AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the United States, 1997-2000

This project undertook the systematic collection of
 first-generation data concerning the nature, extent, and seriousness
 of child sexual exploitation (CSE) in the United States. The project
 was organized around the following research objectives: (1)
 identification of the nature, extent, and underlying causes of CSE and
 the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) occurring in the
 United States, (2) identification of those subgroups of children that
 were at the greatest risk of being sexually exploited, (3)
 identification of subgroups of adult perpetrators of sex crimes
 against children, and (4) identification of the modes of operation and
 other methods used by organized criminal units to recruit children
 into sexually exploitative activities. The study involved surveying
 senior staff members of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and
 government organizations (GOs) in the United States known to be
 dealing with persons involved in the transnational trafficking of
 children for sexual purposes. Part 1 consists of survey data from
 nongovernment organizations. These were local child and family
 agencies serving runaway and homeless youth. Part 2 consists of survey
 data from government organizations. These organizations were divided
 into local, state, and federal agencies. Local organizations included
 municipal law enforcement, county law enforcement, prosecutors, public
 defenders, and corrections. State organizations included state child
 welfare directors, prosecutors, and public defenders. Federal
 organizations included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal
 Public Defenders, Immigration and Naturalization Service, United
 States Attorneys, United States Customs, and the United States Postal
 Service. Variables in Parts 1 and 2 include the organization's city,
 state, and ZIP code, the type of services provided or type of law
 enforcement agency, how the agency was funded, the scope of the
 agency's service area, how much emphasis was placed on CSEC as a
 policy issue or a service issue, conditions that might influence the
 number of CSEC cases, how staff were trained to deal with CSEC cases,
 how victims were identified, the number of children that experienced
 child abuse, sexual abuse, pornography, or other exploitation in 1999
 and 2000 by age and gender, methods of recruitment, family history of
victims, gang involvement, and substance abuse history of victims.

Tags: child-abuse, child-pornography, children, exploitation, sex-offender-profiles, sex-offenders, sexual-abuse, sexual-exploitation
Organization: Department of Justice
Estimating the Financial Costs of Victimization, United States, 2017-2018

Despite reductions in U.S. crime rates in recent decades, crime victimization continues to be a pressing problem with enormous societal costs. This project, conducted by the Justice Research and Statistics Association (JRSA) in partnership with the Urban Institute (Urban) and the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC), is an assessment of the field of cost of victimization research. The product is a menu of recommendations for future research studies and practitioner tools to advance the field.
One objective of the project was to keep the focus squarely on the victims, and consider what information is most needed by those who serve them. Relatedly, another objective was to recognize that even if the proximate victim is a business, the government, or non-profit organization, individuals still suffer.
Given the victim-centered focus, the project team conducted several primary data collections designed to obtain input from practitioners and victims about their experiences and needs. Focus groups were conducted with three practitioner groups: Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) compensation and assistance administrators, State Administering Agency (SAA) and state Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) directors, and civil attorneys who pursue tort claims for damages for crime victims. As well, the project team conducted a nationwide survey of victim service providers and a smaller survey of victimization survivors.
The project team also re-framed the taxonomy of victimization costs pioneered and revised by Cohen over the years (Cohen, 2005, e.g.) from the perspective of various practitioner users - based on who covers different costs - and adds factors that may increase or decrease costs they may be estimating. The project team also conducted a literature review that consists of two major sections: one focused on how costs of victimization are estimated and the other on estimation methods and data sources concerning the incidence, prevalence, and concentration of victimization.
The data collection activities and literature reviews, combined with extensive input from an advisory board of experts throughout the project, inform the menu of recommendations proposed in Volume III. These focus on topical areas where more information is needed; methodological recommendations to improve estimates; and practitioner resources and tools to help disseminate research developments, assist in calculating local estimates, and better equip practitioners to communicate and use victimization cost estimates effectively in the field.

Tags: compensation, costs, justice, victimization, victims-of-crimes
Organization: Department of Justice
Women Coping in Prison at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women in Virginia, 1999-2000

This study contributed to the growing interest in mental
illness and impairment among incarcerated individuals. It focused on
the larger spectrum of psychopathology that characterized the general,
nonhospitalized population at the Fluvanna Correctional Center for
Women in Virginia. Part 1 consists of clinical data obtained through
several questionnaires completed by a sample of 812 inmates between
April 1999 and January 2000. Parts 2 through 4 consist of additional
clinical data on subsamples of the Part 1 sample that were obtained
between June 1999 and July 2000 through interviews and self-enumerated
questionnaires. Part 5 contains data on inmate behavior and attitudes
obtained through questionnaires completed by correctional officers.

Tags: criminality-prediction, female-inmates, inmate-attitudes, inmate-populations, mental-disorders, mental-health, offender-profiles, prison-adjustment, psychological-evaluation, victimization, violence
Organization: Department of Justice
Course of Domestic Abuse Among Chicago's Elderly: Risk Factors, Protective Behaviors, and Police Intervention, 2006-2009

The study was conducted to examine if and how risk factors and protective behaviors affect the course of elder abuse over time, and the role of police in intervening with elderly victims of domestic abuse and/or neglect. It also examined the prevalence rates for various types of abuse using a stratified sample of Chicago's elderly population. The study involved in-depth interviews with 328 elderly (aged 60 and over) residents of Chicago from three sample groups: (1) 159 community nonvictims; (2) 121 community victims; and (3) a police sample consisting of 48 elderly victims who had been visited by trained domestic violence/senior citizen victimization officers in the Chicago Police Department. The interviews were conducted using a survey instrument designed to assess victimization. The survey included questions about various characteristics and risk factors associated both with victims and perpetrators of abuse and/or neglect, specific types of abuse, and protective behaviors of victims. Victimization was examined twice over a 10-month period to evaluate the course of abuse over time. The efficacy of police intervention was also examined.

Tags: abuse, domestic-violence, elder-abuse, family-violence, older-adults, police-intervention, spouse-abuse, victimization
Organization: Department of Justice
Impact Evaluation of the Rhode Island Probation Specialized Domestic Violence Supervision Unit, 2003-2004 [United States]

The purpose of the research was to learn about the effectiveness of supervision of domestic violence offenders on probation. Specifically, the study sought to determine which, if any, probation practices promote victim safety and hold offenders accountable.  This study used several data collection strategies to better evaluate and compare two domestic violence offender case management strategies. The quantitative analysis was based on the findings from a nonrandom representative sample of 551 male probationers drawn from the nearly 3,000 misdemeanor domestic probationers in Rhode Island as of January 1, 2003. These offenders were, at the time of their sentencing, placed in either a regular or specialized domestic violence caseload determined by probation policies for each of 10 caseloads included in the study. A total of 182 offenders were placed on traditional supervision, while 369 offenders were placed in a specialized domestic violence unit. The probationers were tracked through January 1, 2004, to determine recidivism and reabuse differences between these supervision approaches.  There were three measures used to determine reabuse and recidivism: (1) rearrest for either an offense classified as domestic violence or for any other offense resulting in the defendant being charged and arraigned in a Rhode Island court; (2) a police report filed for an incident classified as domestic violence, whether or not an arrest was made; and (3) a victim report of domestic violence obtained in study interviews (see Data Collection Notes).  The data file contains 115 variables including basic information regarding the offender such as age, caseload number, and caseload type.  Additional variables detail the relationship between the offender and the victim, as well as the offender's previous arrest record, and previous domestic violence incidents involving the offender.

Tags: arrest-records, conviction-records, criminal-histories, domestic-violence, victimization, violence-against-women
Organization: Department of Justice
Reducing Courts' Failure to Appear Rate: A Procedural Justice Approach [Nebraska Statewide, Select Counties, 2009-2010]

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of using different kinds of written reminders to reduce misdemeanants' failure to appear (FTA) rates.  The study examined the problem of FTA via a two-stage experiment. In Phase 1, 7,865 misdemeanor defendants from 14 Nebraska counties were randomly assigned to one of four reminder conditions: (1) a no-reminder (control) condition; (2) a reminder-only condition; (3) a condition in which the reminder also made them aware of possible sanctions should they fail to appear (reminder-sanctions); or (4) a condition in which the reminder mentioned sanctions but also highlighted aspects of procedural justice (PJ), such as voice, neutrality, respect, and public interest (reminder-combined).  Data collection began in March 2009 and continued through May 2010. Files were received daily from the Nebraska Administrative Office of the Courts containing information about cases filed in each of the 14 counties included in the study. Upon receipt of this file, researchers screened participants using certain eligibility criteria. Researchers mailed postcard reminders two to five business days prior to the scheduled court appearance.  Approximately one week after each scheduled court appearance researchers accessed the courts' administrative database (JUSTICE) to determine whether the defendant actually appeared for the scheduled hearing. Upon accessing this information, researchers recorded this variable, which is the primary dependent variable in the study.  At the same time researchers recorded the appearance variable, they selected participants for Phase 2 of the study -- a mail survey administered after their scheduled appearance (or non-appearance) to assess their perceptions of procedural fairness and their level of trust/confidence in the courts.  To do so, researchers selected all participants who failed to appear for their court date to receive a survey. Twenty percent of defendants who did appear were also randomly selected to receive a survey.  Surveys were sent to a total of 2,360 individuals and were received from a total of 452 defendants.  The study contains a total of 197 variables including demographics, court appearance characteristics, experiment characteristics, charge/offense variables, and variables from surveys about experiences with the court system.

Tags: case-processing, court-cases, court-system, courts, criminal-courts, criminal-justice-policy, criminal-justice-system, failure-to-appear, justice, legal-proceedings, misdemeanor-offenses, offense-classification, procedural-justice, trust-in-government
Organization: Department of Justice
Tool Mark Analysis of Cut Costal Cartilage, 2009-2010 [United States]

The study was designed to establish the potential error rate associated with the generally accepted method of tool mark analysis of cut marks in costal cartilage. Three knives with different blade types were used to make experimental cut marks in costal cartilage of pigs. Each cut surface was cast, and each cast was examined by three analysts working independently. Presence of striations, regularity of striations, and presence of a primary and secondary striation pattern were recorded for each cast. The distance between each striation was measured. The Cut Mark Measurement Data (Dataset 1) are comprised of the observations and measurements of three analysts on 180 distinct specimen identifiers. The repeated measurements were aggregated by taking the Mean Interstriation Distance (MID) and the medians of the numeric variables for each combination of the categorical variables, resulting in the Aggregated Cut Mark Measurement Data (Dataset 2).

Tags: anthropology, forensic-sciences
Organization: Department of Justice
Neighborhood Violence in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1996-2007

This study assessed the implementation and impact of the One Vision One Life (OVOL) violence-prevention strategy in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 2003, the rise in violence in Pittsburgh prompted community leaders to form the Allegheny County Violence Prevention Imitative, which became the OVOL program. The OVOL program sought to prevent violence using a problem-solving, data-driven model to inform how community organizations and outreach teams respond to homicide incidents. The research team examined the impact of the OVOL program on violence using a quasi-experimental design to compare violence trends in the program's target areas before and after implementation to (1) trends in Pittsburgh neighborhoods where One Vision was not implemented, and (2) trends in specific nontarget neighborhoods whose violence and neighborhood dynamics One Vision staff contended were most similar to those of target neighborhoods. The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police provided the violent-crime data, which the research team aggregated into monthly counts. The Pittsburgh Department of City Planning provided neighborhood characteristics data, which were extracted from the 2000 Census. Monthly data were collected on 90 neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from 1996 to 2007, resulting in 12,960 neighborhood-by-month observations.

Tags: aggravated-assault, assault, community-organizations, firearms, homicide, intervention-strategies, neighborhood-change, neighborhood-characteristics, neighborhood-conditions, neighborhoods, outcome-evaluation, violence, violent-crime
Organization: Department of Justice
Field Study of Sex Trafficking in Tijuana, Mexico, 2008-2009

The study examined human trafficking and the commercialized sex industry in Tijuana, Mexico. The research team conducted interviews with 220 women from the sex industry (Dataset 1), 92 sex trade facilitators (Dataset 2), 30 government/law enforcement officials (Dataset 3), and 20 community-based service providers (Dataset 4).

Tags: law-enforcement, nongovernmental-organizations, organized-crime, police, prostitution, public-officials, sex-tourism, sex-trafficking, sexual-behavior
Organization: Department of Justice
Explaining Developmental Crime Trajectories at Places: A Study of "Crime Waves" and "Crime Drops" at Micro Units of Geography in Seattle, Washington, 1989-2004

This study extends a prior National Institute (NIJ) funded study on mirco level places that examined the concentration of crime at places over time. The current study links longitudinal crime data to a series of other databases. The purpose of the study was to examine the possible correlates of variability in crime trends over time. The focus was on how crime distributes across very small units of geography. Specifically, this study investigated the geographic distribution of crime and the specific correlates of crime at the micro level of geography. The study reported on a large empirical study that investigated the "criminology of place." The study linked 16 years of official crime data on street segments (a street block between two intersections) in Seattle, Washington, to a series of datasets examining social and physical characteristics of micro places over time, and examined not only the geography of developmental patterns of crime at place but also the specific factors that are related to different trajectories of crime. The study used two key criminological perspectives, social disorganization theories and opportunity theories, to inform their identification of risk factors in the study and then contrast the impacts of these perspectives in the context of multivariate statistical models.

Tags: crime-mapping, crime-prediction, crime-rates, crime-statistics, employment, geographic-information-systems, land-ownership, property-values, public-assistance-programs, public-housing, socioeconomic-status, truancy, urbanization, voter-registration
Organization: Department of Justice
Evaluating Alternative Police Responses to Spouse Assault in Colorado Springs: an Enhanced Replication of the Minneapolis Experiment, 1987-1989

The purpose of this study was to replicate an experiment in
 Minneapolis (MINNEAPOLIS INTERVENTION PROJECT, 1986-1987 [ICPSR 9808])
 testing alternative police response to cases of spouse assault, using
 a larger number of subjects and a more complex research design. The
 study focused on how police response affected subsequent incidents of
 spouse assault. Police responses studied included arrest, issuing
 emergency protection orders, referring the suspect to counseling,
 separating the suspect and the victim, and restoring order only (no
 specific action). Data were obtained through initial incident reports,
 counseling information, and personal interviews. Follow-up interviews
 were conducted at three- and six-month periods, and recidivists were
 identified through police and court record checks. Variables from
 initial incident reports include number of charges, date, location,
 and disposition of charges, weapon(s) used, victim injuries, medical
 attention received, behavior towards police, victim and suspect
 comments, and demographic information such as race, sex, relationship
 to victim/offender, age, and past victim/offender history. Data
 collected from counseling forms provide information on demographic
 characteristics of the suspect, type of counseling, topics covered in
 counseling, suspect's level of participation, and therapist comments.
 Court records investigate victim and suspect criminal histories,
 including descriptions of charges and their disposition, conditions of
 pretrial release, and the victim's contact with pretrial services.
 Other variables included in follow-up checks focus on criminal and
 offense history of the suspect. The data collection includes separate
 data files for the original, second, and final versions of some of the
forms that were used.

Tags: arrests, counseling, crisis-intervention, domestic-assault, intervention, intervention-strategies, police-intervention, police-response, recidivism, spouse-abuse, victims
Organization: Department of Justice
Evaluation of the New York City Police Cadet Corps, 1986-1989

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the
Police Cadet Corps program in New York City had achieved its goal of
improving the police force through additional training of applicants
with higher education. The evaluation of the program was designed to
answer questions such as (1) How was the program recruitment
implemented, and with what success? (2) What were the role-related
perceptions and attitudes of the cadets and how did they differ, if at
all, among different types of cadets and from those of the members of
the latest recruit class? (3) How, if at all, did the program
experience affect the cadets' perceptions and attitudes? and (4) How
did the attitudes and perceptions of cadets compare to non-cadet
recruits with and without some college education in the same academy
class? Four cohorts of cadets were asked to complete several different
questionnaires throughout the course of the program, which culminated
in graduation from the police academy. Two sets of non-cadet recruits
from the academy were also included in the research. Major variables
in the data collection detail reasons for entry into the police
department, opinions regarding police, and perceptions and attitudes
toward the police cadet program. Some questionnaires also provided
information on demographic characteristics of the cadets (race, sex,
marital status, military service and branch, highest level of
education, family income, and year of birth). The unit of observation
is the New York City police cadet.

Tags: attitudes, educational-background, leadership, police-cadets, police-recruits, police-training, program-evaluation
Organization: Department of Justice
Drug Abuse as a Predictor of Rearrest or Failure to Appear in Court in New York City, 1984

This data collection was undertaken to estimate the
prevalence of drug use/drug use trends among booked arrestees in New
York City and to analyze the relationship between drug use and crime.
The data, which were collected over a six-month period, were generated
from volunteer interviews with male arrestees, the analyses of their
urine specimens, police and court records of prior criminal behavior
and experience with the criminal justice system, and records of each
arrestee's current case, including court warrants, rearrests, failures
to appear, and court dispositions. Demographic variables include age,
education, vocational training, marital status, residence, and
employment. Items relating to prior and current drug use and drug
dependency are provided, along with results from urinalysis tests for
opiates, cocaine, PCP, and methadone. The collection also contains
arrest data for index crimes and subsequent court records pertaining
to those arrests (number of court warrants issued, number of pretrial
rearrests, types of rearrests, failure to appear in court, and court
dispositions), and prior criminal records (number of times arrested
and convicted for certain offenses).

Tags: arrest-records, court-cases, criminal-histories, disposition-legal, drug-abuse, drug-related-crimes, drug-testing, drug-use, police-records, recidivism-prediction, urinalysis
Organization: Department of Justice