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Clearance rates for most crimes have remained low and stable for decades (Braga et al., 2011), despite advances in police technologies (Koper et al., 2015). Many police agencies have developed triaging practices for criminal investigations using solvability factors to guess which cases are most likely to be solved and to allocate investigative resources to those crimes (Eck, 1983; 1992). This practice partially stems from a persistent belief that resolving crimes and the resulting clearance rates are due to circumstances of the crime and community context, and are beyond the control of police. However, a growing body of research has challenged this belief, demonstrating that enhanced investigative efforts can improve crime clearance rates beyond solvability factors (Braga and Dusseault, 2018; Lum and Wellford, 2023).

In this study, the research team sought to determine if investigative follow-ups could increase clearance rates for robbery and burglary cases (frequently occurring crime types with traditionally low clearance rates) and increase victim satisfaction with police services. Agencies selected for the study were the Seattle Police Department (SPD) in Seattle, Washington, and the Rochester Police Department (RPD) in Rochester, New York. Both agencies triaged a large proportion of robbery cases and would have a large enough sample size to successfully carry out an experiment.

The original study design was a randomized controlled trial. In both sites, robbery cases would be allocated to either the intervention condition--an investigative follow-up conducted by an officer during their daily patrol assignment--or the control condition with no follow-up. Challenges to personnel and agency funding from the COVID-19 pandemic, the murder of George Floyd, and other officer-involved deaths in 2020 led to difficulties implementing the study as initially designed. The experiment was not initiated in Rochester, and initiated but not completed in Seattle. Therefore, the team transitioned to a natural quasi-experiment design in Rochester and added a case analysis of robberies in Seattle.

This collection contains three datasets: victim satisfaction surveys from Seattle (DS1, n=39) and Rochester (DS2, n=37), and supplemental reports on follow-ups made during the Seattle experiment implementation (DS3, n=82).

The Rochester Intergenerational Study (RIGS), is an extension of the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS). RIGS investigates intergenerational continuity and discontinuity of drug use in a three-generation prospective design. The focal participant is the oldest biological child (G3) of the original participant in the RYDS study. The project contains developmental data collected since 1988 on the G2 parents and G1 grandparents; combining those data with the prospective data collected from 1999 to 2019 allows examination of how the parent's own developmental course influences their transition to adulthood and their behavior as parents which, in turn, can be used to explain the onset and development of the G3 child's drug use.

Variables included pertain to the parent's stressors, drug use and problem behaviors, prosocial bonds, peer networks, gang affiliation, family context, major family events, and parenting behaviors. G3 assessments include their general psychosocial development, with detailed information on the onset and course of their drug use, problem behaviors, school behavior, and prosocial behavior.

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 purpose of the study was to determine the effects of intensive judicial monitoring on offender compliance with court orders and perpetration of future violence. Offenders were processed in either of two specialized domestic violence courts based in Rochester, New York between October 2006 and December 2009. Study-eligible defendants had to be either (1) convicted and sentenced to a conditional discharge or probation or (2) disposed with an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal. Eligible defendants also had to be ordered to participate in a program (e.g., batterer program, substance abuse treatment). Once an eligible plea/disposition was entered, court staff randomly assigned defendants to either Group 1 (monitoring plus program, n = 77) or Group 2 (program only/no monitoring, n = 70). All of the offenders included in the sample were male. Offender interviews (n = 39) were completed between March 2008 and July 2010. The research intern present in court for compliance calendars approached offenders assigned to one of the two study groups to ask them to participate in the research interview on their last court appearance on the instant case (i.e., at successful dismissal from on-going monitoring or at re-sentencing). Victim interviews (n = 10) were conducted six months and one year post-offender disposition. Victims were contacted by staff from Alternatives for Battered Women (ABW), a local victim advocacy agency that was already in contact with many of the women coming through the domestic violence court.