Statistical data as a means of supporting criminal justice policy

Statistical data as a Means of
Supporting Criminal Justice
Policy

Introduction
The research is considered as significant for the development of effective criminal justice policy
as well as for the development of advanced technologies that could support the performance of
law enforcement agencies. The effective evaluation of methods and Office of Justice Programs
(OJP) are essential for providing assurance of wise expenditure of taxpayer’s money. The
National Institute of Justice (NJS) is the research, development and evaluation agency of the
Department of Justice and is committed to improve knowledge and understanding of the issues
related to crime and justice through applicability of science [ CITATION Bal16 \l 1033 ]. The
agency is responsible for providing objective knowledge and tools regarding reduction of crime
and promotion of justice. The criminal justice system of the United States is a network of
criminal justice systems at national, state as well as specific jurisdictional level such as in
military courts and territorial courts. The criminal laws vary on the basis of these levels,
however, all of them are based on the US Constitution. There are few actions in the criminal
justice policy of the US that are so much attention seeking which will be discussed in detail.
Discussion
The policy related to arrest in the criminal justice framework of the US seeks attention.
However, the arrest is predictable in domestic violence cases, feminists and those who advocates
for women victims of domestic violence argue that police have failed to take aggressive position
against its criminals until now. Due to political pressure to take domestic violence seriously,
majority of states and police departments have implemented proarrest policies, it is still a
question whether it is a desirable action being taken by the police and, the increased number of
arrests in the cases of domestic violence are supposed to prevent victims and create deterrence

among the criminals [ CITATION Eit05 \l 1033 ]. By such pressures and policies, increase in the
arrest probabilities in the cases of domestic violence will take place. In spite of existence of
mandatory and proarrest policies all over the nation, police officers still fail to arrest in majority
of cases. It has been determined by ...... that mandatory arrest policies are actually associated
with the increased risk of arrests in cases of domestic violence even after controlling salient
situational factors as well as characteristics of police organization[ CITATION cor18 \l 1033 ].
Instead of it, the average arrest risk in jurisdictions that have applied mandatory arrest policy is
still not satisfactory.
The overall crime rate, degree of spatial differences and level of formalization are predictive of
risks of arrest in cases of domestic violence. However, majority of the organizational factors
which include departments which have written policies are more likely to make arrest. The
provisions of mandatory arrest policy predicts increased probability of arrest in the cases of
domestic violence. The difference in the average arrest risk between the jurisdictions that have
employed mandatory arrest policy and those who have not is only 5%, however, the impact of
situational and police organization characteristics are not taken into consideration in this regard.
The mandatory arrest policies do not seem to be a solution for those concerned about the police
discretion and it is not also consistent with the rational model of policing in the criminal justice
system of the country [CITATION Ism17 \l 1033 ].
Similarly, the forensic utilization of suppressed fingerprints as well as palm prints depends upon
the analytical and evaluation decisions taken by the expert examiners. However, it is also
associated with certain types of errors as well as disagreements and requires strategies to be
developed for its improvement. Through blind verification, detection of majority of errors is
possible as well as flagging debatable decisions and it should not be restricted to the