Prison crowding and forced releases in Illinois, 1979-1982
By: principal investigator, James Austin
Series: ICPSR -- 8921; ICPSR (Series) -- 8921
Publisher: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor
Published: 1982
Place of publication: Ann Arbor, Mich
Language: und
Format: [computer file] /
Subjects: Prisons; Overcrowding; Prisoners; Parole
Description: These data were collected in the Illinois prison system where, in response to a prison overcrowding crisis, approximately two-thirds of the inmates released by the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) were discharged prior to serving their expected sentences. This study was designed to evaluate the effects of an early release program on prisoners, prison populations, offense rates, local criminal justice systems, and the general public. The files contain extensive Federal Bureau of Investigation arrest history information and other personal and social indicators describing inmates released from the state prison system. Data are available for three comparison groups: (1) a sample of prisoners who served their regular sentences prior to the "forced release" program, (2) a group that served regular sentences after implementation of the program, and (3) a group of inmates who were released early under the program (i.e., before serving their full sentences).
Notes: Holding archive: Criminal Justice Archive and Information Network.

IPCSR data class: Class IV.

Chronological coverage: July 1979-December 1982. Data collected: 1983.

Inmates' institutional "jacket" files and Federal Bureau of Investigation rap sheet records routinely collected and maintained by local court, correctional, and law enforcement agencies.

Event/transaction data.

Illinois.

United States Department of Justice. National Institute of Justice. 80-IJ-CX-K026.

LRECL data format. Names of inmates were blanked for reasons of confidentiality. The unit of observation for Part I, the Inmate Jacket File, is the individual inmate, while the unit of observation for the Arrest Rap Sheet file is the arrest.

Codebook available.

Part number: 1 ; part name: Inmate Jacket ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 1,557 ; variable count: 94 ; LRECL: 310 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 2 ; part name: Arrest Rap Sheet ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 17,361 ; variable count: 22 ; LRECL: 70 ; records per case: 1.

A total of 1,600 inmates was randomly selected from the IDOC automatic information system's records of inmates released between July 1979 and December 1982. Of these, inmate jackets were located for 1,557 cases and arrest history information was available for 1,430 of the cases. Of the 1,557 inmates included in the study, 355 were released prior to June 1, 1980. The remaining 1,202 inmates were released during the operation of the program. Not all of these were early releases. Some inmates served their normal expected sentences.

Universe: Inmates released from Illinois prisons between July 1979 and December 1982.

Austin, James, Barry Krisberg, and Paul Kitsky. "Using Early Release to Relieve Prison Crowding: A Dilemma in Public Policy." Crime and delinquency 32 (1984), 405-502.