Indicators that are not harnessed to decision-making structures lead a short life. By contrast, when an indicator is embedded in existing managerial structures, and becomes part of the institutional culture, it can be adapted over time and be more sustainable. This can also strengthen the potential of the indicator to drive change in the institution. Integrating indicators into institutional culture of justice and safety agencies is a challenging ambition, however.

Governments, their international development partners, and civil society around the world are trying to produce reliable systems for capturing data on public safety and justice. For many criminal justice agencies in the developing world, however, the financial resources and technical expertise required to implement faster, technologically complex data management systems are often not available.

In this second video of the series, Developing Governance Indicators in Justice and Safety: A Country-Led Approach, Selen Siringil Perker explains some advantages of locally designed governance indicators relative to global indicators, and the method PCJ has used to align such governance indicators with domestic ambitions of justice and safety.

Since 2009, with support from the UK Department for International Development, the Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management (PCJ) has pioneered a country-led approach in developing governance indicators in justice and safety across the globe.

We are creating a series of short videos highlighting key principles of our approach through real examples from Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and Jamaica, and experience...