How data could help in criminal justice reforms

If ever there was a right time, it is now with the rollout of the three new criminal laws. Data can be the key to reform.

“The police should now work with data and not danda,” said the Prime Minister at the All-India Conference of director/inspector generals of police in Jaipur recently. He also underscored the need to build a positive image of the police. These statements say a lot about the perception of policing in the country. First, it is an acknowledgement that policing works on “might” and not “ability”. Second, it recognises the importance of data.

The NCRB reports provide extensive data represented through tables, charts, and graphs

Crime statistics aren’t new. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has published the Crimes in India (CII) and Prison Statistics India (PSI) reports for decades. The oldest available Crime in India report is from 1953, and Prison Statistics India is from 1995. But is this data used by the police, prisons, judiciary or other agencies of the criminal justice system? There is little evidence that indicates this.

The NCRB reports provide extensive data represented through tables, charts, and graphs. Data is segregated and classified under numerous heads and accompanied by a short text. However, the text just refers to figures and trends and rarely provides an analysis. This means that data from one section rarely speaks to the other, thus readers are deprived of a comprehensive overview of how the justice system is working, and more importantly, how people, who are at the centre of it, are impacted.

How can data help you might ask? Let’s look at some figures.

Arrest: The CII 2022 indicates that nearly 14 million people were arrested in 2022, marginally less than the 14.7 million arrests in 2021. This figure includes 3.2 million arrests under the Indian Penal Code 1860, 2.1 million arrests under Special and Local Laws (SLL) and 8.6 million arrests under the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973. At the end of 2022, the total number of cases for investigation was nearly 8.6 million, to be investigated by a police force of just 2.069 million (Data on Police Organisation 2021 published by the Bureau of Police Research and Development).

Trial: The CII 2022 pegs total cases pending for trial at 24.5 million, which are to be adjudicated by approximately 19,288 district court judges. Thus, it comes as no surprise that trials are taking longer, and case pendency is increasing every year. The average conviction rate for IPC offences is 54.2%, with some states having rates as low as 11.9% (Odisha). Interestingly, for SLL offences the conviction rate is higher at 77.3%, though here again Odisha stands lowest at 4.9%.

Prisons: The PSI 2022 tells us that India’s 1,330 prisons are severely overcrowded with an average occupancy rate of 131.4%. In numerous prisons, these figures cross 200% or even 300%. The number of total prisoners has constantly increased over the last decade and is around 573,000. An overwhelming 75.8% of these are undertrials, i.e. persons who are yet to be proven guilty. Over one year, more than 1.8 million people were admitted to prisons, of whom over 2.6% will end up spending more than five years in detention awaiting completion of their trial. These 1.8 million prisoners are to be managed by 63,578 jail staff, 30% less than the sanctioned strength.

When viewed collectively, these data sets can point out serious systemic issues. For instance, of the over 14 million people arrested, 1.8 million are admitted to prisons and a mere 54% get convicted, (which is even lesser in several states). With the duration of trials having increased, the duration of detention has also increased. Thus, one can also assume that many confined in prisons will eventually get acquitted, having lost years of their lives. Numerous other issues are highlighted by state and district-level datasets and need closer scrutiny.

These data-analysis exercises will, however, only be meaningful when conducted by a government agency. There exist several meaningful research ideas such as the World Justice Project, the Rule of Law Index or the India Justice Report, which can be easily adapted by the government. As the recognition for data evaluation and analysis increases, it would be prudent for the government to establish a dedicated section within the department of justice to assess and analyse state-wise crime statistics, rank states according to select criteria and assign targets for states to accomplish promptly. This would enable states to undertake specific reforms that are meaningful and based on evidence. If ever there was a right time, it is now with the rollout of the three new criminal laws. Data can be the key to reform.

Madhurima Dhanuka is programme head, prison reforms programme, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative. The views expressed are personal