Sentencing Practices and Time Served in the District of Columbia Prior to Truth in Sentencing, 1993-1998

This study collected data on felony sentencing practices in
 the District of Columbia during the period 1993 to 1998. Data are
 provided on (1) the characteristics of felons sentenced by the
 District of Columbia Superior Court (DCSC), (2) the types, lengths,
 and variations of sentences imposed, (3) the length of time served in
 prison by those committed into the DC Department of Corrections
 (DCDOC), and (4) parole release decisions. And the study also
 attempted to assess the potential effects of new sentencing practices
 implemented in response to the National Capital Revitalization and
 Self-Government Improvement Act of 1997 and the Truth in Sentencing
 Amendment Act of 1998. Data were obtained from several DC criminal
 justice agencies, including DC Superior Court, the Pretrial Services
 Agency, the DC Department of Corrections, and the DC Parole
 Commission. The records of individual defendants were linked across
 these databases to the extent possible, and an integrated database on
 felony case processing in the District was created in order to use the
 unique information from each system to create defendant-level or
 person-level records that contained more information about cases than
 could be obtained from any one system. The process also involved
 linking records within an agency's data system for the purposes of
 obtaining the history of contacts with an agency or for the purpose of
 aggregating charge-level information into summary data for a docket or
 commitment. The final database consists of three files. Part 1 (Felony
 Docket Data) includes sentencing information on all felony dockets
 sentenced in DCSC between January 1993 and December 1998. Part 2
 (Commitments Data) includes sentencing and time served information on
 all offenders who were committed to the DCDOC between January 1990 and
 December 1998. Part 3 (Decisions Data) includes all decisions made by
 the parole board on all types of considerations between January 1993
 and December 1998. Part 1 variables provide defendant demographic
 characteristics (including age, race, and sex), offense type codes
 (for the defendant's most serious offense), type of sentence (prison
 only, probation only, split, or fine) and the sentence imposed
 (including whether the defendant was sentenced to life). During the
 period under study, the District of Columbia followed an indeterminate
 sentencing system, and so the data file includes minimum and maximum
 periods where applicable (for example, confinement). The data include
 information pertaining to the most serious offense at conviction as
 well as aggregated sentence information on all felony charges on a
 docket (in case there were multiple charges). Part 2 variables include
 dates (of disposition, charging, and release), type of release from
 the DCDOC within that time period (including transfer to the Federal
 Bureau of Prisons facilities, release on parole, release upon
 completion of imposed term, transfer to escape status, and whether the
 offender had not yet been released by December 1998), in-prison parole
 hearing/decision information (including number of initial hearings,
 number of decisions, number of grants, and whether a parole release
 decision was granted at the initial hearing while on this commitment),
 prior criminal history (including number of prior prison sentences and
 the number of prior drug, violent, weapon, and property convictions in
 the last 15 years), current commitment sentencing information
 (including number of felony, misdemeanor, or split charges, most
 serious charge of conviction, and the sentence imposed on the most
 serious charge as well as the aggregate sentencing imposed on all
 charges of conviction), and the time served by the offender prior to
 release (with and without the amount of credit given for jail time
 prior to conviction). This file also identifies several problem flags
 that need to be taken into account before analyzing the data in order
 to select out problem cases (with data entry or computation
 errors). Part 3 variables include the date (year, month) of the
 hearing, up to four considerations being decided on, up to six
 decisions that were made for these considerations, six flags
 indicating the types of considerations that were included in the
 hearing, and two flags indicating the types of decisions that were
included in the current hearing.