Integration of Scottish Criminal Justice Information Systems (ISCJIS)
ISCJIS is a series of IT links between the various systems of the Scottish criminal justice organisations. The Criminal History System is at the hub of the information dataflow.
ISCJIS is a joint initiative by the major criminal justice agencies including
- Scottish Executive
- Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
- Scottish Court Service (SCS)
- Scottish Police Forces (and the British Transport Police)
- Scottish Prison Service (SPS)
- Scottish Criminal Record Office
- Scottish Local Authorities (including District Courts)
- Scottish Children's Reporter Administration
- Scottish Legal Aid Board
- Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA).
The objective of the ISCJIS programme is to allow communication between the IT systems of the various Scottish Criminal Justice Organisations (SCJOs), so that agreed information can be passed electronically from one organisation to another without sacrificing confidentiality.
There are four key quality of service benefits from ISCJIS:
Faster Service
Data can be transferred electronically and instantly between the various organisations. As an example, a link between the court and the prison would allow the prison to know who and how many convicted persons have been sentenced to prison, before they arrive from court. This would allow earlier checks for risk assessment and safety factors.
Improvement in Accuracy
The present paper transfers of data are vulnerable to errors. Automatic transfer of data between computers will only be wrong if the original data are wrong. In addition, the availability of more up to date information will assist the decision-making processes throughout the criminal justice system.
Improved Efficiency in the Use of Staff
No longer will data required to be "keyed in" several times: it will follow cases automatically from original report to final disposal and recording. A reduction in the time spent on paper handling (particularly where documents have traditionally been delivered by hand) will release staff for more productive tasks.
Improved access to information
The development of inter-agency links has involved the ISCJIS partners in developing common reference numbers, which will allow the progress of individual cases to be followed through the various stages (and agencies) of the criminal justice system. The use of these numbers will be vital when keeping the victims of crime informed of the progress and outcome of ‘their' cases.
They will also help in the gathering of information from various sources, which are necessary, for example, in the preparation of social enquiry reports, and for statistical purposes.
For more information on ISCJIS or if you have any queries you can e-mail iscjis@scotland.gov.uk