The Source for Crime and Justice Data

Description & Citation--Study No. 2038

Bibliographic Description

Study No.:

02038

Title:

State Court Processing Statistics, 1990-2006: Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties

Principal Investigator(s):

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Bibliographic Citation:

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics. State Court Processing Statistics, 1990-2006: Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties. ICPSR02038-v5. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2011-08-19. doi:10.3886/ICPSR02038.v5

Series:

State Court Processing Statistics Series

Scope of Study

Summary:

Originally known as the National Pretrial Reporting Program, the State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) program tracks felony cases filed in May of a given year until final disposition or until one year has elapsed from the date of filing. This collection presents data on felony cases filed in approximately 40 of the nation's 75 most populous counties in even numbered years from 1990-2006. These 75 counties account for more than a third of the United States population and approximately half of all reported crimes. The cases from these 40 jurisdictions are weighted to represent all felony filings during the month of May in the 75 most populous counties. Data were collected on arrest charges, demographic characteristics, criminal history, pretrial release and detention, adjudication, and sentencing.

Subject Terms:

case processing, court cases, criminal histories, defendants, disposition (legal), felons, felony courts, pretrial detention, pretrial release, sentencing, state courts, statistical data

Smallest Geographic Unit:

county

Geographic Coverage:

United States

Time Period:
  • 1990
  • 1992
  • 1994
  • 1996
  • 1998
  • 2000
  • 2002
  • 2004
  • 2006

Date of Collection:
  • 1990
  • 1992
  • 1994
  • 1996
  • 1998
  • 2000
  • 2002
  • 2004
  • 2006

Unit of Observation:

felony case

Universe:

Felony court filings during the month of May in even numbered years from 1990 to 2006 in the 75 most populous counties in the United States.

Data Types:

event/transaction data

Data Collection Notes:

Part 1, 1990-2006 Cumulative Data, has its own codebook, which is separate from the codebook for Part 10, 2006 Data. Parts 6, 7, and 8, 1998-2004 Data, also have their own codebooks. Parts 2-5, the 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1996 individual-year data files, share the same codebook.

Part 6, 1998 Data, contains over 100 new variables that were created by the principal investigator.

Parts 2-5, the 1990, 1992, 1994, and 1996 data files, were created from the 1990-1996 Cumulative Data file.

This version of the data supersedes all previous National Pretrial Reporting Program files.

Variable names and value labels have been made consistent across the 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006 files. All years use "8" codes for not applicable and "9" codes for missing data. Since some variables did not exist for all years, there may be instances in which all cases are missing for a variable within a given year.

There are 25 additional variables in Part 10, 2006 Data that are not in Part 1, 1990-2006 Cumulative Data.

Methodology

Sample:

In a two-stage sampling process, the first stage was a stratified sample to select 40 of the 75 most populous counties, and the second stage was a systematic sample of defendants based on felony filings within each selected county.

Data Source:

national, state, local agencies

Extent of Processing:

All archived data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. The archive also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, the archive performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Access and Availability

Note:

Detailed file-level information (such as record length, case count, and variable count) is listed in the file manifest.

Original ICPSR Release:

1998-09-11

Restrictions:

The data are restricted from general dissemination. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement form and specify the reasons for the request. A copy of the Restricted Data Use Agreement form can be requested by calling 800-999-0960. Researchers can also download this form as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file from the download page associated with this dataset. Completed forms should be returned to: Director, National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, Institute for Social Research, P.O. Box 1248, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-1248, or by fax: 734-647-8200.

Version History:

  • 2011-08-19 All parts are being moved to restricted access and will be available only using the restricted access procedures.

  • 2010-09-03 Data were added to the collection for 2006 (Part 10, 2006 Data) and the cumulative data file was updated to also include the 2006 data (Part 1, 1990-2006 Cumulative Data). The title of Part 1 has been revised to reflect the range of years the data were collected. The documentation has been revised for Part 1, 1990-2006 Cumulative Data, and for Part 10, 2006 Data.

  • 2007-11-28 The cumulative data for 1990 to 2004 were submitted by the principal investigator. Part 1 has been modified.

  • 2006-03-17 The 2002 data were submitted by the principal investigator. Part 1 has been modified, and Part 8 has been added.

  • 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.

  • 2004-05-20 Data were added to the collection for 2000 (Part 7, 2000 Data) and the cumulative data file was updated to also include the 2000 data (Part 1, 1990-2000 Cumulative Data). The title of the study has been revised to reflect the range of years the data were collected instead of individual years.

  • 2004-05-20 Documentation has been revised for Part 7, 2000 Data, and for Part 1, 1990-2000 Cumulative Data.

Dataset(s):
  • DS1: 1990-2006 Cumulative Data
  • DS2: 1990 Data
  • DS3: 1992 Data
  • DS4: 1994 Data
  • DS5: 1996 Data
  • DS6: 1998 Data
  • DS7: 2000 Data
  • DS8: 2002 Data