Justice System Improvement Study Task Force
Also known as:
Minnesota Justice Improvement Study Task Force (MJISTF)
Active dates:1979-1981
Authority:
Minnesota Crime Control Planning Board
Function: The Task Force is to coordinate a Justice System Improvement Study to provide the Governor, the Legislature, and other decision makers with an objective analysis of executive branch criminal justice agencies in Minnesota. The goal of the study is to identify organizational problem areas and offer recommendations which would create a more integrated and coordinated criminal justice system at the state level.
History:
The Crime Control Planning Board (CCPB) received a discretionary grant from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration and matching funds from the Minnesota Legislature for the Justice System Improvement Study (JSIS). The JSIS staff began its research in January, 1980.
Funded by the LEAA and the legislature, the JSIS was directed to provide State decisionmakers with an objective analysis of the following criminal justice agencies: Attorney General, Board of Pardons, Department of Corrections, Corrections Board, County Attorneys Council, Crime Control Planning Board, Crime Victims Reparations Board, Ombudsman for Corrections, Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, Department of Public Safety, Sentencing Guidelines Commission, and State Public Defender. The project was initiated because national studies had determined that criminal justice systems often have organizational problems, such as duplication, fragmentation, lack of coordination, and mandated responsibility without sufficient control over resources.
The JSIS staff interviewed managers in each agency about their service and support functions -- research evaluation, planning, policy, budgeting, personnel, training, auditing, accounting, grants administration, public information, and management analysis. Agency literature, mission statements, authorizing legislation, and budgets were also reviewed. Agencies were informed about the study's progress and given several opportunities to comment on drafts.
The JSIS Task Force concluded that the lack of long-range, systematic planning and policy development, accompanied by the authority to implement developed plans, was a major deficiency in the State's criminal justice system. However, no major problems in administrative service and support functions were discovered. Task force recommendations addressed the creation of a State planning organization which would have the authority to set goals and review policies, solicit citizen participation, and coordinate criminal justice data processing programs. The task force also recommended that the departments of corrections and public safety remain separate organizations while the other agencies be placed administratively under a new department of criminal justice services.
The Task Force recommended the "Staff Final Report" (below) as a good basis upon which a new Criminal Justice Council and department of Planning and Policy Development could begin the task of systemwide criminal justice planning.
Membership:
Charlton Dietz, Chairman; Rosemary Ahmann; Gerald Benjamin; Jimmy Evans; Kenneth Kraft; John Wunsch.
Agency heads:
Charlton Dietz, Chairman
Note: The Legislative Reference Library may have additional reports on or by this group available through our catalog.
Record last updated:
10/16/2012
All information on this group from the Library’s collection of agency notebooks has been digitized. These
materials are incorporated into the “documents/articles” section of the record. Please contact a librarian with any questions. The Minnesota Agencies database is a work in progress.