AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
New Approach to Evaluating Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) Data Imputation, 1990-1995

The purpose of the project was to learn more about patterns
 of homicide in the United States by strengthening the ability to make
 imputations for Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR) data with missing
 values. Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHR) and local police data
 from Chicago, Illinois, St. Louis, Missouri, Philadelphia,
 Pennsylvania, and Phoenix, Arizona, for 1990 to 1995 were merged to
 create a master file by linking on overlapping information on victim
 and incident characteristics. Through this process, 96 percent of the
 cases in the SHR were matched with cases in the police files. The data
 contain variables for three types of cases: complete in SHR, missing
 offender and incident information in SHR but known in police report,
 and missing offender and incident information in both. The merged file
 allows estimation of similarities and differences between the cases
 with known offender characteristics in the SHR and those in the other
 two categories. The accuracy of existing data imputation methods can
 be assessed by comparing imputed values in an "incomplete" dataset
 (the SHR), generated by the three imputation strategies discussed in
 the literature, with the actual values in a known "complete" dataset
 (combined SHR and police data). Variables from both the Supplemental
 Homicide Reports and the additional police report offense data include
 incident date, victim characteristics, offender characteristics,
 incident details, geographic information, as well as variables
regarding the matching procedure.

Tags: arrests, crime-rates, crime-reporting, crime-statistics, homicide, murder, offenders, uniform-crime-reports, victims
Organization: Department of Justice
Re-examination of the Criminal Deterrent Effects of Capital Punishment in the United States, 1978-1998

The purpose of this study was to estimate the deterrent
 effect of capital punishment by employing a methodology that accounted
 for model uncertainty by integrating various studies into a single
 coherent analysis. First, this study replicated the results from two
 previous studies, Dezhbakhsh, Rubin and Shepherd (2003) and Donohue
 and Wolfers (2005), that draw on the same data. Second, the
 researchers implemented model averaging methods using standard
 frequentist estimators to take a weighted average of the findings
 across all possible models that could explain the effect of the
 difference in crime rates under alternate laws. Each model's effect
 was weighted based on its ability to explain the data. Variables used
 in this study included deterrence variables as well as various
demographic and economic control variables.

Tags: capital-punishment, crime-prevention, deterrence, homicide, murder, policy-analysis
Organization: Department of Justice
Exploratory Spatial Data Approach to Identify the Context of Unemployment-Crime Linkages in Virginia, 1995-2000

This research is an exploration of a spatial approach to
identify the contexts of unemployment-crime relationships at the
county level. Using Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA)
techniques, the study explored the relationship between unemployment
and property crimes (burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and
robbery) in Virginia from 1995 to 2000. Unemployment rates were
obtained from the Department of Labor, while crime rates were obtained
from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports.
Demographic variables are included, and a resource deprivation scale
was created by combining measures of logged median family income,
percentage of families living below the poverty line, and percentage
of African American residents.

Tags: auto-theft, burglary, causes-of-crime, counties, crime-mapping, fips-codes, geographic-information-systems, larceny, robbery, unemployment, unemployment-rate
Organization: Department of Justice
Development of Crime Forecasting and Mapping Systems for Use by Police in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Rochester, New York, 1990-2001

This study was designed to develop crime forecasting as an
application area for police in support of tactical deployment of
resources. Data on crime offense reports and computer aided dispatch
(CAD) drug calls and shots fired calls were collected from the
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Bureau of Police for the years 1990 through
2001. Data on crime offense reports were collected from the Rochester,
New York Police Department from January 1991 through December 2001.
The Rochester CAD drug calls and shots fired calls were collected from
January 1993 through May 2001. A total of 1,643,828 records (769,293
crime offense and 874,535 CAD) were collected from Pittsburgh, while
538,893 records (530,050 crime offense and 8,843 CAD) were collected
from Rochester. ArcView 3.3 and GDT Dynamap 2000 Street centerline
maps were used to address match the data, with some of the Pittsburgh
data being cleaned to fix obvious errors and increase address match
percentages. A SAS program was used to eliminate duplicate CAD calls
based on time and location of the calls. For the 1990 through 1999
Pittsburgh crime offense data, the address match rate was 91 percent.
The match rate for the 2000 through 2001 Pittsburgh crime offense data
was 72 percent. The Pittsburgh CAD data address match rate for 1990
through 1999 was 85 percent, while for 2000 through 2001 the match
rate was 100 percent because the new CAD system supplied incident
coordinates. The address match rates for the Rochester crime offenses
data was 96 percent, and 95 percent for the CAD data. Spatial overlay
in ArcView was used to add geographic area identifiers for each data
point: precinct, car beat, car beat plus, and 1990 Census tract. The
crimes included for both Pittsburgh and Rochester were aggravated
assault, arson, burglary, criminal mischief, misconduct, family
violence, gambling, larceny, liquor law violations, motor vehicle
theft, murder/manslaughter, prostitution, public drunkenness, rape,
robbery, simple assaults, trespassing, vandalism, weapons, CAD drugs,
and CAD shots fired.

Tags: aggravated-assault, arson, assault, burglary, crime-mapping, crime-patterns, crime-prediction, driving-under-the-influence, drug-law-offenses, fraud, geographic-information-systems, homicide, rape, robbery, trend-analysis
Organization: Department of Justice
Mentoring Enhancement Demonstration Program (MEDP), Multi-Site Evaluation in 11 States [Restricted-Use], 2012-2017

In 2012, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) launched a demonstration field experiment, the Mentoring Enhancement Demonstration Program (MEDP) and Evaluation to examine: (1) the use of an "advocacy" role for mentors; and (2) the use of a teaching/information provision role for mentors. The overall goal of MEDP was to develop program models that specified what advocacy and teaching look like in practice and to understand whether encouraging the general practice of advocacy and teaching could improve youth outcomes. The American Institutes for Research (AIR) conducted a rigorous process and outcome evaluation of programs funded by OJJDP in 2012. The evaluation was designed to rigorously assess the effectiveness of programs that agreed to develop and implement enhanced practices incorporating advocacy or teaching roles for mentors, including providing focused prematch and ongoing training to mentors, and providing ongoing support to help mentors carry out the targeted roles.MEDP grantees comprised collaboratives that would offer coordinated implementation of the same set of program enhancements in three or four separate established and qualified mentoring programs located within the same regional area. The MEDP collaboratives varied widely in their geographical locations, their size and experience in mentoring, and the structure of their mentoring programs. The types and structures of mentoring programs also varied across, and sometimes within, collaboratives. All the collaboratives proposed enhancements in the way they would train mentors for their roles, and in the way they would provide ongoing support to the mentors and in some cases the youth that they were matched with.
This data collection consists of multiple types of respondents (youth, parents, mentors, and staff) across multiple data collection periods.

Tags: advocacy, mentoring, outcome-evaluation, parent-child-relationship, parents, program-evaluation, teaching-methods, training, youths
Organization: Department of Justice
Repeat Complaint Address Policing: Two Field Experiments in Minneapolis, 1985-1987

A leading sociological theory of crime is the "routine
 activities" approach (Cohen and Felson, 1979). The premise of this
 theory is that the rate of occurrence of crime is affected by the
 convergence in time and space of three elements: motivated offenders,
 suitable targets, and the absence of guardianship against crime. The
 purpose of this study was to provide empirical evidence for the routine
 activities theory by investigating criminal data on places. This study
 deviates from traditional criminology research by analyzing places
 instead of collectivities as units of spatial analysis. There are two
 phases to this study. The purpose of the first phase was to test
 whether crime occurs randomly in space or is concentrated in "hot
 spots". Telephone calls for police service made in 1985 and 1986 to
 the Minneapolis Police Department were analyzed for patterns and
 concentration of repeat calls and were statistically tested for
 randomness. For the second phase of the study, two field experiments
 were designed to test the effectiveness of a proactive police strategy
 called Repeat Complaint Address Policing (RECAP). Samples of
 residential and commercial addresses that generated the most
 concentrated and most frequent repeat calls were divided into groups of
 experimental and control addresses, resulting in matched pairs. The
 experimental addresses were then subjected to a more focused proactive
 policing. The purposes of the RECAP experimentation were to test the
 effectiveness of proactive police strategy, as measured through the
 reduction in the incidence of calls to the police and, in so doing, to
 provide empirical evidence on the routine activities theory. Variables
 in this collection include the number of calls for police service in
 both 1986 and 1987 to the control addresses for each experimental pair,
 the number of calls for police service in both 1986 and 1987 to the
 experimental addresses for each experimental pair, numerical
 differences between calls in 1987 and 1986 for both the control
 addresses and experimental addresses in each experimental pair,
 percentage difference between calls in 1987 and 1986 for both the
 control addresses and the experimental addresses in each experimental
 pair, and a variable that indicates whether the experimental
 pair was used in the experimental analysis. The unit of observation for
 the first phase of the study is the recorded telephone call to the
 Minneapolis Police Department for police service and assistance. The
 unit of analysis for the second phase is the matched pair of control
 and experimental addresses for both the residential and commercial
address samples of the RECAP experiments.

Tags: causes-of-crime, citizen-crime-reporting, crime, crime-patterns, crime-rates, police-reports
Organization: Department of Justice
State Strategic Planning Under the Drug Control and System Improvement Formula Grant Program in the United States, 1990

This evaluation of the Drug Control and System Improvement 
 Formula Grant Program focuses on the federal-state relationship and on 
 the drug-related, crime-combat strategies that states must develop in 
 order to receive federal aid. The primary goals of the project were to 
 (1) describe state-established strategic planning processes, (2) 
 evaluate the strategies, (3) report on state reactions to the program, 
 and (4) make recommendations for improvement in strategic planning 
 processes. Five-state, on-site observation of planning processes and a 
 mail survey of all states and territories participating in the program 
 were conducted, as well as a review of all strategy submissions. 
 Variables in Part 1 include the Formula Grant Program's role in the 
 state and its relationship with other agencies, policy boards, and 
 working groups, the roles that these agencies play in Bureau of Justice 
 Assistance (BJA) strategy, funds allocated to local criminal justice 
 programs, and criteria used in selecting geographical areas of greatest 
 need. Variables from Part 2 relate to the variety and use of state 
 criminal justice data, difficulties in obtaining such data, federal 
 grant requirements, allocation of subgrants, and input of various 
 individuals and agencies in different stages of BJA strategy 
development.

Tags: crime-prevention, drug-laws, federal-aid, intervention-strategies
Organization: Department of Justice
Use and Effectiveness of Fines, Jail, and Probation in Municipal Courts in Los Angeles County, 1981-1984

The purpose of this data collection was to identify those
 attributes of offenders that are most often associated with receiving
 particular types of financial penalties along with probation, such as
 fines, restitution, and cost of probation. A further purpose was to
 estimate the relative effectiveness of these penalties in preventing
 recidivism. Variables include descriptions of the type of offense and
 penalties received, the location of the court where sentencing took
 place, and information about the individual's race, age, gender, level
 of education, employment, living arrangements, and financial status.
 Prior arrests and convictions are included, as are arrests,
 convictions, and penalties subsequent to the original case under
 study. Also provided are six sets of variables that describe all
 offenders within each conviction category. These six groups provide
 additional information about the offender's background and
 behavior. The conviction categories include assault, burglary, drug
crimes, driving under the influence, theft, and indecent exposure.

Tags: criminal-histories, fines, imprisonment, municipal-courts, offender-profiles, offenders, probation, restitution-programs, sentencing
Organization: Department of Justice
Socioeconomic and Demographic Characteristics of Synthetic Drug Users in San Diego and Washington, DC, 1990

This data collection offers information on socioeconomic and
 demographic characteristics of synthetic drug users, characteristics of
 synthetic drug use such as frequency and method of intake, and factors
 that prompt drug users to begin to use synthetic drugs or to switch
 from agricultural drugs to synthetic drugs. Synthetic drugs
 investigated in the collection include PCP, ice, ecstasy, and speed,
 while nonsynthetic drugs include alcohol, marijuana, heroin, cocaine,
 and crack. Patterns of use for all of these drugs are explored.
 Questions about specific drugs include whether the respondent had ever
 used the drug, age first used, number of days in the past 30 days the
 drug was used, whether the drug was used more than two times per week,
 method of drug intake, and the drug used most often by the respondent
 and by the respondent's friends. Additional variables include reasons
 for preferring synthetic or nonsynthetic drugs, reasons the respondent
 would discontinue use or switch to another drug, availability and cost
 of certain drugs, and extent of involvement in selling, money handling,
 and protection. Finally, demographic variables such as sex, ethnicity,
 age, highest grade completed, employment activity in the past month,
 geographical location, and subject source (criminal justice system or
 drug treatment center) are included in the file. The unit of analysis
is the individual drug user.

Tags: demographic-characteristics, drug-use, social-influences, socioeconomic-status
Organization: Department of Justice
Impact of Sentencing Reforms and Speedy Trial Laws in the United States, 1969-1989

The certainty and promptness of punishment have long been 
 hypothesized to be important variables in deterring crime. This data 
 collection evaluates whether sentencing reforms to enhance certainty of 
 punishment and speedy trial laws to enhance promptness of punishment 
 affected crime rates, prison admissions, and prison populations. 
 Variables include state, year, crime reports, economic conditions, 
 population (including age structure), prison population, prison 
 releases, and prison admissions. The unit of observation is the state 
by the year.

Tags: crime-rates, deterrence, inmate-populations, prisons, punishment, sentencing, sentencing-reforms, trials
Organization: Department of Justice
Criminal Careers and Crime Control in Massachusetts [The Glueck Study]:  A Matched-Sample Longitudinal Research Design, Phase I, 1939-1963

The relationship between crime control policies and
fundamental parameters of the criminal career, such as career length,
participation in offenses, and frequency and seriousness of offenses
committed, is examined in this data collection. The investigators
coded, recoded, and computerized parts of the raw data from Sheldon
and Eleanor Glueck's three-wave, matched sample study of juvenile and
adult criminal behavior, extracting the criminal histories of the 500
delinquents (officially defined) from the Glueck study. Data were
originally collected by the Gluecks in 1940 through psychiatric
interviews with subjects, parent and teacher reports, and official
records obtained from police, court, and correctional files. The
subjects were subsequently interviewed again between 1949 and 1965 at
or near the age of 25, and again at or near the age of 32. The data
coded by Laub and Sampson include only information collected from
official records. The data address in part (1) what effects
probation, incarceration, and parole have on the length of criminal
career and frequency of criminal incidents of an offender, (2) how
the effects of criminal control policies vary in relation to the
length of sentence, type of offense, and age of the offender, (3)
which factors in criminal control policy correlate with criminal
career termination, (4) how well age of first offense predicts the
length of criminal career, and (5) how age of offender relates to
type of offense committed. Every incident of arrest up to the age of
32 for each respondent (ranging from 1 to 51 arrests) is recorded in
the data file. Variables include the dates of arrest, up to three
charges associated with the arrest, court disposition, and starting
and ending dates of probation, incarceration, and parole associated
with the arrest.

Tags: career-criminals, crime-control, crime-control-policies, criminal-histories, criminality-prediction, offenders, offenses
Organization: Department of Justice
Pretrial Home Detention with Electronic Monitoring:  An Evaluation in Marion County, Indiana, 1988-1989

For this data collection a pretrial home detention program
in Marion County, Indiana, that relied on electronic monitoring of
clients was subjected to a nonexperimental evaluation. The data
address whether the pretrial electronic monitoring program was
effective in ensuring that clients appeared at their court hearings,
whether the pretrial electronic monitoring program was effective in
ensuring public safety, and the extent to which field contact officers
experienced difficulties in attempting to contact clients. To gauge
the success of the program, investigators compared the number of
successful terminations (i.e., home detention followed by a court
appearance) to the number of unsuccessful terminations (technical
violations and absconding). Each client in the pretrial program was
fitted with a coded wristlet that matched a base unit receptacle. A
successful contact between the coded wristlet and the base unit
verified the client's presence. Defendants on home detention were
monitored by a field contact officer. Variables in this collection
include charged offense, prior criminal history, living arrangements,
employment status, number of telephone calls, summary of program
violations, reason for program termination, program entry and
termination dates, and disposition after program release. The unit of
observation is the individual program client.

Tags: criminal-histories, electronic-monitoring, house-arrest, pretrial-detention, program-evaluation
Organization: Department of Justice
Reducing Fear of Crime:  Program Evaluation Surveys in Newark and Houston, 1983-1984

Households and establishments in seven neighborhoods in
 Houston, Texas, and Newark, New Jersey, were surveyed to determine the
 extent of victimization experiences and crime prevention measures in
 these areas. Citizens' attitudes toward the police were also
 examined. Baseline data were collected to determine residents'
 perceptions of crime, victimization experiences, crime-avoidance
 behavior, and level of satisfaction with the quality of life in their
 neighborhoods (Parts 1 and 3). Follow-up surveys were conducted to
 evaluate the effectiveness of experimental police programs designed to
 reduce the fear of crime within the communities. These results are
 presented in Parts 2 and 4. In Part 5, questions similar to those in
 the baseline survey were posed to two groups of victims who reported
 crimes to the police. One group had received a follow-up call to
 provide the victim with information, assistance, and reassurance that
 someone cared, and the other was a control group of victims that had
 not received a follow-up call. Part 6 contains data from a newsletter
 experiment conducted by the police departments after the baseline data
 were gathered, in one area each of Houston and Newark. Two versions of
 an anti-crime newsletter were mailed to respondents to the baseline
 survey and also to nonrespondents living in the area. These groups
 were then interviewed, along with control groups of baseline
 respondents and nonrespondents who might have seen the newsletter but
 were not selected for the mailing. Demographic data collected include
age, sex, race, education and employment.

Tags: crime-prevention, new-jersey-newark, police-activity, quality-of-life, texas-houston, united-states, victimization
Organization: Department of Justice
Research on Minorities, [1981]: Race and Crime in Atlanta and Washington, DC

This data collection effort is an investigation of
criminological and sociological factors within the Black community
with a focus on the alleged high incidence of violent crime committed
by Blacks. Four communities within Atlanta, Georgia, and four within
Washington, DC, were selected for the study. Two communities in each
area were designated high-crime areas, the other two low-crime areas.
Variables include the respondents' opinions on the relationship of race
and socioeconomic class to crime, their fear of crime and experiences
with crime, and contacts and attitudes toward the police. Demographic
data include respondents' gender and religion.

Tags: african-americans, crime, fear-of-crime, police-community-relations, race, reactions-to-crime, socioeconomic-status, violent-crime
Organization: Department of Justice