AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
Improving Evidence Collection Through Police-Prosecutor Coordination in Baltimore, 1984-1985

The purpose of this data collection was to investigate the 
 effects of changes in police evidence procedures and the effects of 
 providing feedback to officers on felony case charge reductions or 
 dismissals due to evidentiary problems. The data were designed to 
 permit an experimental assessment of the effectiveness of two police 
 evidence collection programs implemented on April 1, 1985. One of these 
 was an investigative and post-arrest procedural guide. The other was an 
 individualized feedback report prepared by prosecutors for police 
 officers. The officer file includes information on each officer's sex 
 and race, length of police service, and assignment changes during the 
 study period. Data on the offender and the case files include time of 
 arrest, information on arresting officer, original investigating 
 officer and principal investigating officer, offense and victim 
 characteristics, arrestee characteristics, available evidence, case 
processing information, and arrestee's criminal history.

Tags: arrest-procedures, evidence, felony-offenses, police, prosecution
Organization: Department of Justice
Procedural Reform of Jury Murder Convictions in Georgia, 1970-1978

The purpose of this data collection was to assess the impact 
 of the 1973 reforms of the death penalty laws on the levels of 
 arbitrariness and discrimination in capital sentencing in Georgia. The 
 data cover two different periods corresponding to the periods before 
 and after the reform: 1970-1972 and 1973-1978. Numerous measures of 
 defendant blameworthiness were developed as a basis for assessing 
 levels of arbitrariness and discrimination in Georgia's capital 
 charging and sentencing system. Specific variables include race, sex, 
 current offense, prior conviction and arrests, method of killing, and 
number of victims.

Tags: capital-punishment, discrimination, sentencing, sentencing-reforms
Organization: Department of Justice
Impact of Casino Gambling on Crime in the Atlantic City Region, 1970-1984

The aim of this data collection was to gauge the impact of 
 legalized casino gambling on the level and spatial distribution of 
 crime in the Atlantic City region by comparing crime rates before and 
 after the introduction of this type of gambling in the area. Data for 
 the years 1972 through 1984 were collected from various New Jersey 
 state publications for 64 localities and include information on 
 population size and density, population characteristics of race, age, 
 per capita income, education and home ownership, real estate values, 
 number of police employees and police expenditures, total city 
 expenditure, and number of burglaries, larcenies, robberies and vehicle 
 thefts. Spatial variables include population attributes standardized by 
 land area in square miles, and measures of accessibility, location, and 
 distance from Atlantic City. For the 1970/1980 data file, additional 
 variables pertaining to population characteristics were created from 
 census data to match economic and crime attributes found in the 
 1972-1984 data. Data on eight additional locations are available in the 
1970/1980 file.

Tags: burglary, casinos, crime-patterns, crime-rates, gambling, police, population-characteristics, population-size, robbery
Organization: Department of Justice
Cross-Validation of the Iowa Offender Risk Assessment Model in Michigan, 1980-1982

These data were collected in an attempt to cross-validate 
 the 1984 and 1985 versions of the Iowa model for assessing risk of 
 offending while on parole by applying the model to a Michigan sample of 
 male parolees over a follow-up period of two and one-half years. 
 Different measures of predictors such as prior criminal history, 
 current offense, substance abuse history, age, and recidivism on parole 
 are available. The first file contains information on parolees such as 
 demographic characteristics, drug use history, prior criminal history, 
 risk scores, and parole history. The second file includes parolees' 
 detailed criminal histories including the total number of violent and 
 nonviolent felony arrests and dates, and charges and dispositions of 
each arrest with a maximum of eight arrests.

Tags: age, crime-prediction, criminal-histories, offenses, parole, parolees, recidivism, risk-assessment, substance-abuse
Organization: Department of Justice
Evaluation of Minnesota's Felony Sentencing Guidelines, 1978-1984

This data collection gauges the effects of the Minnesota
felony sentencing guidelines on prosecutional charging practices, plea
negotiations, and sentencing decisions. The collection provides
primary sources for evaluating the statewide changes in the
determinants of charging and sentencing decisions after the sentencing
guidelines were enacted. The statewide defendants file (Part 2)
contains information on the offender's demographic characteristics
(age, sex, race, and marital and employment status), year of
disposition, descriptions of the convicted offense, criminal history
score, type of sentence imposed, the presumptive disposition and
duration of confinement, dispositional location in the sentencing grid
of the guidelines, and types of dispositional departure from
presumptive sentences. Variables in the eight-county sample data (Part
1) are similar to those available in the statewide data. However, the
county sample data contain additional information on characteristics
of cases and case processing variables such as whether the defendant
was convicted of multiple behavioral incidents and various types of
plea bargaining.

Tags: felony-offenses, plea-negotiations, prosecution, sentencing, sentencing-guidelines
Organization: Department of Justice
Sandhills [North Carolina] Vocational Delivery System Evaluation Project, 1983-1987

This data collection was designed to evaluate the
effectiveness of a vocational training program on post-release
vocational skills, employment, and recidivism of youthful male inmates
18 to 21 years old. The study used an experimental design to examine
the differences in post-release activities among three inmate groups. A
comprehensive inmate data base was created to describe inmates'
confinement history, employment history, and their criminal records.
The contextual data files provide additional information relevant to
inmates' post-release activities.

Tags: criminal-histories, employment, male-inmates, postrelease-programs, program-evaluation, recidivism, vocational-education, youths
Organization: Department of Justice
Analyzing Trial Time in California, Colorado, and New Jersey, 1986

This study of nine courts was undertaken to identify
 procedural factors that can be used to reduce the length of criminal
 and civil trials without impairing fairness. The data collection
 provides direct information on the actual amount of time consumed by
 various trial segments and the perceived length of trial segments as
 gauged by judges and attorneys. In addition, data are supplied on the
 legal community's attitudes toward existing trial length, reasons for
 it, and judicial control over it. The trial case file contains
 information on types of cases and trials, estimated trial length, type
 of disposition, type of defense attorney, number of claims,
 cross-claims, and counterclaims, number of exhibits introduced, number
 of expert and lay witnesses called by the defense, number of
 peremptory challenges, and day and time the trial ended. The
 questionnaire data contain information on professional experiences,
 number of cases tried per month, opinions about time consumed by each
 segment of the trial, estimated time used in each segment, and
attitudes toward judicial control over the trial length.

Tags: attitudes, attorneys, case-processing, disposition-legal, judges, time-utilization, trial-procedures, trials
Organization: Department of Justice
Firearms Violence and the Michigan Felony Firearm Law:  Detroit, 1976-1978

The purpose of this study was to estimate the impact of the
Michigan Firearm Law on the processing of defendants in Detroit's
Recorder's Court. Most variables in the study focus on the defendant
and on court processing decisions made at different stages. Special
attention was given to determining the presence and use of firearms
and other weapons in each offense. Variables included are gender and
race of the defendant, original charges, type of counsel, amount of
bail, felony firearm charged, number of convictions, race of the
victim, firearm used, judge, and sentence.

Tags: court-cases, criminal-justice-system, defendants, law, michigan-firearm-law, sentencing, trials, violence
Organization: Department of Justice
Homicides in Chicago, 1965-1995

These datasets contain information on every homicide in the
 murder analysis files of the Chicago Police Department for the years
 1965-1995. For the victim-level file, Part 1, data are provided on the
 relationship of victim to offender, whether the victim or offender had
 previously committed a violent or nonviolent offense, time of
 occurrence and place of homicide, type of weapon used, cause and
 motivation for the incident, whether the incident involved drugs,
 alcohol, gangs, child abuse, or a domestic relationship, if or how the
 offender was identified, and information on the death of the
 offender(s). Demographic variables such as the age, sex, and race of
 each victim and offender are also provided. The victim-level file
 contains one record for each victim. Information for up to five
 offenders is included on each victim record. The same offender
 information is duplicated depending on the number of victims. For
 example, if a sole offender is responsible for five victims, the file
 contains five victim records with the offender's information repeated
 on each record. Part 2, Offender-Level Data, is provided to allow the
 creation of offender rates and risk analysis that could not be
 accurately prepared using the victim-level file due to the repeating
 of the offender information on each victim record. Offender variables
 were reorganized during the creation of the offender file so that each
 known offender is associated with a single record. A majority of the
 variables in the offender-level file are replicas of variables in the
 victim-level file. The offender records contain demographic
 information about the offender, demographic and relationship
 information about the offender's first victim (or sole victim if there
 was only one), and information about the homicide incident.
 Information pertaining to the homicide incident such as location,
 weapon, or drug use are the same as in the victim-level file. In cases
 where the offender data were completely missing in the victim-level
 data, no offender records were generated in the offender-level
 file. The offender-level data do not contain information about the
 victims in these cases. Geographic variables in both files include the
census tract, community area, police district, and police area.

Tags: criminal-histories, demographic-characteristics, homicide, murder, offenders, police-departments, relationships, victims, weapons
Organization: Department of Justice
Evaluating the Incapacitative Benefits of Incarcerating Drug Offenders in Los Angeles and Maricopa [Arizona] Counties, 1986 and 1990

The objective of this study was to examine the observable
 offending patterns of recent and past drug offenders to assess the
 crime control potential associated with recent increases in the
 incarceration of drug offenders. The periods examined were 1986
 (representing the second half of the 1980s, when dramatic shifts
 toward increasing incarceration of drug offenders first became
 evident), and 1990 (after escalating sentences were well under way).
 Convicted offenders were the focus, since these cases are most
 directly affected by changes in imprisonment policies, particularly
 provisions for mandatory prison terms. Offending patterns of convicted
 and imprisoned drug offenders were contrasted to patterns of convicted
 robbers and burglars, both in and out of prison. The researchers used
 data from the National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP), sponsored by
 the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS),
 for information on the court processing of individual felony
 convictions. The National Association of Criminal Justice Planners
 (NACJP), which maintains data for the approximately 50 counties
 included in the NJRP, was contracted to determine the counties to be
 sampled (Los Angeles County and Maricopa County in Arizona were
 chosen) and to provide individual criminal histories. Variables
 include number of arrests for robbery, violent crimes, property
 crimes, and other felonies, number of drug arrests, number of
 misdemeanor arrests, rate of violent, property, robbery, weapons,
 other felony, drug, and misdemeanor arrests, offense type (drug
 trafficking, drug possession, robbery, and burglary), total number of
 incarcerations, total number of convictions, whether sentenced to
 prison, jail, or probation, incarceration sentence in months, sex,
 race, and age at sampled conviction, and age at first arrest (starting
at age 17).

Tags: convicted-offender-incapacitation, crime-control, crime-patterns, drug-offenders, felony-offenses, imprisonment, sentencing
Organization: Department of Justice
Impact of Legal Advocacy on Intimate Partner Homicide in the United States, 1976-1997

This study examined the impacts of jurisdictions' domestic violence policies on violent behavior of family members and intimate partners, on the likelihood that the police discovered an incident, and on the likelihood that the police made an arrest. The research combined two datasets. Part 1 contains information on police, prosecution policies, and local victim services. Informants within the local agencies of the 50 largest cities in the United States were contacted and asked to complete a survey inventorying policies and activities by type and year of implementation. Data from completed surveys covered 48 cities from 1976 to 1996. Part 2 contains data on domestic violence laws. Data on state statutes from 1976 to 1997 that related to protection orders were collected by a legal expert for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

Tags: arrests, crime-reporting, domestic-violence, intimate-partner-violence, police-reports, policy-analysis, state-legislatures, victim-services
Organization: Department of Justice
Police and Child Abuse:  Policies and Practices in the United States, 1987-1988

This study was conducted by the Police Foundation and the
 American Enterprise Institute to document municipal and county law
 enforcement agencies' policies for dealing with child abuse, neglect,
 and sexual assault and exploitation, and to identify emerging police
 practices. The researchers investigated promising approaches for
 dealing with child abuse and also probed for areas of weakness that
 are in need of improvement. Data were collected from 122 law
 enforcement agencies on topics including interagency reporting and
 case screening procedures, the existence and organizational location
 of specialized units for conducting child abuse investigations, actual
 procedures for investigating various types of child abuse cases,
 factors that affect the decision to arrest in physical and sexual
 abuse cases, the scope and nature of interagency cooperative
 agreements practices and relations, the amount of training received by
 agency personnel, and ways to improve agency responses to child abuse
and neglect cases.

Tags: arrest-procedures, case-processing, child-abuse, child-neglect, law-enforcement-agencies, police-response, policies-and-procedures
Organization: Department of Justice
Production and Consumption of Research in Police Agencies in the United States, 1989-1990

The purpose of this study was to describe the dynamics of
 police research, how the role and practice of research differ among
 police agencies, and why this appears to happen. This study also
 attempts to answer, on a national scale, four fundamental questions:
 (1) What is police research? (2) Who does it? (3) Why is it done? and
 (4) What impact does it have? In addition to describing the overall
 contours of the conduct of research in United States police agencies,
 this study also sought to explore the organizational dynamics that
 might contribute to understanding the different roles research plays
 in various types of police organizations. Questionnaires were mailed
 in 1990 to 777 sheriff, municipal, county, and state police agencies
 selected for this study, resulting in 491 surveys for
 analysis. Respondents were asked to identify the extent to which they
 were involved in each of 26 distinct topic areas within the past year,
 to specify the five activities that consumed most of their time during
 the previous year, and to describe briefly any projects currently
 being undertaken that might be of interest to other police agencies. A
 second approach sought to describe police research not in terms of the
 topics studied but in terms of the methods police used to study those
 topics. A third section of the questionnaire called for respondents to
 react to a series of statements characterizing the nature of research
 as practiced in their agencies. A section asking respondents to
 describe the characteristics of those responsible for research in
 their agency followed, covering topics such as to whom the research
 staff reported. Respondent agencies were also asked to evaluate the
 degree to which various factors played a role in initiating research
 in their agencies. Finally, questions about the impact of research on
the police agency were posed.

Tags: law-enforcement-agencies, police-departments, research
Organization: Department of Justice
Police Use of Force [United States]: Official Reports, Citizen Complaints, and Legal Consequences, 1991-1992

This national survey was designed to collect information on
 police departmental policies and practices pertaining to the use of
 physical force--both deadly and less than lethal--by law enforcement
 officers. A further objective was to investigate the enforcement of
 these policies by examining the extent to which complaints of policy
 violations were reviewed and violations punished. Additionally, the
 survey sought to determine the extent to which departments kept
 records on the use of force, and to collect from those agencies that
 recorded this information data relating to how frequently officers
 used force, the characteristics of officers who did and did not have
 complaints filed against them, and the training of recruits on the
 appropriate use of force. The study also provides data on citizen
 complaints of excessive force, the disposition of those complaints,
 and litigation concerning allegations of excessive force. Additional
 variables provide agency size, demographic characteristics, and
workload.

Tags: citizen-grievances, police-citizen-interactions, police-departments, police-officers, police-training, police-use-of-force, policies-and-procedures
Organization: Department of Justice
Street Gangs and Drug Sales in Pasadena and Pomona, California, 1989-1991

These data were collected to explore connections between
street gangs and drug distribution. The research objectives for this
study were (1) to assess the magnitude of gang involvement in cocaine
and other drug sales in two suburban cities, (2) to compare the
characteristics of gang-involved drug sale incidents with those
without gang involvement, (3) to assess the generalizability of
findings on cocaine to other drugs, and from urban to more suburban
settings, and (4) to translate the implications of the research
findings into the development of law enforcement strategies. Law
enforcement arrest records and gang membership records were obtained
for two study sites, Pasadena and Pomona, California. Part 1, the
incident-level file, supplies information on arrest incidents
qualifying as drug sales. Variables in the file include presence at
arrest of violence, guns, cash, and drugs, types of charges, gang
characteristics of the incident, racial/ethnic makeup of arrestees,
gender of arrestees, and gang affiliation of arrestees. Part 2, the
participant-level file, supplies data on each participant in each
incident. Variables in this file include gender, ethnicity, gang
membership status, and charges.

Tags: arrest-records, drug-traffic, gang-members, gangs, suburbs, urban-areas
Organization: Department of Justice
Violent Offending by Drug Users: Longitudinal Arrest Histories of Adults Arrested in Washington, DC, 1985-1986

This data collection effort examined the influence of drug
 use on three key aspects of offenders' criminal careers in violence:
 participation, frequency of offending, and termination rate. A random
 sample of arrestees was taken from those arrested in Washington, DC,
 during the period July 1, 1985, to June 6, 1986. The sample was
 stratified to overrepresent groups other than Black males. Drug use
 was determined by urinalysis results at the time of arrest, as
 contrasted with previous studies that relied on self-reports of drug
 use. The research addresses the following questions: (1) Does drug use
 have an influence on participation in violent criminal activity? (2)
 Does drug use influence the frequency of violent offending? (3) Is
 there a difference in the types and rates of violent offending between
 drug-using offenders who use stimulants and those who use depressants?
 Variables regarding arrests include date of arrest, drug test result,
 charges filed, disposition date, disposition type, and sentence length
 imposed. Demographic variables include race, sex, birthdate, and place
of birth.

Tags: career-criminals, drug-offenders, drug-testing, drug-use, recidivism, violence, violent-crime
Organization: Department of Justice