NCJ Number
107963
Date Published
1985
Length
31 pages
Annotation
The past several decades have witnessed unprecedented technological and socioeconomic changes with implications both for crime trends and criminal justice responses.
Abstract
Crime rates have been increasing in both developed and developing countries, resulting in increased workloads for criminal justice agencies. Changes in the broader socioeconomic and political environment require increased coordination of activities within and between criminal justice agencies. Major problem areas in such coordination relate to goal conflict, information flow, rationality in operations, alternative allocation of resources, and measures of performance. Responses to changes and to these problems require that the machinery of the criminal justice system be analyzed as a whole. Systemic analysis must consider the effects of institutional reforms and law reforms. In addition, the roles, functions, and interrelationships among police, prosecutors, defense, the judiciary and courts, corrections, and the public will require analysis. This points to the need for more and better research to aid in criminal justice planning and policymaking and the development of guidelines to improve coordination among criminal justice agencies and assist them in adapting to changes in the socioeconomic environment. 46 footnotes.