Analysis of Rhode Island Domestic Violence Offenders on Probation, 1977-2012 (ICPSR 34571)

Version Date: May 20, 2016

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Principal Investigator(s):
Andrew Klein, Advocates for Human Potential, Inc.; David Centerbar, Advocates for Human Potential, Inc.

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR34571.v1

Version V1

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Summary

These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they there received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except of the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompany readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collections and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.

The purpose of the study was to:

  • Describe the prosecution and sentencing histories for domestic violence and other offenses;
  • Determine the severity gap in prosecution and sentencing between these domestic violence and non-domestic violence over a six year period; and
  • To answer whether the variation in prosecution and sentencing severity predicts being subsequently charged for domestic violence in the future.

Rhode Island was selected as the study site because it has a high domestic violence arrest rate and specifically distinguishes domestic violence from non-domestic violence offenses based on the relationships of the parties, not by specific type of crime. Further, Rhode Island's judiciary maintains a public web-based database, called CourtConnect, that includes an index of defendants by name and date of birth and lists all arrests followed by prosecution and court actions through final sentence. The criminal history information includes all charges filed in any Rhode Island court for the last 25 years.

Two researchers independently coded offender data (Differential Sentencing Data - Persons, n=982) available on CourtConnect. Coders then determined whether the defendants were prosecuted for the charges brought against them (Differential Sentencing Data - Offenses, n=6,649). Offenses that were not prosecuted were differentiated from offenses that were prosecuted. Each charge was classified as domestic violence or non-domestic violence as defined by state statute.

Citation

Klein, Andrew, and Centerbar, David. Analysis of Rhode Island Domestic Violence Offenders on Probation, 1977-2012. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2016-05-20. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR34571.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2011-WG-BX-0001)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

None

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Distributor(s)

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

1977-02 -- 2012-07

Date of Collection

2012-04 -- 2012-07

Data Collection Notes

  1. These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they there received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except of the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompany readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collections and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.

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Study Purpose

The purpose of the study was to:

  • Describe the prosecution and sentencing histories for domestic violence and other offenses;
  • Determine the severity gap in prosecution and sentencing between these domestic violence and non-domestic violence over a six year period; and
  • To answer whether the variation in prosecution and sentencing severity predicts being subsequently charged for domestic violence in the future.

Study Design

Rhode Island was selected as the study site because it has a high domestic violence arrest rate and specifically distinguishes domestic violence from non-domestic violence offenses based on the relationships of the parties, not by specific type of crime. Further, Rhode Island's judiciary maintains a public web-based database called CourtConnect. The website includes an index of defendants by name and date of birth and lists all arrests followed by prosecution and court actions through final sentence. The criminal history information includes all charges filed in any Rhode Island court for the last 25 years. For all offenders included in the study sample, researchers coded all available criminal records for their entire available criminal careers, from their first (adult) offense up to and included any charged through the study period.

Two researchers independently coded offender data (Differential Sentencing Data - Persons, n=982) available on CourtConnect. Coders then determined whether the defendants were prosecuted for the charges brought against them (Differential Sentencing Data - Offenses, n=6,649). Offenses that were not prosecuted were differentiated from offenses that were prosecuted. Each charge was classified as domestic violence or non-domestic violence as defined by state statute.

Sample

For inclusion in the study, offenders must have been on probation for a domestic violence offense on either November 14, 2002 or December 31,2002. Although there were approximately 3,000 offenders on probation supervision for domestic violence at this time, those included in this study were limited to a sample of probationers obtained in a prior study funded by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The sample (n=1,032) consisted of those probationers who were on the caseloads of fourteen different probation officers, five of whom dealt exclusively with domestic violence offenders. Unique individual offenders were identified by their first and last name and their date of birth. In cases in which offenders could not be uniquely identified by these criteria, they were excluded from analysis.

Time Method

Longitudinal: Cohort / Event-based

Universe

Criminal offenders on probation for a domestic violence offense in Rhode Island as of November and December 2002.

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Source

Rhode Island CourtConnect

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

The offender level data (Differential Sentencing Data - Persons, 246 variables, n=982) includes offender gender, date of birth, number of offenses, minimum sentence, maximum sentence, proportion of offenses that were domestic violence, proportion of offenses that were prosecuted, date of first prosecution, date of last prosecution, age at first offense, number of domestic violence offenses and number of non-domestic violence offenses.

The offense level data (Differential Sentencing Data - Offenses, 28 variables, n=6,649) includes offender gender and date of birth, whether the offense is domestic violence or non-domestic violence, date prosecuted, whether offense is a new violation, offenses not prosecuted, offenses resulting in a fine or probation, offense sentenced to prison and sentence length, date of earliest offense, and number of months since first offense.

Response Rates

Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales

None.

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Original Release Date

2016-05-20

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:
  • Klein, Andrew, and David Centerbar. Analysis of Rhode Island Domestic Violence Offenders on Probation, 1977-2012. ICPSR34571-v1. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2016-05-20. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR34571.v1
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Weight

None.

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Notes

  • These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.

  • 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.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.