We need good data, analysis and evaluation to drive public policy, newly-installed Justice Secretary General Aidan O’Driscoll told the Association for Criminal Justice Research and Development annual conference in Dublin on 5 October.
He said that too much public discourse in Ireland was based on anecdote, and affirmed his own personal commitment to focus on real evidence in guiding both policy and practice.
“I don’t think we can really overturn that anecdotal culture totally, but data should inform the key decisions,” he told the conference at the Hilton Hotel in Dublin’s Kilmainham
Decision-makers need objective and informed evidence and that is at the core of the Civil Service mission, he said.
Senior civil servants need “both data and courage, to draw evidence-based conclusions and speak truth to power” he said.
Moving into his new role at Justice from a background in economics and policy analysis, Aidan O’Driscoll said that since the civil service commands public resources, it is essential that it has the ability to measure how well the criminal justice system is performing.
“Thankfully, the technology now available for capturing, sharing and analysing such data is becoming ever more powerful,” he pointed out.
Data-hosting hub
He said the new Department of Justice central data-hosting hub would allow crime-fighting agencies to exchange key data in real time. “In time it will also be a rich store for management decision-making,” O’Driscoll said.
He pointed to the increasing sophistication of offender management, the JARC initiative, and Operation Thor as examples of evidence-driven interventions.
The JARC initiative, has reduced both frequency and severity of offending, he pointed out, saying this has “created quite a bit of excitement”.
This early interventionist approach aligns with the vision of policing in the recent O’Toole report on the Future of Policing, he said.
The Department this summer launched an ambitious new Data and Research Strategy which aims to develop a thriving culture of research, analysis and evaluation in the Department and the wider Justice sector, O’Driscoll said.
He also referred to the restructuring of the Department into separate Home Affairs and Justice & Equality branches.
This “radical and unprecedented restructuring” will move the Department from its traditional subject-based set-up to a functional model of five key areas consisting of policy, governance, legislation, transparency and operations.
Restructuring
“This is the biggest ever restructuring of a Department in the Irish civil service,” O’Driscoll said “and if we get it right, it may well be the model for the future of the whole service.
The new structure will give the Department the space to become more effective in what it does.
“But we will ultimately be judged on how well we use the space available to us, and having the best possible data and analysis to support our work will be absolutely crucial to our effectiveness,” he concluded.