DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03271.v2
title: Profiling Inmates in the Los Angeles County Jail, 1996-1998
title: Version 2

description: By 1996 it became apparent that the Los Angeles county
 jails faced a serious overcrowding problem. Two possible solutions to
 the problem were to build more jail capacity or to divert a greater
 number of incoming inmates to community-based, intermediate
 sanctions. The research team for this study was asked to review a 1996
 profile of inmates in the Los Angeles jail system and to determine how
 many of them might have been good candidates for intermediate
 sanctions such as electronic monitoring, work release, house arrest,
 and intensive supervision. The researchers selected a sample of 1,000
 pre-adjudicated (or unconvicted) inmates from the total census of
 inmates in jail custody on January 15, 1996, to study in more detail.
 Of the 1,000 offenders, the researchers were able to obtain jail and
 recidivism data for two years for 931 inmates. For each of these
 offenders, information on their prior criminal history, current
 offense, and subsequent recidivism behavior was obtained from official
 records maintained by several county agencies, including pretrial
 services, sheriff's department, probation, and courts. Demographic
 variables include date of birth, race, and gender. Prior criminal
 history variables for each prior adult arrest include type of filing
 charge, case disposition, type of sentence and sentence length
 imposed, and total number of prior juvenile petitions sustained.
 Current offense variables include arrest date, crime type for current
 arrest, crime charge, type and date of final case disposition, and
 sentence type and length, if convicted. Strike information collected
 includes number of strikes and the offense that qualified as a
 strike. Jail custody variables include the jail entry and exit data
 for the current offense and the reason for release, if released.
 Lastly, two-year follow-up variables include the date, type, and
 disposition of each subsequent arrest between January 15, 1996, and
January 15, 1998.
description: By 1996 it became apparent that the Los Angeles
 county jails faced a serious overcrowding problem. Two possible
 solutions to the problem were to build more jail capacity or to divert
 a greater number of incoming inmates to community-based, intermediate
 sanctions. To determine which solution would be more effective, Los
 Angeles county officials requested assistance from researchers at RAND
 and the University of California, Irvine. The research team was asked
 to review a 1996 profile of inmates in the Los Angeles jail system and
 to determine how many of them might have been good candidates for
 intermediate sanctions such as electronic monitoring, work release,
 house arrest, and intensive supervision. In particular, the
 researchers sought to answer the following research questions: (1) How
 did Los Angeles County jail inmates compare with similarly situated
 inmates nationwide? (2) How serious was the pre-adjudicated sample, if
 judged by prior record and current offense? (3) For those whose cases
 were disposed during the two-year follow-up, what were the final
 dispositions? (4) For those who were released to the community during
 the two-year follow-up, how many recidivated and to what kinds of
 crimes? (5) Which offenders have the highest probability of serious
reoffending? (6) Can statistical models predict who recidivates?
description: The researchers selected a sample of 1,000
 pre-adjudicated (or unconvicted) inmates from the total sample of
 inmates in jail custody on January 15, 1996, to study in more
 detail. For these inmates the researchers hand-coded detailed prior
 criminal record and current offense information. They also requested
 state and local rap sheets in order to record their recidivism
 behavior between the census date of January 15, 1996, and two years
 hence. Of the 1,000 offenders, the researchers were able to obtain
 jail and recidivism data for 931 inmates. For each of these offenders,
 information on their prior criminal history, current offense, and
 subsequent recidivism behavior was obtained from official records
 maintained by several county agencies, including pretrial services,
 sheriff's department, probation, and courts. Information regarding
 prior arrests, the current offense, and subsequent recidivism was
 coded by Probation Pretrial Services staff using their routine
 pretrial release charting that captured the specific arrest charge,
 disposition, and sentence imposed. Information regarding length of
 stay in jail for the current offense was obtained from jail
 records. The follow-up period for coding recidivism information ended
 on January 15, 1998. Thus the maximum street time for any offender in
the sample was two years.
description: Variables in Part 1 (Current Offense Data) include
 age at entry into jail, number of days in jail, current offense, race,
 sex, charge type, and reason code. Part 2 (Bureau of Criminal
 Statistics Current Offense Data) contains the same variables as Part
 1, as well as a Bureau of Criminal Statistics (BCS) code, description
 of offense, and criminal category. Part 3 (Electronic Data Processing
 Criminal Chart Data) variables include the total number of arrests,
 felony convictions, misdemeanor convictions, and sustained juvenile
 petitions, as well as whether parole was terminated. Part 4 (Arrest
 Record Data) contains the offense for which the inmate was arrested,
 disposition, and sentence length. Part 5 (Arrest Count Data) includes
 the number of prior and subsequent arrests resulting in probation,
 jail, prison, and commitment to the California Youth Authority, as
 well as new charges while incarcerated. Parts 6 (Los Angeles County
 Custody Record Data) and 7 (California Department of Corrections
 Custody Record Data) include reason for custody and time in Los
 Angeles custody, while Part 8 (Custody Count Data) contains the number
 of Los Angeles custodies and California Department of Corrections
 custodies prior to and after the current one. Part 9 (Pretrial Release
 Data) variables include pre-trial charge, charge type, and application
 type. Part 10 (Strike Information Data) contains information on the
 conviction offense, disposition, and sentence for offenses that fell
 within California's "three strikes" guidelines. Part 11 (Strike Count
 Data) has variables on the total number of strikes, strikes prior to
 current arrest, strikes after current arrest, and a ranking of the
 most severe offense. Part 12 (Parole and Probation Violation Data)
 contains the type of parole or probation violation, disposition, and
 sentence. Part 13 (Parole and Probation Violation Count Data) includes
 the number of probation violations, parole violations, pre-custody
 violations, post-custody violations, and total violations. Part 14
 (Risk Assessment Data) contains the most recent pre-custody risk
 assessment and Part 15 (Sample Data) includes the number of days in
custody.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: From a pool of all inmates in jail custody in 1996 in the
 Los Angeles County Jail, the researchers selected only those inmates
 who had not yet been convicted of any of the charges related to their
 current offense. Of the 11,967 pre-adjudicated inmates, 159 of them
 had already been convicted of one or more of their pending charges and
 were awaiting disposition on other currently pending offenses. These
 inmates were excluded from the sample. From the remaining 11,808
 inmates, the principal investigators selected a random sample of 1,000
 inmates (males and females) for more detailed prior record coding and
recidivism follow-up.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Current Offense Data
DS2: Bureau of Criminal Statistics Current Offense Data
DS3: Electronic Data Processing Criminal Chart Data
DS4: Arrest Record Data
DS5: Arrest Count Data
DS6: Los Angeles County Custody Record Data
DS7: California Department of Corrections Custody Record Data
DS8: Custody Count Data
DS9: Pretrial Release Data
DS10: Strike Information Data
DS11: Strike Count Data
DS12: Parole and Probation Violation Data
DS13: Parole and Probation Violation Count Data
DS14: Risk Assessment Data
DS15: Sample Data
description: All inmates of the Los Angeles County Jail in 1996. Smallest Geographic Unit: None.
description: The user guide, codebook, and data collection
 instruments are provided by ICPSR as Portable Document Format (PDF)
 files. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated
 and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe
 Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat
Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.