Corrections Technology and Practice Taxonomy

Criminal justice professionals face immense challenges today to make communities safer and to equitably apply the law. Their mission is further complicated by the acceleration of technological change that fuels an urgent demand to improve the safety and effectiveness of and access to new law enforcement technology.

Budgets to fund these objectives are typically small in comparison to the resources available, making it necessary to engage in strategic planning that will allow units and departments to make the best investments possible.

The RAND report Fostering Innovation in Community and Institutional Corrections: Identifying High-Priority Technology and Other Needs for the U.S. Corrections Sector presents an innovation agenda in which potential improvements in technology policy are identified and prioritized. The report is part of a larger effort to analyze and prioritize technology and related needs throughout the criminal justice community for the National Institute of Justice's National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center system. As part of this effort, RAND has developed a technology and practice taxonomy to assist in identifying and categorizing potential corrections innovations.

How to Use the Taxonomy

Upon viewing the Corrections Technology and Practice Taxonomy, users will see tabs at the upper left-hand corner that will allow them to access information about community or institutional corrections. Once the type of corrections information is selected, a list of parent terms that are representative of major corrections technologies and practice areas will be visible.

By clicking on a parent term, descending layers of more specific child terms appear. This hierarchy of terms represents the information presented in the online Appendix Figure 1 and Appendix Figure 2 of the RAND report noted above.

Funding for this taxonomy and the supporting report was provided by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ).