Improved justice statistics for the Federal system are needed not only for planning, control, and policy assessment but also to enhance coordination between the Federal and State and local criminal justice systems. Attorney General William French Smith has directed that Law Enforcement Coordinating Committees be established. A prerequisite to effective coordination is a basic understanding of the relative magnitudes of case flow from one stage of Federal criminal case processing to adjacent stages. Barriers to developing comprehensive justice statistics at the Federal level include the existence of independent data systems in different Federal agencies and courts, varied reporting periods, and varied crime classification schemes. Specific uses of available data to assess Federal criminal justice policy include determining how frequently bail jumping occurs and how often crimes occur while defendants are out on bail. The report discusses the fundamental stages of Federal case processing and presents a chart diagramming the system.
Federal Justice Statistics
NCJ Number
80814
Date Published
1982
Length
5 pages
Annotation
The Federal justice system has no body of comprehensive statistics about Federal offenders and little information about the Federal case flow.
Abstract