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Evaluation of the Lexington County, South Carolina, Domestic Violence Court, 1997-2002 (ICPSR 4045)
Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: United States, South Carolina
Time period: 1997-01-01--2002-12-31
A separate Criminal Domestic Violence Court (CDVC) was established in Lexington County, South Carolina, in November 1999, to hold perpetrators of domestic violence accountable through increasing fines and jail time and to place a strong emphasis on mandatory batterer treatment programs. The CDVC was a specialized court that combined the efforts of law enforcement, judges, prosecutors, mental health professionals, and victim advocates to improve the safety of domestic violence victims and hold offenders accountable. The researchers undertook to evaluate and measure the extent to which the CDVC was successful in implementing its goals. For the process evaluation, interviews were conducted in 2002 with 50 victims and 50 defendants to examine their overall level of satisfaction with the court process, their perceptions of procedural justice, and their recommendations for improving the CDVC process. Interviews were conducted in person using structured questions immediately after a case was heard. The outcome evaluation consisted of two methods of data collection. A time series intervention analysis examined the monthly frequency of criminal domestic violence for the years 1997 through 2001. Criminal domestic violence cases were compared for the 34 months before the establishment of the CDVC (January 1997 to October 1999) and the first 26 months following its implementation (November 1999 to December 2001). Additionally, in an effort to examine the impact of the Lexington County Criminal Domestic Violence Court on individual case outcomes, a recidivism analysis was conducted on a random sample of 400 criminal domestic violence cases. Of these cases, 200 were control cases drawn from the Lexington County Sheriff's Department's arrest database for the period January 1997 to June 1999, and 200 were treatment cases comprised of domestic violence arrest cases that occurred between December 1999 and December 2000 and processed through CDVC. Variables in Part 1 (Victim Interview Data) and Part 2 (Defendant Interview Data) included responses to structured interview questions about the victims' and offenders' perceptions of various aspects of the court process, whether they felt treated with dignity and respect, and their overall impression of the CDVC response to domestic violence. Variables in Part 3 (Monthly Arrest Data) include court period, month, and frequency of monthly domestic violence arrests, monthly simple assault arrests, and monthly aggravated assault arrests. Variables in Part 4 (Recidivism Data) include race, age, and gender of offender, employment status, booking date, days in jail prior to trial, number of charges pending, number of prior domestic violence offenses, date of first re-arrest, recidivism within first year and a half, days free of arrest, if defendant was diverted to pretrial intervention, and the amount of the fine.
Curated
Frequency of Arrest of the Young, Chronic, Serious Offender Using Two Male Cohorts Paroled by the California Youth Authority, 1981-1982 and 1986-1987 (ICPSR 2588)
Released/updated on: 2005-11-04
Geographic coverage: United States, California
This study investigated the ways in which active offenders and their behavior patterns are related to individual characteristics. Data were collected to explore topics such as the nature of individual offending behavior, including offense mix and specialization, the frequency of offending, and the characterization of offender types. To address these issues, the post-release arrest patterns of two cohorts of male youths paroled by the California Youth Authority in 1981-1982 and 1986-1987 were examined. The project focused on modeling the frequency of recidivism and the correlates of arrest frequency. The frequency of arrest was measured during two periods: the first year following release and years two and three following release. Criminal justice variables in this collection provide information on county-level crime and clearance rates for violent and property crimes known to the police. Measures of parolees' criminal history include length of incarceration prior to current commitment, frequency of arrest, age at first arrest, and calculated criminal history scores. Personal and family characteristics include previous violent behavior, alcohol and drug abuse, family violence, neglect or abuse, degree of parental supervision, parental criminality, education, and school disciplinary problems. Demographic variables include age and race of the subjects.