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Description & Citation--Study No. 2588 | |
Bibliographic Description | |
| ICPSR Study No.: | 2588 |
|---|---|
| Title: | Frequency of Arrest of the Young, Chronic, Serious Offender Using Two Male Cohorts Paroled by the California Youth Authority, 1981-1982 and 1986-1987 |
| Principal Investigator(s): | Richard L. Linster, United States Department of Justice. National Institute of Justice |
| Pamela K. Lattimore, United States Department of Justice. National Institute of Justice | |
| John M. MacDonald, United States Department of Justice. National Institute of Justice | |
| Christy A. Visher, United States Department of Justice. National Institute of Justice | |
| Funding Agency: | United States Department of Justice. National Institute of Justice |
| Grant Number: | 94-IJ-CX-0014 |
| Bibliographic Citation: | Linster, Richard L., Pamela K. Lattimore, John M. MacDonald, and Christy A. Visher. FREQUENCY OF ARREST OF THE YOUNG, CHRONIC, SERIOUS OFFENDER USING TWO MALE COHORTS PAROLED BY THE CALIFORNIA YOUTH AUTHORITY, 1981-1982 AND 1986-1987 [Computer file]. ICPSR02588-v1. Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice, National Institute of Justice [producer], 1996. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter- university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1999. |
Scope of Study | |
| Summary: | This study investigated the ways in which active offenders and their behavior patterns are related to individual characteristics. Data were collected to explore topics such as the nature of individual offending behavior, including offense mix and specialization, the frequency of offending, and the characterization of offender types. To address these issues, the post-release arrest patterns of two cohorts of male youths paroled by the California Youth Authority in 1981-1982 and 1986-1987 were examined. The project focused on modeling the frequency of recidivism and the correlates of arrest frequency. The frequency of arrest was measured during two periods: the first year following release and years two and three following release. Criminal justice variables in this collection provide information on county-level crime and clearance rates for violent and property crimes known to the police. Measures of parolees' criminal history include length of incarceration prior to current commitment, frequency of arrest, age at first arrest, and calculated criminal history scores. Personal and family characteristics include previous violent behavior, alcohol and drug abuse, family violence, neglect or abuse, degree of parental supervision, parental criminality, education, and school disciplinary problems. Demographic variables include age and race of the subjects. |
| Subject Term(s): | arrest records, arrests, clearance rates, crime rates, criminal histories, juvenile offenders, male offenders, parolees, recidivism rates, recidivists, youths |
| Geographic Coverage: | California, United States |
| Date(s) of Collection: | 1995 - 1996 |
| Unit of Observation: | Individuals |
| Universe: | Male youths paroled from the California Youth Authority in 1981-1982 and 1986-1987. |
| Data Type: | administrative records data and event/transaction data |
Methodology | |
| Purpose of the Study: | Much attention has been devoted to developing appropriate analytical models of criminal careers. However, much less attention has been given to studies of the nature of offending behavior, especially among active offenders. Greater knowledge about the patterns of criminal behavior might lead to new insights about the appropriate specification of theoretical models. This study sought to address topics that had been largely ignored in previous research, such as the nature of individual offending behavior, including offense mix and specialization, the frequency of offending, and the characterization of offender types. These issues were addressed in this data collection by examining the post-release arrest patterns of two cohorts of young male parolees released from the California Youth Authority in 1981-1982 and 1986-1987. Specifically, the study focused on modeling the frequency of arrest and the correlates of arrest frequency. The study did not model the entire criminal career from onset to termination. Instead, the more limited objective was to model the arrest frequency over a relatively limited time interval. |
| Study Design: | Random samples were drawn from two cohorts -- those paroled between July 1, 1981, and June 30, 1982, and those paroled between July 1, 1986, and June 30, 1987. Data were collected on these subjects from the administrative records of the California Youth Authority and from police records. The dependent variables were the number of arrests accumulated during the first year following release and the number of arrests accumulated during the second and third years following release, correcting for time free. Additional information was collected from administrative records on the criminal histories of the subjects and their personal characteristics and those of their families. Supplemental data on county-level crime and clearance rates were taken from the Uniform Crime Reports. |
| Sample: | Random samples were drawn from two cohorts of male youths from the California Youth Authority. The first cohort consisted of those paroled between July 1, 1981, and June 30, 1982, while the second cohort consisted of those paroled between July 1, 1986, and June 30, 1987. The original male cohort sizes were 1,998 and 1,997, respectively. Cases with missing values on variables used in the analysis and the relatively few cases paroled out of state were dropped. Additionally, the principal investigators deleted the relatively small number of subjects who had no street time for the first year post-release or for the interval spanned by years two and three post-release. Within-cohort comparisons of the cases thus discarded and those retained did not indicate any significant differences between these two groups. |
| Data Source: | California Youth Authority institutional files, police records, and the Uniform Crime Reports |
| Mode of Data Collection: | The data for this study were collected from the California Youth Authority institutional files, police records, and the Uniform Crime Reports of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. |
| Description of Variables: | Criminal justice variables in this collection provide information on county-level crime and clearance rates for violent and property crimes known to the police. Measures of parolees' criminal history include length of incarceration prior to current commitment, frequency of arrest, age at first arrest, and calculated criminal history scores. Personal and family characteristics include previous violent behavior, alcohol and drug abuse, family violence, neglect or abuse, degree of parental supervision, parental criminality, education, and school disciplinary problems. Demographic variables include age and race of the subjects. |
| Response Rates: | Not applicable |
| Presence of Common Scales: | None |
| Extent of Processing: | ICPSR checked for undocumented codes, standardized missing data codes, and reformatted the data. ICPSR also produced a codebook, and SAS and SPSS setup files for this collection. |
Access and Availability | |
| Note: | A list of the data formats available for this study can be found in the summary of holdings. Detailed file-level information (such as record length, case count, and variable count) is listed in the file manifest. |
| Original ICPSR Release: | 1999-06-16 |
| Version History: | The last update of this study occurred on 2005-11-04. |
| 2005-11-04 - On 2005-03-14 new files were added to one or more datasets. These files included additional setup files as well as one or more of the following: SAS program, SAS transport, SPSS portable, and Stata system files. The metadata record was revised 2005-11-04 to reflect these additions. | |
