Neville Cooney ABS November 2005 WA Justice Research Conference ABS Initiatives in Crime and Justice - from NIDP to RADLs

Overview of presentation  National Statistical Service (NSS)  National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics  National Information Development Plan (NIDP)  ABS activities  Remote Access Data Laboratories (RADLs)

ABS Mission: "assist and encourage informed decision-making, research and discussion within governments and the community, by providing a high quality, objective and responsive national statistical service'

National Statistical Service NSS Vision: "all government agencies working together to deliver the statistics required by Australia no matter what their source."

National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics  Statistical Units for Crime, Courts and Corrections  each has a board of management  each board reports through a national officer group to a Ministerial Council  each board has an advisory group

Role of the National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics (NCCJS)  Facilitate the provision of the NSS in crime and justice;  Measure and analyse the volume and the nature of crime occurring in Australia;  Describe characteristics of criminal incidents including the offences, offenders, victims and penalties;  Measure the operations and outcomes of the justice system and attributes of the people and cases processed; and  Place this within the wider context of the social and economic environment.

National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics  provide statistical leadership and coordination  gather data from agencies for publication  influence stakeholders  NIDP

Information Development Plans (IDPs)  IDPs aim to obtain agreement between key stakeholders about areas where further development is needed in a field of statistics.  Long term, they hope to improve the quality, coverage and use of statistics within a particular field.  An IDP is an agreement, developed as a collaborative effort between key stakeholders, that defines the suite of information required to support policy in a field of statistics.

 An IDP embodies three kinds of knowledge and shared commitment to statistical development activity:  demand for information - a picture of the statistics that would, support design and evaluation of policy, decision- making, research and community discussion.  supply of information (and raw data) - a picture of the existing data pool that might satisfy the demand.  agreed statistical development activity, identified through the comparison of demand and supply, which defines priority information gaps and deficiencies. What is an Information Development Plan?

 The NCCJS has led the development of a National Information Development Plan to:  identify national (including state and territory) needs.  assess those needs and evaluate relative priorities.  identify current data sources and their uses.  identify gaps in data collection with reference to national data requirements.  develop strategies to meet those needs in the future via strong partnerships with other crime and justice agencies. An NIDP for Crime and Justice

1. improve data comparability 2. improve quality and integration 3. improve data on progress and wellbeing 4. improve ATSI statistics 5. develop measures of recidivism 6. develop stats on juvenile contact NIDP - 12 priorities

7. develop stats on family violence 8. improve electronic crime data 9. develop information base on substance use 10. health and mental health 11. cultural diversity 12. spatial data NIDP - 12 priorities

 Steering committee to:  provide guidance and support  assess annual progress and advise Boards of Management and other relevant stakeholders  evaluate the NIDP after 2008 NIDP - management

 free publications on the Web  Personal Safety Survey 2005  National Crime and Safety Survey 2005  General Social Survey  CENSUS 2006  National Data Network (NDN) ABS activities

 Confidentiality  access  data sets  Confidentialised Unit Record Files (CURFS)  RADL Remote Access Data Laboratories

Conclusion Web Sites: National Information Development Plan for Crime and Justice Statistics 2005 (4520.0)