NCJ Number
79720
Date Published
1981
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This report summarizes the objectives, research design, findings, and recommendations of Minnesota's Justice System Improvement Study (JSIS) on organizational problems of 12 criminal justice agencies in the State's executive branch.
Abstract
Funded by the LEAA and the legislature, the JSIS provides State decisionmakers with an objective analysis of the following criminal justice agencies: Attorney General, Board of Pardons, Department of Corrections, Corrections Board, County Attorneys Council, Crime Control Planning Board, Crime Victims Reparations Board, Ombudsman for Corrections, Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, Department of Public Safety, Sentencing Guidelines Commission, and State Public Defender. The project was initiated because national studies had determined that criminal justice systems often have organizational problems, such as duplication, fragmentation, lack of coordination, and mandated responsibility without sufficient control over resources. The JSIS staff interviewed managers in each agency about their service and support functions -- research evaluation, planning, policy, budgeting, personnel, training, auditing, accounting, grants administration, public information, and management analysis. Agency literature, mission statements, authorizing legislation, and budgets were also reviewed. Agencies were informed about the study's progress and given several opportunities to comment on drafts. The JSIS Task Force concluded that the lack of long-range, systematic planning and policy development, accompanied by the authority to implement developed plans, was a major deficiency in the State's criminal justice system. However, no major problems in administrative service and support functions were discovered. Task force recommendations address the creation of a State planning organization which would have the authority to set goals and review policies, solicit citizen participation, and coordinate criminal justice data processing programs. The task force also recommended that the departments of corrections and public safety remain separate organizations while the other agencies be placed administratively under a new department of criminal justice services. Members of the JSIS Task Force and staff are listed. See NCJ 79730 for the data source book of this report.