DOI: 10.3886/icpsr02024.v1
title: Evaluation of Day Fines in Maricopa County, Arizona, 1991-1993
title: Version 1

description: This study sought to evaluate how well day fines work as an
 intermediate sanction. Day fines are a structured approach to imposing
 fines that considers both the offender's ability to pay and the
 severity of the offense. The program involves two steps: (1) a
 determination of the number of fine units for an offense, based on the
 severity of the offense, and (2) a valuation of fine units, based on
 the offender's net daily income, hence the name "day fines". While
 four jurisdictions participated in the day fines evaluation, only the
 site in Maricopa County, Arizona, was structured in such a way to
 allow for a quasi-experimental research design. Therefore, this
 collection only contains data from the Financial Assessment Related to
 Employability (FARE) day fines program in Maricopa County. The FARE
 program was started in 1991 and targeted felony offenders with little
 need for supervision or treatment -- in other words, the low risk-low
 need defendant. The intent of the program was to draw clients from the
 population of offenders who would traditionally receive routine
 probation, thus serving as an intermediate sanction between routine
 and summary probation. The major research strategy was to consider the
 FARE-sentenced offenders as the experimental group and to construct a
 similar comparison group out of the offenders sentenced by non-day
 fines judges. The design involved three major steps: (1)
 identification of 1991 and 1992 defendants who received a FARE
 sentence, (2) screening of sentenced defendants in non-FARE courts
 using FARE eligibility criteria to match the FARE participants, and
 (3) coding background and 12-month follow-up information for both FARE
 and comparison group offenders from probation and clerk files to
 record background information, monetary payments, and any technical
 violations and arrests occurring during the 12-month follow-up
 period. Variables in Part 1, Fines Paid Data, include the total amount
 of the fine and how much of the fine was applied to probation fees,
 reimbursement, restitution, and victim compensation. Part 2, Official
 Records Data, contains background information such as arrest history,
 marital status, education, drug use, and drug treatment. Additional
 information includes current arrest, recommended sentence,
 disposition, sentence imposed, employment and income, and risk/needs
 assessment. Six- and 12-month reviews collected data on supervisory
 status, technical violations, new arrests, payment enforcement, and
payment term revisions.
description: This study sought to evaluate how well day fines
 work as an intermediate sanction. Day fines are a structured approach
 to imposing fines that considers both the offender's ability to pay
 and the severity of the offense. It has captured the interest of
 policymakers attempting to develop a greater variety of
 community-based sentencing options. The program involves two steps:
 (1) a determination of the number of fine units for an offense, based
 on the severity of the offense, and (2) a valuation of fine units,
 based on the offender's net daily income, hence the name "day
 fines". Some of the questions the researchers sought to answer in
 evaluating the day fines program in Maricopa County were: (1) What
 were the characteristics of the designed day fine program? (2) How
 many eligible offenders received the day fines specified in the
 program's design? (3) What revenues were collected from the day fines
 programs? (4) Is there evidence that the imposition of day fines is
associated with an increase or decrease in recidivism?
description: While four jurisdictions participated in the day
 fines evaluation, only the site in Maricopa County, Arizona, was
 structured in such a way to allow for a quasi-experimental research
 design. Therefore, this collection only contains data from the
 Financial Assessment Related to Employability (FARE) day fines program
 in Maricopa County. The FARE program was initially started in 1991 and
 targeted felony offenders with little need for supervision or
 treatment -- in other words, the low risk-low need defendant. The
 intent of the program was to draw clients from the population of
 offenders who would traditionally receive routine probation, thus
 serving as an intermediate sanction between routine and summary
 probation. The Maricopa FARE program used day fines to structure the
 total amount of a monetary sanction, which might include a fine,
 probation service fee, victim compensation fund, and restitution. The
 program planners assigned 250 penal codes to 14 severity levels. Using
 a range of 350 penalty units, with 10 being the minimum, severity
 levels were assigned ranges of units, and then each individual offense
 was assigned a penalty unit within that range. Next the unit value was
 assigned based on the offender's net daily income, which had been
 determined from the information supplied by the defendant during the
 presentence investigation. The amount was then discounted for the
 number of dependents, up to eight, and also for incomes that fell
 under the national poverty level. Day fine collection activities
 focused on a system of notification and graduated sanctions for
 noncompliance, with jail as a last resort. The evaluation of the day
 fines program was facilitated by the way court cases are assigned in
 Maricopa County. The county is divided into four major judicial
 quadrants. Within each quadrant, two judges were selected to
 participate in the FARE program, while the remaining judges did
 not. All cases were randomly assigned to the judges. This structure
 laid the framework for an evaluation in which comparable offenders in
 each of the four quadrants could be studied as comparison group
 offenders. The major research strategy was to consider the
 FARE-sentenced offenders as the experimental group and to construct a
 similar comparison group out of the offenders sentenced by non-day
 fines judges. The design involved three major steps: (1)
 identification of 1991 and 1992 defendants who received a FARE
 sentence, (2) screening of sentenced defendants in non-FARE courts
 using FARE eligibility criteria to match the FARE participants, and
 (3) coding background and 12-month follow-up information for both FARE
 and comparison group offenders from probation and clerk files to
 record background information, monetary payments, and any technical
 violations and arrests occurring during the 12-month follow-up
period.
description: Part 1, Fines Paid Data, includes variables on the
 total amount of the fine and how much of the fine was applied to
 probation fees, reimbursement, restitution, and victim
 compensation. Part 2, Official Records Data, contains background
 information such as arrest history, marital status, education, drug
 use, and drug treatment. Additional information includes current
 arrest, recommended sentence, disposition, sentence imposed,
 employment and income, and risk/needs assessment. Six- and
 12-month reviews collected data on supervisory status, technical
 violations, new arrests, payment enforcement, and payment term
 revisions. All date variables are given as time-lapsed days from the
review date.
description: Response Rates: Not applicable.
description: Presence of Common Scales: None.
description: Random and matched sampling.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Fines Paid Data
DS2: Official Records Data
description: Offenders eligible for day fines sanctions in Maricopa County, 
Arizona, between 1991 and 1992.
description: The user guide, codebook, and data collection instrument are
 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.