To ensure that accurate records are available for use in law enforcement,
including sex offender registry requirements, and to protect public safety
and national security.
Criminal history records describe an arrest and all subsequent actions
concerning each criminal event that are positively identifiable to an
individual.
Complete records require that data from all components of the criminal
justice system, including law enforcement, prosecutors, courts and corrections,
be integrated and linked. NCHIP assists States to establish the integrated
infrastructure which meets the needs of all components.
The NCHIP program was initiated in 1995 and awards are made annually
to each applicant State and eligible territory. A Program Announcement
is issued annually which describes program goals, program priorities,
application procedures and allowable costs.
Program priorities in FY 2006 are:
- Updating and automating case outcomes from courts and prosecutors
in State records and the FBI's Criminal History file.
- Full participation in the Interstate Identification Index
(III).
- Automating access to information concerning persons prohibited
from possessing or receiving a firearm, including persons who: have been
adjudicated as a mental defective or have been committed to a mental institution;
are unlawful users of or addicted to any controlled substance; are the
subject of protection or restraining orders; and/or have been convicted
of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
- Transmitting relevant State records to: (1) files in the NICS
Index particularly including the Denied Persons file; (2) the NCIC's
Protection Order file; and/or (3) the NCIC's National Sex Offender
Registry file.
NCHIP awards are made to the agency designated by the Governor to administer
the program. (See NCHIP agency addresses.)
Funds distribution is based upon need rather than population or other
formula-based methodology.
Total expenditures to date between FY 1995 - FY 2005, were approximately
$495 million. All States and eligible territories have received funds
under the program. (See State-by-State funding
summary.)
Starting with FY 2000, NCHIP has been funded under the Crime Identification
Technology Act of 1998, P.L.105-251 (CITA) and the Victims of Trafficking
and Violence Protection Act of 2000 P.L. 106-386, 114 Stat 1464.
In addition to State awards, funds are also allocated for National
Initiatives (technical assistance, privacy, national conferences
and workshops, surveys, evaluations, intergovernmental coordination, and
review of presale firearm inquiries and rejections).
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Program
Impact & Accomplishments
See also, Improving Criminal History Records for Background Checks
- Improved records: From the inception of NCHIP in 1995 to 2003,
the number of criminal history records held nationwide grew 43% while
the number of automated records increased 57%. Over the same period,
the number of records available for sharing under the FBI's Interstate
Identification Index (III) climbed 83%.
- III Participation: Since 1993, the number of States participating
in III grew from 26 to 48.
- National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS): The
NICS is now supporting nearly 8 million checks annually at the presale
stage of firearms purchases. The NICS infrastructure, developed through
NCHIP funding, seamlessly transitioned from Brady-based of Chief Law
Enforcement Officers (CLEO) - conducted checks to the current system
of Point of Contact (POC)/NICS and NICS only checks.
- Domestic Violence and Protection Orders: States have used NCHIP
funds to initiate the flagging of criminal history records evidencing
convictions for domestic violence or the issuance of a protection order.
As of August 2006, there are 46 States, District of Columbia, and
the U.S. Virgin Islands submitting data to the National Protection Order
File which became operational in May 1997.
- Convicted Sexual Offender Registries: NCHIP funds have assisted
States in building sex offender registries and participating in the
FBI's National Sex Offender Registry (NSOR) which became operational
in July 1999. As of August 2006, 50 States, Guam, the Virgin Islands
and the District of Columbia have provided more than 442,000 records to the
NSOR.
- New Identification Technologies: As of August 2006, 49 States,
3 territories (American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands) and the District
of Columbia are participating in the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint
Identification System (IAFIS), a program which became operational in
July 1999 but for which States have used their NCHIP funds to prepare
to become participants.
See also, Individual
State Accomplishments
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State-by-State
summary
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NCHIP National Initiatives
In this section:
Technical Assistance | Privacy
| National Conferences and Workshops |
Surveys | Evaluation
| Records Quality Index | Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) Project
| Intergovernmental Coordination
Technical Assistance: The NCHIP Technical Assistance
(TA) program directly assists States to implement programs, policies,
and technologies to upgrade criminal records and improve interface with
the FBI’s national systems. TA is provided through onsite visits, web
training, telephone, training classes, and workshops and conferences (See
below). Since inception, the technical assistance program has
been managed under a grant from BJS.
Onsite TA visits are coordinated with the FBI to facilitate participation
in FBI programs such as the Interstate Identification Index (III). To
date, almost all States have received some assistance under this component
of NCHIP and over 30 onsite visits have been made. Requests for assistance
must be originated by the NCHIP grantee agency, although the assistance
may be provided to any agency designated by the grant recipient.
Privacy: Advances in technological development
have raised new questions about privacy policy relevant to criminal record
systems. To meet these needs, BJS has for over 20 years supported a privacy
program under an award to SEARCH, The
National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics. The
goal of the NCHIP privacy program is to identify and analyze the privacy
impact of changes in the systems environment, to provide a forum for the
discussion of these issues, and to develop standards which may be applicable
to the collection, maintenance and dissemination of criminal record data.
Under it’s Millennium Privacy Project, BJS supported -
A survey was conducted to determine public attitudes toward uses of biometric
identifiers and a Working Group has been established to focus on the increasing
extent to which data is collected and released through nongovernmental
entities.
National Conferences and Workshops:
NCHIP supports conferences and workshops on a regional and national basis
to provide information to practitioners and policy makers, to permit exchange
of information among representatives of varying agencies across the 50
States, to respond to needs of grantees receiving NCHIP funds, and to
coordinate with other units of State and federal government which are
involved in record improvement activities and the operation of the national
record systems.
Criminal History Operations Workshop - The first in a series
of workshops co-sponsored by BJS and SEARCH. Attendees shared information
on a variety of topics, including compiling and disseminating criminal
history records, disposition reporting, fingerprint issues, the role
and responsibilities of repositories, and data quality issues.
Protection Order/Domestic Violence Information Workshop
- This second in the series of workshops was organized to help States
improve their ability to collect, utilize, and exchange protection order
and related domestic violence information.
Sex Offender Registry Workshop - This third in a series
of workshops co-sponsored by BJS and SEARCH was designed to allow State
representatives to come together to discuss issues, problems and successes
in establishing federally-mandated State sex offender registries.
National Conference on Privacy, Technology & Criminal Justice Information - The National Conference capped a two-year "Millennium
Privacy Project" undertaken by BJS and SEARCH. The conference featured
the report of the National Task Force on Privacy, Technology and Criminal
Justice Information, including findings and recommendations for managing
criminal justice information in the new technological environment. A
public opinion survey of public attitudes toward privacy issues was
also presented and released at the conference.
Beyond the Technology: The Law & Policy Implications of Increased Biometric Use, held November 2002 and co-sponsored by BJS and SEARCH, examined the law and policy ramifications of biometric counter-terrorism solutions.
Surveys: NCHIP funds regular surveys to
determine levels of record improvement, public attitudes on privacy and
related issues, State responses to current issues and firearm procedures.
Surveys are conducted under grants to SEARCH and REJIS and are released
as part of the BJS publication series.
Evaluation: BJS supports a continuing evaluation of activity being
undertaken by States with NCHIP funds, as well as with funds received
from other Federal and State sources. The program is supported under a
grant to Structured Decisions Corporation (SDC). BJS is also working with
SDC in developing a Records Quality Index (RQI) which will assist in examining
a wide variety of performance measures over time and across jurisdictions.
Records Quality Index (RQI): In
order to help quantify the impact of NCHIP funds, BJS created a Records
Quality Index (RQI). The purpose of the RQI is to measure the performance
of criminal history record systems and to help BJS to: (a) assess the
status of records quality at both the State and national levels; (b) identify
critical records improvement activities by pinpointing areas of deficiency;
and (c) help BJS target specific State- and local-level problems and deficiencies
in NCHIP program announcements. The index is a composite of different
outcome and process measures including:
- Automation of records
- Response to III inquiries
- Automated transmission of arrests to the repository
- Criminal history database flagging
- Transmission of criminal fingerprints to IAFIS
- Transmission of applicant fingerprints to IAFIS
- Electronic data submission to FBI files
- Transmission of dispositions to the repository
- Authorized access to State files
- NFF State and Compact signing status
- Timeliness of case processing
- Completeness of disposition reporting
Similar to how the Dow Jones Industrial Average is used to gauge the
performance of the overall stock market, the criminal history Records
Quality Index, based on a small set of key measures, characterizes the
performance of the States’ criminal history record systems toward
achieving the goals of the federal records improvement programs.
Structured Decisions Corporation (SDC), on behalf of BJS and in cooperation
with State central repositories of criminal history information has compiled
RQI reports for each State. The National RQI (NRQI) is a weighted average
of the individual State RQIs for which the weights reflect the number of criminal history records in each State as a proportion of the total. During the seven-year measurement period, the NRQI reflects steady records quality improvement (figure 4). The NRQI nearly tripled between 1997 and 2003, growing by 169% in this timeframe.
Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) Project:
The Firearm Inquiry Statistics (FIST) project was established in 1995
to collect and publish annual data on presale firearm inquiries required
to be conducted pursuant to the Brady Act. The project collects data on
the number of inquiries processed by States in connection with presale
firearm checks and the number and basis for rejection of such applications.
Data is also collected describing procedures followed by each of the 50
States in connection with firearm checks. The project findings are released
in BJS Bulletins and the report
Survey of State Procedures Relating to
Firearm Sales. The project is conducted under a grant to the Regional
Justice Information System (REJIS).
Intergovernmental Coordination: Background
checks require that information be available on an interstate basis coordinated
though the FBI’s national systems. BJS works with the FBI and the Department
of Justice Office of Legal Policy to ensure that NCHIP programs support
the needs of the national systems. Complete records also require that
data be obtained from all components of the criminal justice system within
each State. NCHIP coordinates with the other Office of Justice Programs
(OJP) initiatives designed to support record development and systems integration
in order to ensure that all expenditures under NCHIP are consistent with
OJP programs. Recipients of funds under NCHIP assure that systems developed
with NCHIP funds are compatible with standards and procedures governing
national systems (III, NICS, Protection Order File) and with State and
local integration programs designed to ensure record compatibility. Funds
are also available to implement State plans for system integration.
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