Sentencing in eight United States district courts, 1973-1978
By: principal investigators, Brian Forst and William Rhodes
Series: ICPSR -- 8622; ICPSR (Series) -- 8622
Publisher: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor
Published: 1980
Place of publication: Ann Arbor, Mich
Language: und
Format: [computer file] /
Number of pages: 27
Subjects: Sentences (Criminal procedure); Crime; Criminal statistics
Description: This data collection provides information about sentencing patterns established by the United States District Courts for federal offenses. Eleven types of crime were included: bank robbery, embezzlement, income tax, mail theft, forgery, drugs, random other, false claims, homicide, bribery of a public official, and mail fraud. There are three kinds of data files which pertain to the eleven types of crimes: psi files, offense files, and AO files. The psi files describe defendant demographic background and criminal history. The offense files contain questions tailored to a particular type of offense committed by a defendant and the results of conviction and sentencing. The AO files provide additional information on defendants' background characteristics, court records, and dates of court entry and exit.This collection is one of only a few studies that has examined federal sentencing patterns, court involvement, sentencing, and criminal histories.
Notes: Event/transaction data, and survey data.

Holding archive: Criminal Justice Archive and Information Network.

ICPSR data class: Class IV.

Chronological coverage: 1973-1978; Data collected: 1978.

Pre-sentence investigation reports prepared for the court.

United States.

United States Department of Justice. National Institute of Justice, J-42723.

Logical record length format with SPSS Control Cards.

Certain variables have been blanked for reasons of confidentiality.

Part number: 1 ; part name: PSI: Bank Embezzlement ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 561 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 2 ; part name: PSI: Bank Robbery ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 723 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 3 ; part name: PSI: Random Other ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 681 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 4 ; part name: PSI: Forgery ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 751 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 5 ; part name: PSI: Mail Theft ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 154 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 6 ; part name: PSI: Narcotics ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 726 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 7 ; part name: PSI: Income Tax ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 636 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 8 ; part name: PSI: Bribery ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 602 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 9 ; part name: PSI: False Claims ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 573 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 10 ; part name: PSI: Homicide ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 578 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 11 ; part name: PSI: Mail Fraud ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 499 ; variable count: 187 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 12 ; part name: Offense: Bank Embezzlement ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 561 ; variable count: 94 ; LRECL: 378 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 13 ; part name: Offense: Bank Robbery ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 723 ; variable count: 86 ; LRECL: 409 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 14 ; part name: Offense: Random Other ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 751 ; variable count: 85 ; LRECL: 386 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 15 ; part name: Offense: Forgery ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 751 ; variable count: 85 ; LRECL: 386 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 16 ; part name: Offense: Mail Theft ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 154 ; variable count: 74 ; LRECL: 376 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 17 ; part name: Offense: Mail Fraud ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 480 ; variable count: 72 ; LRECL: 388 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 18 ; part name: Offense: Narcotics ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 726 ; variable count: 74 ; LRECL: 391 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 19 ; part name: Offense: Income Tax ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 636 ; variable count: 93 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 20 ; part name: Offense: Bribery ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 602 ; variable count: 75 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 21 ; part name: Offense: False Claims ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 573 ; variable count: 79 ; LRECL: 326 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 22 ; part name: Offense: Homicide ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 578 ; variable count: 115 ; LRECL: 443 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 23 ; part name: Offense: Add Narcotics ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 737 ; variable count: 6 ; LRECL: 15 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 24 ; part name: AO: Combined ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 4,728 ; variable count: 28 ; LRECL: 86 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 25 ; part name: AO: Bribery ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 776 ; variable count: 28 ; LRECL: 86 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 26 ; part name: AO: Homicide ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 863 ; variable count: 28 ; LRECL: 86 ; records per case: 1.

Part number: 27 ; part name: AO: False Claims ; file structure: rectangular ; case count: 744 ; variable count: 28 ; LRECL: 86 ; records per case: 1.

The eight districts were selected to represent some degree of geographic spread and variation in size. The most recent 120 pre- sentence investigation reports per offense from each of the five largest districts were selected and the most recent 40 pre-sentence investigation reports were chosen.

Universe: All defendants sentenced in Federal District Courts from 1973-1978 for eleven selected offenses.

Bartolomeo, John. Judicial reactions to sentencing guidelines. Washington, D.C.: Department of Justice, 1981.

Bartolomeo, John, et al. Sentence decision making: the logic of sentence decisions and the extend and sources of sentence disparity. Washington, D.C.: Department of Justice, 1981.

Campbell, Davidson, Janet McKernan, and Mary Laing- McKernan. Data documentation for the analysis of federal sentencing decisions. Washington, D.C.: Institute for Law and Social Research, 1980.