Case Tracking and Mapping System Developed for the United States Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York, 1997-1998 (ICPSR 2929)
Published: Jan 18, 2006
Principal Investigator(s):
Colin Reilly, City University of New York. Hunter College;
Victor Goldsmith, City University of New York. Hunter College
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02929.v1
Version V1
Summary
This collection grew out of a prototype case tracking and crime mapping application that was developed for the United States Attorney's Office (USAO), Southern District of New York (SDNY). The purpose of creating the application was to move from the traditionally episodic way of handling cases to a comprehensive and strategic method of collecting case information and linking it to specific geographic locations, and collecting information either not handled at all or not handled with sufficient enough detail by SDNY's existing case management system. The result was an end-user application designed to be run largely by SDNY's nontechnical staff. It consisted of two components, a database to capture case tracking information and a mapping component to link case and geographic data. The case tracking data were contained in a Microsoft Access database and the client application contained all of the forms, queries, reports, macros, table links, and code necessary to enter, navigate through, and query the data. The mapping application was developed using Environmental Systems Research Institute's (ESRI) ArcView 3.0a GIS. This collection shows how the user-interface of the database and the mapping component were customized to allow the staff to perform spatial queries without having to be geographic information systems (GIS) experts. Part 1 of this collection contains the Visual Basic script used to customize the user-interface of the Microsoft Access database. Part 2 contains the Avenue script used to customize ArcView to link the data maintained in the server databases, to automate the office's most common queries, and to run simple analyses.
Citation
Export Citation:
Funding
United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (98-LB-VX-0004)
Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage
Time Period(s)
1997-07 -- 1998-10
Date of Collection
1997-07 -- 1998-10
Data Collection Notes
The user guide and codebook are provided as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.
Study Purpose
This collection grew out of a prototype case tracking and mapping application that was developed for the United States Attorney's Office (USAO), Southern District of New York (SDNY). The SDNY is the federal prosecuting office for Manhattan and Bronx counties in New York City, as well as Westchester County and several other northern counties. The office's primary mission is to investigate and prosecute federal crimes in these counties. The case tracking and mapping application was developed for SDNY to move from the traditionally episodic way of handling cases to a comprehensive and strategic method. The purpose was to create a system that could collect case information and link it to specific geographic locations, and collect information either not handled at all or not handled with sufficient enough detail by SDNY's existing case management system. This would give SDNY the ability to cut across agency lines and establish geographic connections between criminals and federal cooperators. The system allowed an in-depth analytic capacity of the entire federal landscape for the Southern District of New York.
Study Design
The system that was created was an end-user application designed to be run largely by SDNY's nontechnical staff. It consisted of two components, a database to capture case tracking information and a mapping component to link case and geographic data. The case tracking data were contained in a Microsoft Access database and the client application contained all of the forms, queries, reports, macros, table links, and code necessary to enter, navigate through, and query the data. The mapping application was developed using Environmental Systems Research Institute's (ESRI) ArcView 3.0a GIS. This collection shows how the user-interface of the database and the mapping component were customized to allow the staff to perform spatial queries without having to be geographic information systems (GIS) experts. Part 1 of this study contains the Visual Basic script used to customize the user-interface of the Microsoft Access database. Part 2 contains the Avenue script used to customize ArcView to link the data maintained in the server databases, to automate the office's most common queries, and to run simple analyses.
Sample
inap.
Universe
inap.
Unit(s) of Observation
Case.
Data Source
Visual Basic script and Avenue script
computer program code
Description of Variables
inap.
Response Rates
inap.
Presence of Common Scales
None.
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.
- The citation of this study may have changed due to the new version control system that has been implemented.
This dataset is maintained and distributed by the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD), the criminal justice archive within ICPSR. NACJD is primarily sponsored by three agencies within the U.S. Department of Justice: the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the National Institute of Justice, and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.