Steven R. Schlesinger, director of the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics from 1983 to 1988, died last week in Washington, D.C., at 68. For the past 13 years, Schlesinger was chief of the statistics division of the Administrative Office of U.S. Courts. He also had been a professor of political science at Rutgers and Catholic universities, and was director of the Justice Department’s Office of Policy Development after leaving BJS.
The SEARCH organization said Schlesinger had worked with it on improving the data quality of criminal history records. SEARCH general counsel Robert Belair said, “Steve believed that complete and accurate criminal history record information is essential in order for the nation to make smart and effective criminal justice decisions.” Schlesinger had bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in political science from the Claremont Graduate School in California. He is survived by his wife, Lesley Solomon, two sons, and a grandson.