NCJ Number
128444
Journal
Current Issues in Criminal Justice Issue: 2 Dated: (March 1990) Pages: 67-113
Date Published
1990
Length
47 pages
Annotation
This paper identifies and discusses key elements in building a rational, informed environment for reviewing the effectiveness of New South Wales' Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), which has been established to investigate the corruption of public officials in the State.
Abstract
The media is instrumental in shaping public perceptions and discourse on the ICAC and its work. If the ICAC is to be effective, it must foster accurate and informed media coverage. The media has provided the primary source of information about the ICAC, but the media has had a narrow focus on law enforcement concerns in particular cases. The function of the ICAC is to foster preventive measures by addressing the conditions that make public corruption possible and likely. Assessment of the ICAC's effectiveness should be based on data relevant to its primary mission, i.e., to develop information on how to prevent public corruption. The basic strategy for evaluating ICAC operations should be to test its actions against the enabling legislation and the promises made for it by the New South Wales Government. Those with the political power to determine ICAC's future should be careful not to measure its effectiveness by public expectations that misconstrue its goals. A crucial element in assessing the ICAC are its effectiveness in preventing public corruption, the quality of its annual reports to Parliament, and the quality of corruption-related reforms stemming from ICAC investigations.