Federal Justice Statistics Program Resource Guide
Table of Contents
About the Federal Justice Statistics Program
The Bureau of Justice Statistics' Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP) collects, standardizes, and archives data on the federal response to crime and the operation of the federal criminal justice system. Federal agencies provide extracts from their case management systems, which cover various stages of criminal case processing, including arrest, prosecution, adjudication, sentencing, appeals, and corrections.
Abt Associates is funded by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (under awards 2016-BJ-CX-K044 and 15PBJS-21-GK-00004-BJSB) to process data received from federal agencies to create annual data files or Standard Analysis Files (SAF). The process of creating these SAF data files includes: 1) removing any information that could be used to identify any individual, 2) processing and documenting data so that it is suitable for analysis, and 3) standardizing variables across agencies so that similar measures, such as offense category, will be common across SAFs.
Each SAF data file represents an annual cohort of person-cases processed by a single agency within the federal criminal justice system. The person-case is a combination of a person or a corporation and a matter or case. For example, if a single defendant is involved in three different criminal cases during a specified fiscal year, that individual appears three times (i.e., as three records) in a SAF. Similarly, if a single case involves five defendants, that case appears five times (i.e., as five records) in a SAF. The person-case is the standard unit of analysis for the majority of SAFs, however, two agencies-the United States Marshals Service (USMS) and the Bureau of Prisons (BOP)-track individuals rather than cases, and as such, the unit of observations for these SAFs are persons rather than person-cases. For most agencies, each SAF is one of three types of cohorts - incoming, outgoing (or "terminating"), and pending at the end of the fiscal year. However, for two agencies - the USMS bookings and United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) guidelines calculations - each SAF represents an event for a particular point in time. Each SAF spans one federal fiscal year, October 1 through September 30. The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) archives and distributes the SAFs. BJS sponsors both Abt Associates and NACJD.
Using the Resource Guide
NACJD, a part of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) at the University of Michigan, designed this Resource Guide for data users to learn about the Federal Justice Statistics Program (FSJP) datasets and to learn about other criminal justice information sources.
With this guide, first time users or experienced analysts can:
- Find general information about the Federal Justice Statistics Program
- Obtain a better understanding of the data collection
- Discover additional resources and support
Data Restrictions
FJSP data are restricted from general dissemination, and as such, only the codebooks for these data are available to download directly from the NACJD site. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research. Users can apply online for access to the data by selecting any of the years of data from the links provided below, then clicking on the "Access Restricted Data" button for further direction.
Federal Justice Statistics Program Agencies and Data
Five federal criminal justice agencies contribute data to the FJSP. The figure below relates the agency data available to the public to their stage of the federal criminal justice system:
| Federal Criminal Justice Processing Stage | Associated Agency Data |
|---|---|
| Investigation | Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) |
| Arrest/Booking | United States Marshals Service (USMS) |
| Case Filing | Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) |
| Case Termination | Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) |
| Conviction and Sentencing | United States Sentencing Commission (USSC) Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA) Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC) |
| Prison | Bureau of Prisons (BOP) |
The data for each agency are transformed into one or more standard analytic files (SAFs). These agencies and the SAFs associated with them are listed below. More detailed information on each dataset, including its variables and limitations, can be found from the study homepages linked below.
The following agencies provide FJSP data and are archived at NACJD:
United States Marshals Service (USMS)
The Justice Detainee Information System (JDIS) contains data on all suspects who were arrested for federal offenses and booked by the United States Marshals Service.
Arrests and Bookings for Federal Offenses
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Arrests and Bookings for Federal Offenses, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Executive Office for United States Attorneys (EOUSA)
The Central System File contains information on the investigation and prosecution of suspects in criminal matters received and concluded by U.S. Attorneys, while the Central Charge File contains information on criminal cases filed and terminated by U.S. Attorneys.
The National Legal Information Office Network System (LIONS) contains information on the investigation and prosecution of suspects in criminal matters received and concluded by U.S. Attorneys, and information on criminal charges in cases filed and terminated by U.S. Attorneys.
Criminal Cases Initiated
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Defendants Charged in Criminal Cases Filed in District Court, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Criminal Cases Terminated
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Defendants in Federal Criminal Cases -- Terminated, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Charges Filed in Initiated Criminal Cases
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Charges Filed Against Defendants in Criminal Cases in District Court, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Charges Filed in Terminated Criminal Cases
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Charges Filed Against Defendants in Criminal Cases in District Court -- Terminated, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Suspects in Criminal Investigations Initiated
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Suspects in Federal Criminal Matters, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Suspects in Criminal Investigations Terminated
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Suspects in Federal Criminal Matters Concluded, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC)
The Criminal Master File (CMF) contains information about the criminal proceedings against defendants whose cases were filed and terminated in U.S. district courts. This file includes information on cases involving felonies, Class A misdemeanors, and lesser misdemeanors that were handled by U.S. district judges. The information in the data file covers criminal proceedings from case filing through disposition and sentencing. The AOUSC Courts of Appeals file contains docket information on criminal appeals filed and terminated in the U.S. Courts of Appeals. Records of appeals filed or terminated include information on the nature of the criminal appeal, the underlying offense, and the disposition of the appeal.
Criminal Court Cases Initiated
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Defendants in Federal Criminal Cases Filed in District Court, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Criminal Court Cases Terminated
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Defendants in Federal Criminal Cases Filed in District Court -- Terminated, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Criminal Court Cases Pending
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Defendants in Federal Criminal Cases Filed in District Court -- Pending, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Federal Criminal Appeals Initiated
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Criminal Appeals Cases Filed in Courts of Appeals, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Federal Criminal Appeals Terminated
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Criminal Appeals Cases Filed in Courts of Appeals -- Terminated, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
United States Sentencing Commission (USSC)
The Monitoring Data Base contains information on criminal defendants sentenced pursuant to the provisions of the Sentencing Reform Act (SRA) of 1984 (i.e. apples to persons convicted under federal law on November 1, 1987 or later and whose sentence recommendations have been calculated by the USSC).
Criminal Defendants Sentenced
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Defendants Sentenced Under the Sentencing Reform Act, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Criminal Counts of Conviction for Defendants
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Statutes for Counts of Conviction for Defendants Sentenced Under the Sentencing Reform Act, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Bureau of Prisons (BOP)
The SENTRY data system contains information about prisoner custody and movement throughout the federal Bureau of Prisons. The FJSP data files contain information on all sentenced offenders admitted into, or released from, federal prison during a fiscal year, as well as offenders in federal prison at the end of each fiscal year.
Offenders Admitted to Prison
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Offenders Admitted to Prison, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Offenders Released from Prison
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Offenders Released From Prison, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Offenders Incarcerated at Year-End
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Offenders in Prison at Year-End, ... [United States]
View all years of available data
Paired-Agency Linked Files
The paired-agency linked files contain matched-agency pairs (or "dyads"), which permit the linking of records from two different source agencies for adjacent stages of federal case processing. The files are sanitized of personally identifiable information and require approval to access for research and statistical purposes. Records are linked using a unique sequential identifier reported for each SAF. For example, by linking the EOUSA matters concluded with the EOUSA cases filed, an analyst can observe the transition from an investigation to the filing of a federal district court case. Files are available for approved researchers.
Federal Justice Statistics Program: Paired-Agency Linked Files
View all years of available data
Additional Resources
Concepts and definitions for terms that appear in the FJSP can be found in the Federal Justice Statistics, 2014 - Statistical Tables (pdf)
- BJS Federal Criminal Case Processing Statistics query tool
- United States Marshals Service
- Executive Office for U.S. Attorneys
- Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
- Federal Judicial Center
- United States Sentencing Commission
- Federal Bureau of Prisons
User Support
Questions regarding the Federal Justice Statistics Program data should be directed to the Bureau of Justice Statistics at askbjs@usdoj.gov. Questions regarding data access or content on the NACJD website should be directed to NACJD at nacjd@icpsr.umich.edu.