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Linking data for integrated systems analysis: pathways for people with disabilities in the criminal justice system

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Baldry, Dowse, Clarence & Snoyman, UNSW Symposium on Data Linkage Research 20/10 ... Project staff: Melissa Clarence (Data Manager), Brooke Dinning (Research ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: Linking data for integrated systems analysis: pathways for people with disabilities in the criminal justice system


1
Linking data for integrated systems analysis
pathways for people with disabilities in the
criminal justice system
  • Eileen Baldry, Leanne Dowse, Melissa Clarence
    Phillip Snoyman
  • University of New South Wales
  • Presented to More than the sum of its parts.
  • Second National Symposium on Data Linkage
    Research.
  • Adelaide SA. 20-21st Oct 2008
  • Presented by Devon Indig, Head of Research,
    Centre for Health Research in Criminal Justice,
    Justice Health, NSW.

2
Outline
  • Study background and description
  • Complexities in compiling the cohort
  • Difficulties in combining cross-paradigm data
  • Early findings
  • Conclusions

3
Background
  • People with Mental Health Disorders and Cognitive
    Disabilities (MHDCD) are over-represented in the
    Criminal Justice System (CJS)
  • Post-release these people have high rates of
    homelessness, unemployment, low levels of family
    support and therefore more likely to return to
    prison quickly.
  • Interventions hampered by lack of overall and
    longitudinal system impacts
  • Study designed to integrate criminal justice and
    human services data.

4
Study Overview
  • Title People with Mental Health Disorders and
    Cognitive Disabilities in the Criminal Justice
    System in NSW
  • Methods Maps the criminal justice and human
    service trajectories of a cohort of people with
    MHDCD who have been in prison
  • Combines extant administrative data from a range
    of criminal justice, health and human service
    agencies to create a linked dataset
  • Mixed secondary analysis combining inductive and
    life-course style assembly of the participants
    CJS involvement with quantitative statistical
    techniques.
  • Funding Australian Research Council Linkage
    grant

5
Study Overview - Investigators
  • Chief Investigators A/Professor Eileen Baldry
    UNSW, Emeritus Professor Ian Webster UNSW, Dr
    Leanne Dowse UNSW
  • Partner Investigators A/Prof Tony Butler,
    National Drug Research Institute, Curtin
    University of Technology Jim Simpson, Senior
    Advocate, NSW Council on Intellectual Disability
    and Simon Eyland, Director, Corporate Research,
    Evaluation and Statistics, NSW Dept of Corrective
    Services.
  • Project staff Melissa Clarence (Data Manager),
    Brooke Dinning (Research Assistant), Phillip
    Snoyman (PhD student), Catriona McComish
    (Criminal Justice Advisor)

6
Partner and Data Agencies
  • Data on a cohort of individuals being drawn from
  • Justice Health (NSW)
  • NSW Department of Corrective Services
  • NSW Council for Intellectual Disability
  • NSW Police Force
  • NSW Department of Housing
  • NSW Department of Juvenile Justice
  • NSW Department of Health
  • NSW Department of Community Services
  • NSW Dept of Disability, Ageing and Home Care
  • Legal Aid NSW

7
Expected Outcomes
  • Create life-course criminal justice histories
    highlighting points of agency interaction,
    diversion or support challenging to move from
    segmented data to continuum.
  • Identify gaps in policy, protocols and service
    delivery and areas of improvement for CJS and
    Human Service agencies.
  • Investigate worker beliefs about attitudes
    towards people with MHDCD (PhD topic)
  • Women with MHDCD experience of CJS (PhD)
  • Impact of policy and legislation (students)

8
Ethical Challenges
  • Required ethical approval from 9 ethics
    committees lengthy process
  • Developed detailed data confidentiality, privacy
    and informed consent principles
  • Occurred in a period of rapid change

Baldry, Dowse, Clarence and Snoyman UNSW,
Symposium on Data Linkage Research 20/10/08
8
9
Complexities in Compiling the Cohort
  • Established using Justice Health 2001 NSW Inmate
    Health Survey (N1,566) and the NSW Dept of
    Corrective Services (DCS) Disability Unit
    database (N1,446)
  • From N3,012 to N2,731 unique individuals
  • Demographic details from DCS
  • No unique identifiers between Police and DCS
  • Multiple aliases
  • Absence of criminal histories
  • No systemic process could be identified to
    account for data absences

10
Cohort Description
  • Cohort N2,731 people who have been in custody
  • 89 are male
  • 25 are Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islanders
  • 4 main groups
  • N568 (21) with a mental health disorder,
    (defined as having any anxiety, affective or
    psychiatric problem in the past 12 months)
  • N680 (25) with an intellectual disability
  • N783 (29) borderline intellectual disability
  • N700 (25) control group/other diagnosis

11
Complexities in cross-paradigm research (1)
  • Challenges in combining criminological and social
  • Matching Processes
  • Large number of aliases
  • Ethical approval

12
Complexities in cross-paradigm research (2)
  • Problems with Statistical Linkage Key
  • Agency capacity
  • Record duplication

13
Complexities in cross-paradigm research (3)
  • Agency Data Systems
  • Defining data that is available and suitable
  • Evolving nature of data systems
  • Variation in nature of agency data systems
  • Time limitations of agency databases
  • Administrative level analysis only

14
Early Findings (1)
  • Those with MHDCD have a higher number of
    offences, incarcerations community orders than
    control group
  • Although females have lower offences than males,
    they have a higher number of incarcerations
    orders
  • Offences largely theft, traffic, acts intended to
    cause injury, justice (ie breaches etc) public
    order offences
  • Shorter more frequent custody orders ie
    churning around CJS - than control

15
Early Findings (2)
  • Over 2/3 have a drug use disorder
  • High levels of risk re housing social behaviour
  • High level of victimisation in prison
  • At least 2/3 have been in Public Housing
  • Most known to social services at some point

16
Conclusions
  • Dataset assembling points of contact and services
    enables an interactional understanding.
  • Develops contextual understanding of crimes
  • Compare and contrast nature, timing and patterns
    of offending and service provision
  • Comparison across impairments
  • Guides a more in-depth analysis of smaller sample
  • Points to importance of meta-interpretation
    which goes beyond the simple binary of
    quantitative and qualitative research.

17
Contact Details
  • For more information contact
  • A/Professor Eileen Baldry (02) 9385 1878
  • E.baldry_at_unsw.edu.au
  • Dr Leanne Dowse (02) 9385 8090
  • L.dowse_at_unsw.edu.au

Baldry, Dowse, Clarence and Snoyman UNSW,
Symposium on Data Linkage Research 20/10/08
17
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