Comparisons of Criminal History Information Systems in the United States and Five Other Nations

The purpose of this project is to document and compare the characteristics of national criminal history record systems in the United States and other countries. Little is known about how the criminal history system in the United States compares with those in other nations. In addition to filling this information gap, the CCHIS project will allow the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to learn about the experiences of other countries in their collection, assessment, and use of criminal history records for research and statistical purposes and provide insight into potential improvements of the United States system.

The Comparisons of Criminal History Information Systems in the United States and Other Nations (CCHIS) project will assemble teams from at least five other countries and produce a report that contains individual chapters with a common structure and outline describing how each country’s criminal history information system functions. Each chapter will provide a description of the goals and operational objectives of the country’s criminal history record system, sources of the data stored in the system, procedures to assess the accuracy and completeness of the information in the system, efforts to overcome record system deficiencies and improve data quality, uses of the information in the system (e.g., criminal investigations, background checks, and research efforts), and government procedures to provide nongovernment researchers with access to the data.

(CA/NCF)

Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law.