Incorporating administrative data in crime statistics. From the Annual Crime and Justice Forum webinar 23 February 2022.

1. Workshop 1B:
Incorporating administrative data
in crime statistics
Welcome
Meghan Elkin
Centre for Crime and Justice
Office for National Statistics
@ONSfocus #ONSCrimeJustice

2. Agenda
13:00 to 13:05 – Welcome, Meghan Elkin, Centre for Crime and Justice, ONS
13:05 to 13:20 – Professor Jonathan Shepherd – University of Cardiff
13:20 to 13:35 – Shannon Browne – Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency
13:35 to14:00 – Discussant Meghan Elkin, Centre for Crime and Justice, ONS
@ONSfocus #ONSCrimeJustice

3. ONS Crime and Justice Workshop:
Incorporating administrative data in crime
statistics
Use of hospital data to measure violent
crime
Jonathan Shepherd
Professor of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery
Crime and Security Research Institute
@violencesociety ShepherdJP@cardiff.ac.uk

4. Shannon Browne
Analytical Services Group, Department of Justice
Linking Criminal Justice
Data in Northern Ireland

5. Objectives
• Focus on Problem-Solving Justice and evidence-based practice
• Insight into social factors impacting upon offending and resettlement in NI
• To better understand:
• Current issues impacting upon propensity to reoffend
• Risks faced by those released from custody that may lead to harm and/or
mortality (e.g. access to health services, addiction support,
housing/accommodation, employment, resettlement)
• Specific ‘risk periods’ following release from custody
• Statisticians asked by NIPS to provide an evidence base to inform service
provision and targeted strategies

6. Approach
• Concerns regarding sensitive nature of data and implications of linkage
• Scoping study conducted to determine different methods of analysis
• Administrative Data Research Northern Ireland (ADR NI)
• One of 3 national partnerships that make up the UK-wide ADR UK network
• NI partnership with Ulster University and Queen’s University Belfast
• Provides forum for access to safe, secure and unidentifiable government administrative data
• Deindentified data, Trusted Third Party matching, Secure Research Setting, controlled outputs
• Initial project into deaths following release from custody
• Aggregated custody data, one-to-one match, feasibility for future linkage

7. Background Process
• Stage 1
• Submission of Project Proposal
• Agreement in principal from
data linkage partners
• DoJ Data Protection Privacy
Impact Assessment
• Stage 2
• Liaison with UK Stats Authority
• NSDEC self-assessment process
• NSDEC enhanced assessment
• Project Accreditation
Application to Research
Approvals Panel (RAP)
• Accredited Researcher Training
and Assessment
• Stage 3
• Impacted by COVID-19
• Back to RAP (Stage 2) for project
modification
• Current position highlighted
• Outputs anticipated in 2022

8. Linkage Process
• Demographic Data
• Unique IDs, surname, forename(s),
gender, date of birth and address(es)
• Available across both datasets
• Iterative ‘matchkey’ process
• Attribute Data
• The deindentified linked dataset will
provide information on:
• DoJ Custody Releases
• Including sentence details, offending
history, date of release, geographical
information
• GRO Death Registration
• Including cause of death, date of death,
place of death, marital status, employment
status, drug type (where applicable)

9. Challenges
• ADR NI processes
• Legal gateways to data access
• Use of Digital Economy Act 2017
• Obtaining ethical approval
• First ADR NI project without university affiliation
• Managing expectations
• Timescales, data available, outputs
• Impact of COVID-19
• Delays in processes, issues with access, need for data updates
• BUT… opportunity for insight into a vulnerable cohort during pandemic

10. Future Steps
• Part of a wider research programme
• Three-tiered approach
• Opportunity to QA data for more complex research
Stage 1
• Deaths following release
from custody
• Linkage to GRO Death
Registrations
Stage 2
• Benefit uptake and
employment post-release
from custody
• Linkage to DfC data
(supplemented by DWP and
Education data if available)
Stage 3
• Resettlement and access to
housing and
accommodation
• Scoping exercise required to
determine data available
• Anticipated input from DfC
and NIHE