Data First (Splink)

The Data First datasets have been created solely for use by accredited researchers to perform cross-cutting analysis in the justice space. The datasets provided are at an individual record (i.e. person) level and is anonymised for data protection purposes. This high level of granularity allows for more robust and flexible analysis. The datasets are intended for identifying trends across the justice system to inform government policy, not for operational decision-making. A summary of the latest research can be fo...

Given researchers are not provided with personally identifying information, it is not expected that they will be able to assess whether a link between individuals is correct or not. However, as the models are regularly being reviewed within the MoJ, researchers can provide feedback if they believe they have found an error or anomaly which will be addressed in the next model iteration cycle.

set into Splink. Splink identifies links within the dataset (i.e. pairs of records with a match probability above a specified threshold) and the linked records are grouped and given a deduplicated identifier. These identifiers are added to the domain-specific datasets. For cross-domain linkage, all datasets are fed into Splink together to identify links. Once these links have been created, all records with a sufficiently high match probability are grouped and given a new linked identifier. These identifiers are...