Prosecutor's Management Information System (PROMIS), Rhode Island, 1979 (ICPSR 8288)

Version Date: Feb 16, 1992

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Principal Investigator(s):
Institute for Law and Social Research

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08288.v1

Version V1

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Summary

The Prosecutor's Management Information System (PROMIS) is a computer-based information system for public prosecution agencies. PROMIS was initially developed with funds from the United States Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) to cope with problems of a large, urban prosecution agency where mass production operations had superseded the traditional practice of a single attorney preparing and prosecuting a given case from inception to final disposition. The combination of massive volumes of cases and assembly-line fragmentation of responsibility and control had created a situation in which one case was indistinguishable from another and the effects of problems at various stages in the assembly line on ultimate case disposition went undetected and uncorrected. One unique feature of PROMIS that addresses these problems is the automated evaluation of cases. Through the application of a uniform set of criteria, PROMIS assigns two numerical ratings to each case: one signifying the gravity of the crimes through the measurement of the amount of harm done to society, and the other signifying the gravity of the prior record of the accused. These ratings make it possible to select the more important cases for intensive, pre-trial preparation and to assure even-handed treatment of cases with similar degrees of gravity. A complementary feature of PROMIS is the automation of reasons for decisions made or actions taken along the assembly line. Reasons for dismissing cases prior to trial on their merits can be related to earlier cycles of postponement for various reasons and the reasoning behind intake and screening decisions. The PROMIS data include information about the defendant, case characteristics and processes, charge, sentencing and continuance processes, and the witnesses/victims involved in the case. PROMIS was first used in 1971 in the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. To enhance the ability to transfer the concepts and software to other communities, LEAA awarded a grant to the Institute for Law xand Social Research (INSLAW) in Washington, DC. The Rhode Island PROMIS data collection is a product of this grant.

Citation

Institute for Law and Social Research. Prosecutor’s Management Information System (PROMIS), Rhode Island, 1979. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1992-02-16. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08288.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Law Enforcement Assistance Administration, United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

1979

Data Collection Notes

  1. This data collection is organized in a hierarchical data structure with 109,835 records. There are six record types. Each record includes data about a particular aspect of a case including data about the defendant (approximately 14 variables), case (approximately 131 variables), charges (approximately 32 variables), sentencing (approximately 24 variables), continuance (approximately 27 variables), and witnesses/victims (approximately 17 variables).

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Universe

All records from the Prosecutor's Management and Information System in Rhode Island in 1979.

Data Source

Rhode Island Prosecutor's Management Information System

Data Type(s)

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Original Release Date

1985-01-11

Version History

2018-02-15 The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented. The previous citation was:
  • Institute for Law and Social Research. Prosecutor's Management Information System (PROMIS), Rhode Island, 1979. ICPSR08288-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1985. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08288.v1

1985-01-11 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR 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, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

  • Standardized missing values.
  • Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
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Notes

  • The public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.