全球智库信息集成服务系统

Measuring the Effects of Information-Sharing

• Measuring the effects of information-sharing is not straightforward, because information is not being shared simply for the sake of sharing but with the intent of doing something else better. Many typical quantitative measures (e.g., amount of information shared by such systems) measure process or outputs, not necessarily the effect of sharing information.
• We teamed up with the Automated Regional Justice Information System (ARJIS) to provide a real-world case study in which to experiment with measuring the effects of different types of data-sharing. As part of this effort, we interviewed users of ARJIS information-sharing tools in various roles and agencies to identify how the ways that criminal justice practitioners performed their tasks would shape the challenge of measuring the effect of information-sharing on their efficiency or effectiveness.
• We also developed measures for three different types of sharing tools provided by ARJIS to its users. The measures examined the effect of ARJIS applications that made specific types of information more prominent for users, allowed sharing of information among groups of users, and offered tools to search cross-jurisdictional databases on the speed and likelihood of different law enforcement events, as well as the involvement of agencies with different jurisdictions in making arrests or managing specific types of offenders.

Information-sharing became a central element of the policy debate about U.S. homeland and national security after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. However, sharing of information across jurisdictional lines is just as important for everyday criminal justice efforts to prevent and investigate crime, and systems to provide such capabilities have been in place for many years. Despite widespread belief that information-sharing is valuable, there have been relatively limited efforts to measure its effect on criminal justice outcomes. To help address this need, we examined the measurement of information-sharing effects from the strategic to the tactical levels, with a focus on developing reliable measurements that capture the range of ways sharing can affect outcomes and how the practicalities of law enforcement work practices can affect measurement. In collaboration with an advanced regional information-sharing agency, we developed techniques to examine the effects of multiple types of data-sharing at the officer, case, and offender levels. Analyses showed significant correlations between different types of sharing on the level of interagency involvement in cases for individual offenders, on the timing and likelihood of specific law enforcement events, and on the likelihood of individual police officers to be involved in cross-jurisdictional arrests. In addition, we explored lessons for future policy evaluation and information system design to facilitate measurement.

• Chapter One

  Introduction

• Chapter Two

  How Can We Measure the Effects of Information-Sharing?

• Chapter Three

  Developing and Testing Measures with the Automated Regional Justice Information System

• Chapter Four

  Conclusions

• Appendix

  User Interview Questions