Longitudinal Study of Criminal Career Patterns of Former California Youth Authority Wards, 1965-1984 (ICPSR 2478)
Version Date: Mar 30, 2006 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
Rudy A. Haapanen, State of California. Department of the Youth Authority. Program Research and Review Division
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02478.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
This study was designed to measure changes that occur in criminal behavior as offenders move through life. It investigated the patterns of criminal behavior that occurred over ten to fifteen years for men whose early criminal involvement was serious enough to result in commitment to California Youth Authority (state-level) institutions. The main focus of the study was on changes in criminal behavior as these men moved through their 20s and into their 30s. This study extended and expanded the follow-up data for the study EARLY IDENTIFICATION OF THE CHRONIC OFFENDER, [1978-1980: CALIFORNIA] (ICPSR 8226). Half of the sample from the earlier study was used in the present study, along with smaller samples of adult offenders with no history of state-level commitments as juveniles. These data allow for analyses of adult patterns of criminal behavior and the relationship of the patterns to various explanatory variables. Part 1, Offense Data, contains arrest information covering the period after parole from the California Youth Authority through the date of data collection. Variables include entry and release dates to jail, prison, or probation, the most serious offense and charge, total number of offenses for violent, property, and all crimes, and dates of arrest, offense codes, and number of counts for all arrests. These arrest data incorporate the arrest data contained in EARLY IDENTIFICATION OF THE CHRONIC OFFENDER, [1978-1980: CALIFORNIA] (ICPSR 8226) for all California Youth Authority cases in the current study. Part 2, Arrest Data by Age and Year, contains counts of arrest charges by type of offense (violent or nonviolent) and by age and calendar year. Part 3, Arrest Data for Specific Offenses, contains counts of more specific arrest charges for four-year age blocks (from 18 through 30-plus) for 21 types of offenses, including murder, assault, rape, robbery, burglary, theft, forgery, arson, and drug possession. Variables include months of street time, months of incarceration, and total arrests. Part 4, Prison and Probation Data, contains information on prison or probation terms and arrest and lifestyle characteristics for the year immediately prior to and following jail or prison. Variables include family criminal history, family life, education, entry and release dates, offenses, treatment and training while incarcerated, gang affiliation, psychological evaluation, drug use, employment history, and marital status. Part 5, Social History Data, contains lifestyle characteristics by age and year. Variables include drug and alcohol use, marital status, living arrangements, and employment history. All files contain age and race variables.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
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Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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The user guide, codebook, and data collection instruments 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 through the ICPSR Website on the Internet.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
This study was designed to measure changes that occur in criminal behavior as offenders move through life. Some key research questions were: (1) Why do some offenders go to prison early in life, while others enter later? (2) Does criminal behavior decline as offenders age, or do offenders simply stop their criminal behavior altogether at some point? (3) Is the amount of criminal behavior committed by offenders related to their employment or family life or the use of drugs, as these change over time? This study attempted to answer these questions by investigating the patterns of criminal behavior that occurred over a ten- to fifteen-year period for some 1,300 men whose early criminal involvement was serious enough to result in commitment to California Youth Authority (state-level) institutions. The main focus of the study was on changes in criminal behavior as these men moved through their 20s and into their 30s. The goal was to determine whether a policy of selectively sentencing offenders to prison for longer terms could work to substantially reduce crime. To that end, the study was organized primarily around investigating whether the criminal behavior of the offenders in this sample was reasonably stable.
Study Design View help for Study Design
This study extended and expanded the follow-up data for the study EARLY IDENTIFICATION OF THE CHRONIC OFFENDER, [1978-1980: CALIFORNIA] (ICPSR 8226). That study analyzed data on subsequent arrests (using the most serious charge for each arrest incident) over a ten- to fifteen-year period and used attitudinal, background, and psychological data retained from earlier studies to predict subsequent offense behavior for juvenile and young adult offenders committed to the California Youth Authority. Half of this sample was used in the present study, along with smaller samples of adult offenders with no history of state-level commitments as juveniles. More complete arrest histories were obtained, and information on demographics, family background, adult drug use, marital status, and employment was coded from prison and/or probation files. These data allow for extensive analyses of adult patterns of criminal behavior and the relationship of the patterns to various explanatory variables. Information on a single prison term (for those with such terms) or jail/probation term (for cases with such term information available but without prison terms) was also coded. Data on arrests and time incarcerated prior to and after these sentences were used to assess career stability over time and estimate the incapacitation effects of increased sentence lengths.
Sample View help for Sample
The sample used for this study consisted of three subsamples: (1) half of the sample from ICPSR 8226 (n = 1,308), (2) a sample of adult prisoners who were convicted of robbery or burglary and who had no known history of state-level juvenile commitments (n = 175), and (3) a sample of adult probationers who were sentenced to jail and/or probation for either robbery or burglary who had no prior juvenile or adult state-level commitments (n = 98).
Universe View help for Universe
California offenders.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Source View help for Data Source
(1) California Criminal Identification and Investigation (CII) rap sheets, (2) California Department of Corrections (CDC) adult prison files, (3) Pre-Sentence Investigation (PSI) reports from county probation files
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Description of Variables View help for Description of Variables
Part 1, Offense Data, contains arrest information covering the period after parole from the California Youth Authority through the date of data collection. Variables include entry and release dates to jail, prison, or probation, the most serious offense and charge, total number of offenses for violent, property, and all crimes, and dates of arrest, offense codes, and number of counts for all arrests. These arrest data incorporate the arrest data contained in EARLY IDENTIFICATION OF THE CHRONIC OFFENDER, [1978-1980: CALIFORNIA] (ICPSR 8226) for all California Youth Authority cases in the current study. Part 2, Arrest Data by Age and Year, contains counts of arrest charges by type of offense (violent or nonviolent) and by age and calendar year. Part 3, Arrest Data for Specific Offenses, contains counts of more specific arrest charges for four-year age blocks (from 18 through 30-plus) for 21 types of offenses, including murder, assault, rape, robbery, burglary, theft, forgery, arson, and drug possession. Variables include months of street time, months of incarceration, and total arrests. Part 4, Prison and Probation Data, contains information on prison or probation terms and arrest and lifestyle characteristics for the year immediately prior to and following jail or prison. Variables include family criminal history, family life, education, entry and release dates, offenses, treatment and training while incarcerated, gang affiliation, psychological evaluation, drug use, employment history, and marital status. Part 5, Social History Data, contains lifestyle characteristics by age and year. Variables include drug and alcohol use, marital status, living arrangements, and employment history. All files contain age and race variables.
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
Not applicable.
Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales
None.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
1999-02-03
Version History View help for Version History
- Haapanen, Rudy A. LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF CRIMINAL CAREER PATTERNS OF FORMER CALIFORNIA YOUTH AUTHORITY WARDS, 1965-1984. ICPSR version. Sacramento, CA: State of California, Department of the Youth Authority [producer], 1988. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1999. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR02478.v1
2006-03-30 File CB2478.ALL.PDF was removed from any previous datasets and flagged as a study-level file, so that it will accompany all downloads.
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.
1999-02-03 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.
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.