1. Bosnia & Herzegovina Statistical Training
Prosecution / Courts
Sessions 5/6, November 23
Overview of the Criminal Justice System and Statistics – The Integrated File Number
With funding from the European Union
DEVELOPMENT OF MONITORING INSTRUMENTS FOR JUDICIAL AND LAW ENFORCEMENT INSTITUTIONS IN THE WESTERN BALKANS
Phase three – Training 1

2. The Integrated File Number Introduction
Why would you want an Integrated File Number (IFN)?
Possible reasons:
To track the crime of an offender through the system
To link different datasets for statistical reasons
To look at the criminal history of offender(s)
To match the offender with his registration data (in countries where this exists) 2

3. Organization of Statistics
‘Data Monitoring’ has three aspects:
Operational information The actual data for handling a specific crime/case
Management Information Data to monitor the performance of the organizations
Statistics Data for research and Policy
Although, ideally, these will be feed from the same source of data the use and the users are completely different
I will talk about statistics, unless specifically mentioned otherwise 3

4. The Integrated File Number Introduction
Be aware that:
An (automated) IFN is not always necessary (not really for reasons 1 and 2 in previous slide)
Hardly any country has an IFN. Why would that be?
To implement and maintain a truly consistent IFN is very costly
My recommendation: Start small (e.g. Common case number for Prosecution and Courts) 4

5. Summary of presentation
Conceptual implications
Technical implications
Organizational implications

6. The Integrated File Number Conceptual implications
The first two questions to answer are of course:
What is the scope of the ‘Integration’? Police – Prosecution – Courts – Prisons Or even more?
What does a ‘file’ mean? The police registration? A case? All issues with counting units etc are applicable here. 6

7. The Integrated File Number 1. Conceptual implications
The ideal would be that all justice related agencies use the same IFN. As well as Police, Prosecution, and Courts, you can also consider:
Prisons
Probation service ( if you have one)
Agencies responsible for Community Services
Special care institutes for addicts
Victim care
Immigration & Asylum authorities
It all depends on what you want to do with the IFN 7

8. The Integrated File Number Conceptual implications
The file:
The basic question to answer is here is if the ‘file number’ should be crime-oriented or offender-oriented.
An offender oriented approach is conceptually more clear: it is always one person.
What you probably really want is both: the possibility to track a crime as well as an offender through the system 8

9. The Integrated File Number 2. Technical implications
How to implement the IFN technically is again highly dependent on the use of the IFN.
Some possibilities:
Restricted to two or three agencies, e.g. Prosecution and Courts
A uniform person number for each crime
A unique person number regardless of the specific crime
Use registration number (where system exists)
Technical implementation is highly dependent on whether manual or electronic datasets are used 9

10. The Integrated File Number 2. Technical implications
Scenario 1: Restricted to two or three agencies, e.g. Prosecution and Courts
This could be simple to implement. Particularly if the counting unit (the case) is more or less the same. The sender (prosecution) should take care that a really unique (!) case number is assigned. The receiver (courts) has to add this unique case number to all files/records belonging to the case. 10

11. The Integrated File Number 2. Technical implications
Scenario 2: A uniform person number for each crime
The idea is that there is a central register with a unique person number for all persons that are – at that moment – known to one of the justice agencies.
As soon as a person – suspected of having committed a crime – is known to the police, the personal details of this person are checked with this central register. There are two possibilities: 11

12. The Integrated File Number 2. Technical implications
Scenario 2: A uniform person number for each crime (2)
The person is not yet present in the register. He/she will get a unique number. This number is returned to the police. The fact that he/she is now known in the police dataset is added to the register.
The person is already known in the register. The number is returned to the police. The fact that he/she is now known in the police dataset is added to the register (if not there already) 12

13. The Integrated File Number Technical implications
Scenario 2: A uniform person number for each crime (3)
The central register thus consists of:
Personal details (name, date of birth, ...) (preferably non-changing data)
The assigned unique number
A list with all agencies where the person is at this moment ‘active’, possibly but not necessarily with their own person or case number. This list could be like this: 13

14. The Integrated File Number Technical implications
Scenario 2: A uniform person number for each crime (4)
Person name: C G Lewis; index number 5289
Agency
Date entered
Date removed
Own number
Police city A
5/4/2009
1/3/2010
123456
Police city B
30/11/2009
234567
Prosecution C
12/7/2009
Court K
15/1/2010
Prosecution D
15/3/2010
AB234
10/5/2010
Prison X
2/6/2010
CONV23456 14

15. The Integrated File Number 2. Technical implications
Scenario 2: A uniform person number for each crime (5)
As soon as a person is not ‘active’ any more in a specific agency a message is sent to the central register
If all records in the central register have a ‘Date removed’, the person could be removed from the register 15

16. The Integrated File Number 2. Technical implications
Scenario 3: A unique person number regardless of the specific crime
Basically this is the same as scenario 2. But now the person is not removed from the register.
In this scenario, the register could be linked to a criminal record register 16

17. The Integrated File Number 2. Technical implications
Scenario 4: Use registration number (where it is exists)
The implications are the same as scenario 3 except that it is now easier to
Consider the socio-economic background of the offender when considering punishment or sanction
Consider the socio-economic background of the offender when conducting research into the effectiveness of the justice system

18. The Integrated File Number 3. Organizational implications
The organizational consequences for Scenario 1 are not too far reaching:
For manual administration, changing forms
For computerised administration software modifications are needed
Instructions to employees
Publicising the new arrangements

19. The Integrated File Number Organizational implications
The organizational consequences for scenarios 2, 3 and 4 are considerable:
A separate central agency has to be created maintaining the register.
Identification of persons costs a lot of time
This central register can not be a manual one
All participating agencies have to be connected to the central register
Potential for adverse publicity and data protection consequences in most countries. 19

20. The Integrated File Number Recommendations
Firstly: establish the exact needs. Why do you want an IFN
Start small! With only a few agencies using the IFN and gradually adding more agencies to the system.
Scenario 2 or 3 is the most flexible and is ideal to develop the system incrementally. However, it is expensive.
Scenario 4 is only possible if you have a registration system (and then what about foreigners) and raises more problems. 20

21. What Happens in England
No unique IFN is yet used, although many experiments are being conducted, starting with a team Chris Lewis set up in 1993
Data are passed between agencies using a variety of identifiers, the most obvious of which is the identifier used by the Police on their national computer.

22. Discussion on what happens in Bosnia & Herzegovina
What identifiers exist in BiH, which agencies use them:the extent to which they are different in different entities?
Would a IFN would be a good idea in BiH?
How far a IFN is possible within, say 5 years?
What barriers are in the way of an IFN?
Does the answer vary by entity?