FIVE STATES SELECTED FOR SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING TO IMPROVE CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDKEEPING



U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE                        

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                        BJS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 1995                         202-307-0784

       FIVE STATES SELECTED FOR SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING
         TO IMPROVE CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDKEEPING

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Maine, Mississippi, New Mexico, West
Virginia and Vermont will receive up to $1 million each in federal funds
to jump start the automation of their criminal records.  
     
Mississippi has computerized 7 percent of its criminal history files, but the
other four states have not automated any of their records.

The grants from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, a Department of Justice
agency, will ultimately enable the states to call up criminal history
information quickly, communicate via computer with law enforcement
agencies and with other states and tap the criminal history files of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"The importance of improving criminal history records cannot 
be overstated," said Jan M. Chaiken, the BJS Director.  
"Fingerprint-based 'rap' sheets have always been vital for crime
investigators, but criminal history records are now increasingly used in
other ways, such as identifying serious offenders under 'three strikes'
laws, preventing felons from purchasing handguns 
and screening child care providers."

A BJS survey showed that 50 states, U.S. territories and the District of
Columbia held almost 48 million criminal history records at the end of
1993.  

Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Wyoming
reported more than 80 percent record automation, and more than 80
percent of all arrests within the last five years had complete dispositions. 
An additional 11 states--Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii, Montana, Nebraska,
New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Utah, South Carolina and
Washington--reported 80 percent automation and between 60 and 80
percent completeness of recent arrest records.

Only 37 states flag felony convictions, which is how the computer
identifies a disqualifying record.

The survey also reported that at the end of last year 29 
states were members of the Interstate Identification Index (III), which
makes possible the immediate exchange of complete criminal history
records among the states and the Federal government.     

The study was conducted by SEARCH (the National Consortium for
Justice Information and Statistics), which is meeting with BJS in
Sacramento today to address criminal record improvement among the
states.    

Single copies of the report, "Survey of Criminal History Information
Systems, 1993" (NCJ-148951), may be obtained from the BJS
Clearinghouse, Box 179, Annapolis Junction, Maryland  20701- 0179. 
The telephone number is 1-800-732-3277.  Fax orders to 410-792-4358. 


95-16 
After hours contact:  Stu Smith 301-983-9354