Comparisons of Criminal History Information Systems in the United States and Other Nations (CCHIS)

The criminal history information system is maintained in the U.S. by tens of thousands of law enforcement agencies, courts, corrections systems, state and federal repositories. It is used as a primary information resource by criminal justice professionals for a wide variety of reasons, by others to conduct background checks and by researchers to understand the nature of criminal careers and the effect of interventions on criminal behavior. Little is known about how the U.S. criminal history systems compares with those in other industrialize nations. This project will help to fill this information gap and in doing so provide insight into possible improvements of the U.S. system.