Prosecutor's Management and Information System (PROMIS), New Orleans, 1979
By: principal investigator, Institute for Law and Social Research
Series: ICPSR -- 8219; ICPSR (Series) -- 8219
Publisher: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor
Published: 1980
Place of publication: Ann Arbor, Mich
Language: und
Format: [computer file] /
Subjects: Prosecution; Data processing; Criminal procedure; Administration of Criminal justice
Description: The Prosecutor's Management and Information System (PROMIS) is a computer-based management information system for public prosecution agencies. PROMIS was initially developed with funds from the United States Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) to cope with the problems of a large, urban prosecution agency where mass production operations have superseded the traditional practice of a single attorney preparing and prosecuting a given case from inception to final disposition. The combination of massive volumes of cases and the assembly-line fragmentation of responsibility and control has created a situation where one case is indistinguishable from another and where the effects of problems at various points or stages in the assembly line on ultimate case disposition go undetected and uncorrected. One unique feature of PROMIS which addresses these problems is the automated evaluation of cases. Through the application of a uniform set of criteria, PROMIS assigns two numerical ratings to each case: one signifying the gravity of the crime through a measurement of the amount of harm done to society, and the other signifying the gravity of the prior criminal record of the accused. These ratings make it possible to select the more important cases for intensive, pre-trial preparation and to assure even-handed treatment of cases of like gravity.
Notes: Holding archive: Criminal Justice Archive and Information Network.

ICPSR data class: Class II.

Data collected: 1979.

New Orleans, Louisiana.

Over 88,000 records and a total of six records per case. Each record includes data about a particular aspect of a case including data about the (1) defendant (about 12 variables), (2) case (about 72 variables), (3) charges (about 26 variables), (4) sentencing (about 18 variables), (5) continuances (about 16 variables), and (6) witnesses/victims (about 18 variables).