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APRI Highlights - Winter 2003
APRI Measurement and Accountability Initiatives
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Chief Administrator, American Prosecutors Research Institute
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Prosecutors across America are devoting more attention and resources to measuring performance than ever before. “Efficiency” and “effectiveness” are topics that you hear increasingly at all levels of government. This focus is even more important and prevalent when economic conditions are uncertain, and government at all levels must do more with less.
Accountability in Government, Business and Prosecution
Federal agencies are required by law to enforce the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, which mandates that they annually measure performance and evaluate outcomes. Federal agency results are to be carefully examined and integrated into future budget determinations. While the implementation of the federal law has been slower than Congress and others envisioned—and Homeland Security recently has overshadowed many domestic priorities—renewed efforts are now underway to promote government efficiency and accountability.
State and local governments are experiencing similar demands for GPRA-type principles. Local governments, either formally or informally, are developing scorecards and benchmarks for measuring performance. These measures are being used in determining state and local budgets and priorities. Recent reports indicate that many jurisdictions are experiencing very serious budget shortfalls.
The business and corporate communities have a strong need to demonstrate that their operations and practices are efficient, effective and accountable. Recent highly publicized corporate management abuses demonstrate that businesses must guard against potential loss of faith by shareholders and customers.
In the prosecution community, like the business community, it must be demonstrated that integrity and accountability are integral to the way business is conducted. In fact, prosecutors have unique responsibilities in protecting citizen safety, ensuring fairness and maintaining public trust.
National Prosecutor Study Group
With support from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation and the National Institute of Justice, APRI will convene a study group to examine topics of accountability, performance measurement and best practices within the prosecution community. The group also will examine a process for determining priority research of operational relevance to prosecutors. Participants will include local, state and federal prosecutors, scholars, economists and senior government officials. APRI Board Member and former Attorney General, Edwin Meese III, who previously chaired the ABA Task Force on Federalism of Criminal Law, will chair the group. By clarifying prosecutor goals and identifying meaningful performance measures, the project should assist prosecutors and government officials nationally.
APRI’s commitment to improving operational practices is expanding and is illustrated by its recent publication, How Many Cases Should a Prosecutor Handle? Results of the National Workload Assessment Project. The Prosecutor Study Group plans to complete its initial work and report its results at the NDAA Summer Conference in Snowmass, Colorado, on July 20-23, 2003. APRI plans to publish the results and provide copies to all prosecutor offices, in hopes that it will help prosecutors conduct their business even better in the 21st century.
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