Developing an Integrated Monitoring System.
Data are the foundation on which public policy is based.
Good policy requires good information. Criminal justice policy, and especially illicit drug policy, often suffers from poor data. As a result, where we invest our limited resources, and what differences they make in the long run, are often the product of hunch rather than fact. At the Australian Institute of Criminology, we are committed to improving the quality of data in criminal justice. This Trends and Issues discusses this and some of the other means by which Australian data on illicit drugs and their relationship to criminal activity might be improved.