1 ETHNICITY AND HOMICIDE IN CALIFORNIA, 1850-1900 (ICPSR 9594) Principal Investigator Clare V. McKanna, Jr. First ICPSR/Release December 1991 Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research P.O. Box 1248 Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 1 1 BIBLIOGRAPHIC CITATION Publications based on ICPSR data collections should acknowledge those sources by means of bibliographic citations. To ensure that such source attributions are captured for social science bibliographic utilities, citations must appear in footnotes or in the reference section of publications. The bibliographic citation for this data collection is: McKanna, Clare V., Jr. ETHNICITY AND HOMICIDE IN CALIFORNIA, 1850- 1900 [Computer file]. San Diego, CA: San Diego State University [producer], 1989. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1991. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON USE OF ICPSR RESOURCES To provide funding agencies with essential information about use of archival resources and to facilitate the exchange of information about ICPSR participants' research activities, users of ICPSR data are requested to send to ICPSR bibliographic citations for each completed manuscript or thesis abstract. Please indicate in a cover letter which data were used. DATA DISCLAIMER The original collector of the data, ICPSR, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for uses of this collection or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses. 1 1 DATA COLLECTION DESCRIPTION Clare V. McKanna, Jr. ETHNICITY AND HOMICIDE IN CALIFORNIA, 1850-1900 (ICPSR 9594) SUMMARY: This data collection examines the relationship between homicide and ethnicity in California during the period 1850-1900. The data are presented in three files. Part 1, Homicide, includes information on time, place, location, and cause of the crime for all murder cases in seven California counties. The relationship between victim and accused, and the race, sex, age, and occupation of each are also provided. Part 2, Indictment, includes information on criminal charge, plea, verdict, and sentence for all murder trials in the same seven counties during the time period. Part 3 provides information on all prisoners incarcerated in California for murder. Included are age, sex, ethnicity, place of birth, and occupation of each prisoner, as well as sentence, disposition of case, years served, and year in which the prisoner was released. CLASS IV UNIVERSE: Homicides in California, 1850-1900. SAMPLING: Data for Parts 1 and 2 are 100-percent samples from seven California counties. The homicide data (Part 1) were obtained from such historical documents as coroner's inquest reports, criminal case files, and newspaper accounts. The indictment data (Part 2) were obtained from the registers of district and superior courts. Data for Part 3 are a 100-percent sample of all felons incarcerated for murder or manslaughter in California obtained from the registers of San Quentin and Folsom prisons. EXTENT OF COLLECTION: 3 data files + machine-readable documentation DATA FORMAT: Logical Record Length Part 1: Homicide Part 2: Indictment File Structure: rectangular File Structure: rectangular Cases: 1,318 Cases: 790 Variables: 22 Variables: 12 Record Length: 54 Record Length: 47 Records Per Case: 1 Records Per Case: 1 Part 3: Prison Part 4: Documentation File Structure: rectangular Record Length: 65 Cases: 1,902 Variables: 13 Record Length: 45 Records Per Case: 1 1 1 ETHNICITY AND HOMICIDE IN CALIFORNIA, 1850-1900 CODE BOOK INDICTMENT CODE SHEET VARIABLE # AND VARIABLE LABEL COLUMN 1. NAME (CHARACTER FIELD) 1-26 2. CASENUMBER 27-31 3. ETHNIC 32 1. WHITE (OTHER THAN HISPANIC) 2. HISPANIC 3. NATIVE AMERICAN 4. ORIENTAL 5. AFRICAN-AMERICAN 4. CRIME 33 1. MURDER 1ST 2. MURDER 2ND 3. MANSLAUGHTER 4. MURDER (DEGREE UNKNOWN) 9. UNKNOWN 5. COURT 34 1. SUPERIOR 2. DISTRICT 6. DATE 35-38 1 1. YEAR/MONTH 7. PLEA 39 1. GUILTY 2. NOT GUILTY 3. PLEA BARGAIN 9. UNKNOWN 8. TRIALLENG (TRIAL LENGTH=NUMBER OF DAYS) 40-41 99. UNKNOWN 9. VERDICT 42 1. GUILTY 2. NOT GUILTY 3. DISMISSED 4. NO VERDICT 5. INSANE 9. UNKNOWN 10. GUILTYOF 43 1. 1ST DEGREE MURDER 2. 2ND DEGREE MURDER 3. MANSLAUGHTER 9. UNKNOWN 11. SENTENCE 44-45 1. 1 TO 5 YEARS 2. 6 TO 10 YEARS 3. 11 TO 15 YEARS 4. 16 TO 20 YEARS 5. 21 TO 25 YEARS 6. 26 TO 30 YEARS 7. 31 TO 40 YEARS 1 8. LIFE 10. DEATH 11. INSANE ASYLUM 99. UNKNOWN 12. COUNTY 46-47 1. SAN DIEGO 3. SANTA BARBARA 4. SAN LUIS OBISPO 11. SACRAMENTO 12. SAN JOAQUIN 21. CALAVERAS 22. TUOLUMNE