DOI: 10.3886/icpsr09989
title: Measuring Crime Rates of Prisoners in Colorado, 1988-1989
title: Archival Version

description: In the late 1970s, the Rand Corporation pioneered a method of collecting crime rate statistics. They obtained reports of offending behavior--types and frequencies of crimes committed--directly from offenders serving prison sentences. The current study extends this research by exploring the extent to which variation in the methodological approach affects prisoners' self-reports of criminal activity. If the crime rates reported in this survey remained constant across methods, perhaps one of the new techniques developed would be easier and/or less expensive to administer. Also, the self-reported offending rate data for female offenders in this collection represents the first time such data has been collected for females. Male and female prisoners recently admitted to the Diagnostic Unit of the Colorado Department of Corrections were selected for participation in the study. Prisoners were given one of two different survey instruments, referred to as the long form and short form. Both questionnaires dealt with the number of times respondents committed each of eight types of crimes during a 12-month measurement period. The crimes of interest were burglary, robbery, assault, theft, auto theft, forgery/credit card and check-writing crimes, fraud, and drug dealing. The long form of the instrument focused on juvenile and adult criminal activity and covered the offender's childhood and family. It also contained questions about the offender's rap sheet as one of the bases for validating the self-reported data. The crime count sections of the long form contained questions about motivation, initiative, whether the offender usually acted alone or with others, and if the crimes recorded included crimes against people he or she knew. Long-form data are given in Part 1. The short form of the survey had fewer or no questions compared with the long form on areas such as the respondent's rap sheet, the number of crimes committed as a juvenile, the number of times the respondent was on probation or parole, the respondent's childhood experiences, and the respondent's perception of his criminal career. These data are contained in Part 2. In addition, the surveys were administered under different conditions of confidentiality. Prisoners given what were called "confidential" interviews had their names identified with the survey. Those interviewed under conditions of anonymity did not have their names associated with the survey. The short forms were all administered anonymously, while the long forms were either anonymous or confidential. In addition to the surveys, data were collected from official records, which are presented in Part 3. The official record data collection form was designed to collect detailed criminal history information, particularly during the measurement period identified in the questionnaires, plus a number of demographic and drug-use items. This information, when compared with the self-reported offense data from the measurement period in both the short and long forms, allows a validity analysis to be performed.
description: In the late 1970s, the Rand Corporation pioneered a method of collecting crime rate statistics. They obtained reports of offending behavior--types and frequencies of crimes committed--directly from offenders serving prison sentences. The current study extends this research by exploring the extent to which variation in the methodological approach affects prisoners' self-reports of criminal activity. Currently, collecting data from prisoners is a costly, labor-intensive effort. If the crime rates reported in this survey remained constant across methods, perhaps one of the new techniques developed would be easier and/or less expensive to administer. Also, the self-reported offending rate data for female offenders in this collection represents the first time such data has been collected for females.
description: Prisoners recently admitted to the Diagnostic Unit of the Colorado Department of Corrections were selected for participation in the study. Prisoners were given one of two different survey instruments, referred to as the long form and short form. The long form of the survey was a 65-page self-administered survey instrument, while the short form consisted of 45 pages. Both the long and short surveys contained questions on the prisoners' involvement in crime during a 12-month measurement period. This "window period" was defined as the month of arrest and the previous 11 months. An individual's "street months" were defined as the 12-month measurement period minus months incarcerated or hospitalized. Street months were used in calculating an individual's rate of offending. All surveys were administered under conditions of confidentiality, but the extent of confidentiality differed. Prisoners given what were called "confidential" interviews had their names identified with the survey. Those interviewed under conditions of anonymity did not have their names associated with the survey. The short forms were all administered anonymously, while the long forms were either anonymous or confidential. Survey data were collected one evening a week for 16 months. It took respondents between 30 and 90 minutes to complete the long version of the instrument, and it took 20 to 45 minutes to complete the shorter version. In addition to the surveys, data were collected from official records. The official records data collection form was designed to collect detailed criminal history information, particularly during the measurement period identified in the questionnaire, plus a number of demographic and drug-use items that could be used for criterion validity analysis.
description: The survey instruments obtained information about the number of times respondents committed each of eight types of crimes during the measurement period. The crimes of interest were burglary, robbery, assault, theft, auto theft, forgery/credit card and check-writing crimes, fraud, and drug dealing. The long form questionnaire focused on juvenile and adult criminal activity and covered the offender's childhood and family. It also contained questions about the offender's rap sheet as one of the bases for validating the self-reported data. The crime count sections of the long form contained questions about motivation, initiative, whether the offender usually acted alone or with others, and if the crimes recorded included crimes against people he or she knew. The short form had fewer or no questions compared with the long form on areas such as the respondent's rap sheet, the number of crimes committed as a juvenile, the number of times the respondent was on probation or parole, the respondent's childhood experiences, and the respondent's perception of his criminal career. Official records data include information on arrests, convictions, and sentences prior to the current arrest as well as specific items from the Colorado Actuarial Risk Scale. Demographic information was collected in both survey instruments and from the official records.
description: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection: Standardized missing values.; Performed recodes and/or calculated derived variables.; Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes..
description: Presence of Common Scales: Colorado Actuarial Risk Scale.
description: Response Rates: The mean participation rate in the survey was approximately 90 percent of inmates who met with the researchers to hear an explanation of the study. However, the number of inmates who refused to participate by not leaving their cells is not known, but is estimated to be less than 10 percent. The high participation rate is attributed to the fact that inmates had little else to do. While in the Diagnostic Unit, they were locked down 23 hours a day.
description: Datasets: 
 
 DS0: Study-Level Files 
 DS1: Long Form Survey Data 
 DS2: Short Form Survey Data 
 DS3: Official Records Data 
 DS4: User Guide 
 DS5: SAS Data Definition Statements for Long Form Survey Data 
 DS6: SAS Data Definition Statements for Short Form Survey Data 
 DS7: SAS Data Definition Statements for Official Records Data
description: Prisoners admitted to the Diagnostic Unit of the Colorado Prison System from July 1988 to December 1989.
description: The researchers used a convenience sample of inmates recently admitted to the Diagnostic Unit of the Colorado Department of Corrections.