Principles to Guide National Data Collection on the Health of Persons in the Criminal Justice System

Few national data collection efforts have provided public health data on the criminal justice–involved population (defined hereinafter). The Bureau of Justice Statistics, an agency in the US Department of Justice, routinely collects, analyzes, and disseminates data on health and mortality in prisons and jails to monitor trends and inform policy and planning (Table 1).1-4 Agencies such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism direct or conduct surveys of the currently noninstitutionalized population to characterize substance use among persons with a history of criminal justice involvement.18