DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02039
title: Survey of Adults on Probation, 1995: [United States]
title: Archival Version

description: The 1995 Survey of Adults on Probation (SAP) was the first
 national survey to gather information on the individual
 characteristics of adult probationers. The SAP was a two-part
 nationally representative survey consisting of a records check based
 on probation office administrative records and personal interviews
 with probationers. The records check provided detailed information
 for 5,867 probationers on current offenses and sentences, criminal
 histories, levels of supervision and contacts, disciplinary hearings
 and outcomes, and demographic characteristics. Only adults with a
 formal sentence to probation who were not considered absconders were
 included in the records check. Excluded were persons supervised by a
 federal probation agency, those only on parole, persons on presentence
 or pretrial diversion, juveniles, and absconders. The records check
 forms were completed by a probation officer or by another person
 knowledgeable about probation office records. A subset of the
 population selected for the records check was selected for a personal
 interview, resulting in a total of 2,030 completed interviews. The
 personal interview sample excluded from the records check sample
 probationers not on active probation (defined as being required to
 make office visits at any interval), those incarcerated, and those in
 residential treatment. Respondents were asked about current
 offense(s) and supervision, criminal history, alcohol and drug use and
 treatment, mental health treatment, demographic characteristics, and a
 variety of socioeconomic characteristics such as employment, income,
 receipt of welfare, housing, number of children and child support, and
living conditions while growing up.
description: The records check sample was selected from a universe of
 2,627 state, county, and municipal probation agencies with a total of
 2,618,132 formally sentenced probationers. The sample design was a
 stratified two-stage selection. In the first stage, probation
 agencies were stratified into 16 strata defined by government branch
 (executive or judicial) and level (state or local), and census region
 (Northeast, Midwest, South, or West). The 43 largest probation
 agencies were made self-representing and were selected into the sample
 with certainty. The remaining 2,584 probation agencies were not
 self-representing and were grouped within strata into 122 roughly
 equal-size clusters. One agency was selected from each of the 122
 clusters, with probability of selection proportional to size, for a
 total of 165 agencies. From the records check sample, 4,703
 probationers were selected for personal interviews, which made up the
 second survey component. Because probationers on inactive supervision
 were excluded from the personal interview sample, the personal
 interview component represents a somewhat smaller share of the
 nation's probationers (2,065,896) than the records check (2,620,560).
 For the personal interview sample, 122 of the 206 agencies originally
 selected for the records check were chosen. The 43 largest
 self-representing agencies were selected with certainty. Of the 122
 clusters of agencies that were not self-representing, 79 were
 selected, using a systematic sample. Excluding agencies in the sample
 that would only participate in the records checks resulted in a total
of 101 probation offices in which interviews were conducted.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Records Check Data
DS2: Personal Interview Data
description: The universe came from the 1991 Census of Probation and Parole 
 Agencies and included agencies that supervised adult felons on probation 
 only, adult misdemeanants on probation only, and both adult felons and 
misdemeanants.
description: The codebook is provided as a Portable Document Format
 (PDF) file. 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 through the ICPSR Website on the Internet.