Using criminal history record system data for information and research purposes.

The State Justice Statistics (SJS) Program is designed to maintain and enhance each state's capacity to address criminal justice issues through collection and analysis of data. The SJS Program provides support to each state to coordinate and conduct statistical activities within the state, conduct research to estimate impacts of legislative and policy changes, and serve as a liaison in assisting BJS to gather data from respondent agencies within their states.

The Arizona Statistical Analysis Center (AZSAC) is housed within the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission (ACJC). ACJC is an independent state agency created for the purposes of sustaining and enhancing the coordination, cohesiveness, and effectiveness of Arizona's criminal justice system. ACJC's primary role is to serve as the State Administering Agency for federal and state criminal justice grant programs. The AZSAC will use funds to complete three projects using data from Arizona's criminal history record system: 1) A Comparative Analysis of Florida and Arizona's Criminal History Record Information. To support local, state, and federal efforts to improve the quality and utility of criminal history record information, the AZSAC will use funds to support a joint project of the Arizona and Florida SACs that will document the metadata in each state's criminal history record system and administrative record data from each state's Department of Corrections. In addition, the AZSAC will also describe the metadata associated with administrative records from the AZ Department of Corrections (ADC). The final report, to be completed in coordination with the Florida SAC, will contain the structural and descriptive metadata for each data source including information on the content of each file, data integrity (e.g., consistency of values), and data quality (e.g., missing, range, dependencies, etc.); 2) An Analysis of the Impact of Missing Conviction Data in Arizona's Criminal History Record System on Legal Gun Purchases. The SAC will use the most recent criminal history record extract obtained from the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) to address questions related to how and to what extent missing disposition information might prohibit an individual from legally purchasing a firearm from a federal firearm licensee (FFL) and for what percentage of individuals is a missing disposition associated with the only potential disqualifier; and 3) An Analysis of the Impact of Missing Conviction Data in Arizona's Criminal History Record System on the System's Response to Repeat Domestic Violence Offenders. The SAC will use the most recent criminal history record extract obtained from DPS that contains all of the arrests that have occurred from January 1, 2001 to June 30, 2014, to address the extent to which the prosecutor's office missed an opportunity to charge an offender with aggravated domestic violence due to missing disposition data. The SAC will complete a separate report of its findings for each of the three projects and disseminate the results to relevant stakeholders. (CA/NCF)