Concept: Criminal Justice System Data

Introduction

The Manitoba Population Research Data Repository houses three justice-related databases. These include:


• the Prosecutions Information Management System (PRISM),
  
• the Criminal Courts Automated Information Network (CCAIN), and
  
• the Corrections Offender Management System (COMS).

PRISM, CCAIN and COMS each contain information related to individuals’ movement through the criminal justice system. PRISM and CCAIN contain information for crimes which fall under provincial jurisdiction, as well as those which are under federal jurisdiction but are prosecuted by the province (for example, criminal code violations). COMS contains information on offenders serving sentences, typically with durations less than 2 years.

Key Components

The tables below provide an overview of key components of the criminal justice system (interactions and involvement type) and the databases in which information related to those interactions may be found:

Justice System Interaction	PRISM	CCAIN	COMS
Police Interaction	Y*	N	N
Prosecutions	Y	N	N
Process Hearing	Y	Y	N
Criminal Court	Y	Y	N
Specialized Courts	N	N	N
Correctional Sentence	Y	Y	Y
Non-correctional Sentence	Y	Y	N

* PRISM captures police interactions indirectly. Police send all the documents they have generated to Prosecutions staff who upload it to PRISM. Some information in PRISM may differ from the information existing in the Police information systems.

Involvement Type	PRISM	CCAIN	COMS
Accused	Y	Y	Y
Victim	Y	N	N
Witness	Y	N	N

Further details about each individual data system can be found in the links below:


• Prosecutions Information and Scheduling Management (PRISM) System Data
  
• Criminal Courts Automated Information Network (CCAIN) Data
  
• Corrections Offender Management System (COMS) Data

Cautions/Limitations

Currently there is no direct link between the PRISM, CCAIN and COMS databases in the Repository. It may be possible to link the data together using scrambled PHIN and the dates available in each of the databases.

To better understand the data that is, and is not, included within the three justice registries given the structure of the criminal justice system in Manitoba and Canada, please review the following glossary terms:


• Criminal Justice System in Canada ( internal resource only )
  
• Manitoba Courts ( internal resource only )