Data First: Criminal Courts Linked Data research report.

ObjectivesThe Ministry of Justice’s pioneering data linking programme Data First, funded by Administrative Data Research UK, links administrative datasets across the justice system and with other government departments to enable research providing critical new insights on justice system users, their pathways, and outcomes across a range of public services. ApproachThe first two datasets shared under the Data First project are magistrates’ courts and Crown Court data which have been deidentified, deduplicated and linked to provide a joined-up picture of criminal court defendant and case journeys. Accredited researchers can access this data using the ONS Secure Research Service to conduct research. Administrative Data Research UK has funded four Research Fellows to conduct analysis using this linked data. Additionally, analysts within the Ministry of Justice Data First team have published a research report showcasing the potential of the linked criminal courts data. The presentation will primarily focus on this work. ResultsThe Data First criminal courts datasets have enabled, for the first time, the extent and nature of repeat users to be explored at scale for research. In March 2