a nation effectively in an event of a serious crime requires a proper research before accomplishment. Every data that is collected from the various agencies obligated renders the type of offense and then provides a detailed summary report that can give insight into the sectors that needs revamping (Nally, Greenspan, & Willis, & Weisburd, 2003). These requisites may differ depending on the frequency, trend, and magnitude of crime in different parts of the country, i.e. the methods used for handling robbery offense may not be sufficient for a terror attack. NIBRS gives more elaborate, precise, and significant summary reporting system than the other agencies which is essential for the decision making.
Collective responsibility
The crime eradication process is a collective responsibility. It necessitates that all the agencies cooperate with a common objective to eradicate crime from the society. When the different levels of the security organs gather data on crime in the various capacities, the similar crimes that appear across all the report should draw the attention of criminal justice leadership. Some of the problems associated with these offenses can be identified, and a special inquiry is established or research to provide an appropriate plan to handle the vice (Weisburd, 2000). The leadership bears the responsibility to recommend effective actions to be taken after a criminal investigation and by them, the country can adopt a new system of handling criminal issue
Safety of the Nation
Living in a safe environment is the desire of each citizen in a country. The law enforcement agencies bear the responsibility of providing a secure environment depending the level of the jurisdiction of the department. Various states’ security data can be accessed by the leadership of the criminal justice, which are critical in declaring the security status of the nation. The leadership can hence furnish the government with a report that depicts the actual picture of the security state of the nation (Gibbs, 2015). Regions with critical conditions can be highlighted, and a precaution is made open to the public for purposes of preparedness. An invention such as Hunchlab has been effectively utilized in past.
Conclusion
Statistical data is evidently crucial in criminal justice and serves a paramount role in controlling crime especially in a world that technology is advancing at a very fast rate. With access to accurate data, the leadership ensures that the government is alert to defend the nation by providing adequate resources. A critical analysis of the available crime data it is possible to predict the extent to which the nation is regarding security, and it may avert the possible causes. It is critical for crime to be treated as a collective responsibility of all the law enforcement departments, combining efforts to come up with effective measures to eradicate recurring crimes is imperative.
References
Gibbs, P. (2015, April 29). The benefits of data in criminal justice: Improving policing. Retrieved from Sunlight Foundation: https://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2015/04/29/the-benefits-of-data-in-criminal-justice-improving-policing/
Nally, A., Greenspan, R., & Willis, J. J., & Weisburd, D. (2003). Reforming to preserve: Compstat and strategic problem solving in American policing. Criminology & Public Policy, 421-456.
Skogan, W. G. (1975). Measurement problems in official and survey crime rates. Journal of Criminal Justice, 17-31.
Weisburd, D. (2000). Randomized experiments in criminal justice policy: Prospects and problems. Crime & Delinquency, 181-193.
