Introduction to Criminal Justice Information Systems

The proliferation of information systems throughout the criminal justice system has prompted many universities supporting criminal justice programs to add criminal justice information systems technology to their curriculums. Several universities have gone so far as to hire professors with specializations in information technology and to offer criminal justice information systems as an area of concentration.

Introduction to Criminal Justice Information Systems gives an overview of the various software systems and technologies currently used in the criminal justice environment. The book covers a variety of topics critical to each member of the criminal justice system: police, prosecutor, courts, and corrections. It details the current systems in use, how they are used, and how separate systems interact with others. It also suggests how the current technology and the processes built upon it will evolve.

While designed as a textbook to meet the needs of an introductory criminal justice information technology course, Introduction to Criminal Justice Information Systems is also a flexible resource useful to professionals in relevant areas of the criminal justice system. With rapidly increasing development and use of technology in modern law enforcement, this book provides a much-needed reference for those who are responsible for its implementation as well as an essential introduction to those who will become responsible for it. An instructor's manual is available as an electronic download upon request.

Dr. Ralph Ioimo is an associate professor and the head of the Justice and Public Safety Department at Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama. He has over 30 years of law enforcement and public management experience and was a deputy chief of police with the Simi Valley Police Department in California. He assisted the nation in establishing the first standardized police records management system and has participated in state and national steering committees on public safety automation. He has lectured at numerous state and national conferences and symposiums on public safety technology issues and has been published in trade and academic journals on a variety of information technology issues. He was the first executive director of the Integrated Justice Information Systems Institute in Ashburn, Virginia. He also uses his extensive professional and academic experience to provide unique approaches to system implementation consulting.