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The Role of Confidentiality The Role of Confidentiality in Collectingin Collecting

Statistical Information Statistical Information

Jan M. ChaikenJan M. Chaiken

Bureau of Justice StatisticsBureau of Justice Statistics

U.S Department of Justice U.S Department of Justice

May 31, 2000May 31, 2000

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Federal statistics agencies are maniacs Federal statistics agencies are maniacs about confidentialityabout confidentiality

A day-to-day concern of agency staff We sponsor research and conferences Our agency heads are directly involved We constantly review our data-collection

activities We prepare interviewer manuals

training for field representatives regular meetings of their supervisors

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We obey the lawWe obey the law

Strict confidentiality statutes for statistical agencies Differ from agency to agency New confidentiality legislation pending

H.R. 2885 To provide uniform safeguards for the confidentiality of information acquired for exclusively statistical purposes, and to improve the efficiency and quality of Federal statistics and Federal statistical programs

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At BJS we are especially aware of At BJS we are especially aware of legislative confidentiality requirementslegislative confidentiality requirements

We are surrounded by thousands of attorneys in the Department of Justice

The Justice Department prosecutes any criminal violations of the confidentiality statutes

We collect data from offenders and victims who are particularly attuned to the law

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Confidentiality statutes and regulations Confidentiality statutes and regulations apply to ...apply to ...

Federal statistics agency staff Other Federal agencies that collect data for us Contractors Grantees

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Why we careWhy we care

You wouldn’t have any valid statistical information if statistics agencies couldn’t promise confidentiality and stick to their promises

Federal agencies’ reputations are inter-related

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Differences among confidentiality Differences among confidentiality statutes are a problemstatutes are a problem

Some purely statistical uses of data are prohibited

Unnecessary duplicate collection of the same information

Unnecessary burden on some respondents if selected by several agencies to be in their

data-collection sample These issues are addressed by H.R. 2885

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Issues when collecting data Issues when collecting data

Example: National Crime Victimization Survey Example: Surveys of Inmates in Prisons and

Jails both sponsored by the Bureau of Justice

Statistics both fielded by the U.S. Census Bureau

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Issues related to removing identifiers Issues related to removing identifiers from analysis filesfrom analysis files

Famous people Famous cases Cases before the grand jury Investigation of someone you know, applicant for a job,

etc. Details of victimization reported by someone you know Federal case against yourself!

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Release of data recordsRelease of data records

U.S. Census Bureau’s microdata review BJS is not permitted access to some data elements in

records collected for BJS BJS cannot analyze certain issues related to strategic

planning of our data collections e.g., whether a person who has reported a victimization to an

interviewer is less likely to report a subsequent victimization we pay for Census Bureau staff to do the work

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Issues related to archiving data and Issues related to archiving data and disseminating data filesdisseminating data files

User of the data must subscribe to the allowed uses for BJS data, uses in investigations or administrative

proceedings are prohibited (except for general statistical information about people like

the person in question) Too much unidentified data in a record permits

identification in some instances Instant access to data files over the internet is a different

ball of wax

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Facilitating linkage of records in the Facilitating linkage of records in the same or different files same or different files

Can be essential or very useful for legitimate research and statistical purposes different criminal charges against the same person recidivating prisoner (previously in prison)

Providing a capability to link files may increase the risk of breaching confidentiality of each file

Was permission obtained from the respondent?

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Issues related to statistical tabulationsIssues related to statistical tabulations

Statistical discovery Traditional solutions:

Obscuring statistics drawn from too small a number of observations

Data files made available for tabulations, but individual records may not be viewed

Recent innovations Injecting statistical “noise” into the records Audit trail of cumulative uses of the data

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You can trust us… we’re from the You can trust us… we’re from the Federal governmentFederal government

Growing distrust and lack of confidence in government procedures and promises

Legislative loosening of prior restrictions on release of identified information open criminal history records sex offender registries searchable on the internet

Do changes like these have public support and confidence?

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View from within the Federal statistical View from within the Federal statistical systemsystem

Anybody who feels their confidential information is in danger of misuse or compromise by a Federal statistics agency is misguided

We have extraordinarily strict statutes and procedures and are diligent to adhere to them