Showing 1 – 5 of 5 results.
Curated
Evaluating Alternative Police Responses to Spouse Assault in Colorado Springs: an Enhanced Replication of the Minneapolis Experiment, 1987-1989 (ICPSR 9982)
Released/updated on: 2006-01-12
Geographic coverage: United States, Colorado, Colorado Springs
Time period: 1987-03-01--1989-04-01
The purpose of this study was to replicate an experiment in Minneapolis (MINNEAPOLIS INTERVENTION PROJECT, 1986-1987 [ICPSR 9808]) testing alternative police response to cases of spouse assault, using a larger number of subjects and a more complex research design. The study focused on how police response affected subsequent incidents of spouse assault. Police responses studied included arrest, issuing emergency protection orders, referring the suspect to counseling, separating the suspect and the victim, and restoring order only (no specific action). Data were obtained through initial incident reports, counseling information, and personal interviews. Follow-up interviews were conducted at three- and six-month periods, and recidivists were identified through police and court record checks. Variables from initial incident reports include number of charges, date, location, and disposition of charges, weapon(s) used, victim injuries, medical attention received, behavior towards police, victim and suspect comments, and demographic information such as race, sex, relationship to victim/offender, age, and past victim/offender history. Data collected from counseling forms provide information on demographic characteristics of the suspect, type of counseling, topics covered in counseling, suspect's level of participation, and therapist comments. Court records investigate victim and suspect criminal histories, including descriptions of charges and their disposition, conditions of pretrial release, and the victim's contact with pretrial services. Other variables included in follow-up checks focus on criminal and offense history of the suspect. The data collection includes separate data files for the original, second, and final versions of some of the forms that were used.
Curated
Projecting Violent Re-Offending in a Parole Population: Developing a Real-Time Forecasting Procedure to Inform Parole Decision-Making, Pennsylvania, 2012-2014 (ICPSR 36432)
Released/updated on: 2022-02-10
Geographic coverage: United States, Pennsylvania
Time period: 2012-10-01--2014-07-01
The University of Pennsylvania, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole (PBPP), began developing a violent forecast model utilizing the machine learning procedure random forest. By the spring of 2013, the forecasts were provided to decision makers prior to parole interviews. The violent forecast model (VFM) measures the extent to which offenders are likely to reoffend as indicated by future arrest. The VFM is a violence classification forecast and not an individual case prediction regarding offender behavior. Purpose The purpose of this research was to evaluate the impact of introducing forecasts of "future dangerousness" into PBPP's decision making process during parole interviews. The researcher anticipated that having available a sufficiently reliable forecast, particularly within the violent category, would reduce the likelihood of a parole release. The null hypothesis tested was that there would be no difference in parole release decisions when comparing two similar groups of offenders where during one group of parole interviews the decision maker had a forecast available and the other group of interviews there was not a forecast available.
Curated
Race and the Decision to Seek the Death Penalty in Federal Cases, 1995-2000 [United States] (ICPSR 4533)
Released/updated on: 2006-09-01
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 1995-01-01--2000-12-31
The purpose of this project was to examine possible defendant and victim race effects in capital decisions in the federal system. Per the terms of their grant, the researchers selected cases that were handled under the revised Death Penalty Protocol of 1995 and were processed during Attorney General Janet Reno's term in office. The researchers began the project by examining a sample of Department of Justice Capital Case Unit (CCU) case files. These files contained documents submitted by the United States Attorney's Office (USAO), a copy of the indictment, a copy of the Attorney General's Review Committee on Capital Cases (AGRC's) draft and final memorandum to the Attorney General (AG), and a copy of the AG's decision letter. Next, they created a list of the types of data that would be feasible and desirable to collect and constructed a case abstraction form and coding rules for recording data on victims, defendants, and case characteristics from the CCU's hard-copy case files. The record abstractors did not have access to information about defendant or victim gender or race. Victim and defendant race and gender data were obtained from the CCU's electronic files. Five specially trained coders used the case abstraction forms to record and enter salient information in the CCU hard-copy files into a database. Coders worked on only one case at a time. The resulting database contains 312 cases for which defendant- and victim-race data were available for the 94 federal judicial districts. These cases were received by the CCU between January 1, 1995 and July 31, 2000, and for which the AG at the time had made a decision about whether to seek the death penalty prior to December 31, 2000. The 312 cases includes a total of 652 defendants (see SAMPLING for cases not included). The AG made a seek/not-seek decision for 600 of the defendants, with the difference between the counts stemming mainly from defendants pleading guilty prior to the AG making a charging decision. The database was structured to allow researchers to examine two stages in the federal prosecution process, namely the USAO recommendation to seek or not to seek the death penalty and the final AG charging decision. Finally, dispositions (e.g., sentence imposed) were obtained for all but 12 of the defendants in the database. Variables include data about the defendants and victims such as age, gender, race/ethnicity, employment, education, marital status, and the relationship between the defendant and victim. Data are provided on the defendant's citizenship (United States citizen, not United States citizen), place of birth (United States born, foreign born), offense dates, statute code, counts for the ten most serious offenses committed, defendant histories of alcohol abuse, drug abuse, mental illness, physical or sexual abuse as a child, serious head injury, intelligence (IQ), or other claims made in the case. Information is included for up to 13 USAO assessments and 13 AGRC assessments of statutory and non-statutory aggravating factors and mitigating factors. Victim characteristics included living situation and other reported factors, such as being a good citizen, attending school, past abuse by the defendant, gross size difference between the victim and defendant, if the victim was pregnant, if the victim had a physical handicap, mental or emotional problems or developmental disability, and the victim's present or former status (e.g., police informant, prison inmate, law enforment officer). Data are also provided for up to 13 factors each regarding the place and nature of the killing, defendant motive, coperpetrators, weapons, injuries, witnesses, and forensic and other evidence.
Curated
Specific Deterrent Effects of Arrest for Domestic Assault: Minneapolis, 1981-1982 (ICPSR 8250)
Released/updated on: 2006-01-12
Geographic coverage: Minneapolis, United States, Minnesota
Time period: 1981-01-01--1982-01-01
This data collection contains information on 330 incidents of domestic violence in Minneapolis. Part 1, Police Data, contains data from the initial police reports filled out after each incident. Parts 2-5 are based on interviews that were conducted with all parties to the domestic assaults. Information for Part 2, Initial Data, was gathered from the victims after the incidents. Part 3, Follow-Up Data, consists of data from follow-up interviews with the victims and with relatives and acquaintances of both victims and suspects. There could be up to 12 contacts per case. Suspect interviews are the source for Part 4, Suspect Data. An experimental section, Part 5, Repeat Data, contains information on repeat incidents of domestic assault from interviews with victims. Parts 2-5 include items such as socioeconomic and demographic data describing the suspect and the victim, relationship (husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, lover, divorced, separated), nature of the argument that spurred the assault, presence or absence of physical violence, and the nature and extent of police contact in the incident. The collection also includes police records, which are the basis for Parts 6-9. These files record the date of the crime, ethnicity of the participants, presence or absence of alcohol or drugs and weapons, and whether a police assault occurred.
Curated
Transitional Aid Research Project (TARP), 1976-1977 (ICPSR 7874)
Released/updated on: 1992-02-16
Geographic coverage: United States, Texas, Georgia
Time period: 1976-01-01--1977-01-01
The Transitional Aid Research Project (TARP) was a randomized field experiment conducted in Texas and Georgia in 1976-1977 that was designed to reduce recidivism among ex-prisoners by lowering incentives for re-engaging in property crime through provision of minimal levels of income support and extension of some unemployment insurance coverage to released prisoners. This study evolved out of an earlier LIFE (Living Insurance for Ex-Prisoners) study conducted in Baltimore, Maryland in the early 1970s. In the LIFE study, 500 prisoners with a high probability of re-arrest were randomly assigned at release from prison to experimental and control groups which varied by the amount of money received (contingent upon employment or unemployment and job placement services provided). The results showed that ex-prisoners receiving payments were less likely to be re-arrested for property theft-related crimes than those who received only job placement or no services or payments of any kind. The United States Department of Labor commissioned the TARP experiment, designed to replicate the LIFE experiment while providing a larger and more representative sample of prisoners, greater variation in treatment conditions, and administration of payments and job placement services through existing agencies rather than by a special purpose project staff. Texas and Georgia were the states chosen for the experiment, and stratified random samples of inmates were assigned, at the time of release from prison, to experimental and control groups. The groups varied in the amount of money and job placement services they received upon their release. Originally, the data were recorded in nine files for each state corresponding to each of the nine different sources of information for each TARP case. The ICPSR data collection combines these into one file for each state: Part 1 for Texas, and Part 2 for Georgia. Each file contains over 1,500 variables, clustered in nine topic areas for each inmate: (1) prison history (e.g., background information, psychological and aptitude test data, and prior criminal and present incarceration activity), (2-5) data from four personal interviews (conducted at the prerelease, three-month, six-month, and 12-month stages and that include living arrangements, employment history, and financial status), (6) state arrest data, (7) records of TARP payments received, (8) social security wages, and (9) parole records.