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Criminal History Records

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Criminal history records are used daily for a wide range of criminal justice and non-criminal justice purposes. Ideally, these records represent a complete and accurate representation of a person’s involvement in the criminal justice system. However, creating and maintaining criminal history records requires the participation and cooperation of a number of entities, including law enforcement, prosecutors, courts, county jails, state corrections departments, and community supervision agencies. State criminal history repositories often find it challenging (and expensive) to maintain operational and technical connectivity with all parties responsible for contributing criminal history record information (CHRI).

SEARCH can help your state improve the accuracy and completeness of CHRI.

Our expert staff have extensive experience in:

SEARCH continues to use its experience and national leadership to address a wide range of legal, policy and operational issues relating to criminal history records, and to assist justice agencies, law- and policy-makers, and others in these broad areas:

Karen Lissy

Ms. Karen Lissy is a Justice Information Services Specialist for the Law and Policy Program of SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics. In this position, she provides assistance to state and local justice and public safety agencies to collect, curate, and use National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data and computerized criminal history record (CCH/CHRI) information for policy analysis and development.

She also guides justice and related organizations in how to craft and implement laws, policies, practices, and technology applications to effectively collect and use CCH and related justice/public safety data; address legal, policy, and regulatory issues associated with CCH data; better manage and operate criminal justice information and identification systems; and develop security and privacy policies that protect justice information sharing systems.

Ms. Lissy has nearly two decades of research and data analysis experience, having led projects and tasks in support of two agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs (the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Institute of Justice), as well as the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, and multiple foundations, including Ford, Annie E. Casey, and Hewlett. Prior to joining SEARCH in October 2020, Ms. Lissy served as a Social Science Researcher at RTI International, as a regional Crime Analyst for the Redmond (WA) Police Department, and as Director of a research program with the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis. Beginning in 2012, Ms. Lissy’s work has focused on improving data in law enforcement to answer policy questions and improve community/police relations.

Ms. Lissy earned a Bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University, and a Master’s in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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