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Showing 1 – 24 of 24 results.
Curated

Calling the Police: Citizen Reporting of Serious Crime, 1979 (ICPSR 8185)

Released/updated on: 2006-01-18
Geographic coverage: San Diego, United States, Illinois, Peoria, Rochester (New York), California, Florida, New York (state), Jacksonville
Time period: 1979-04-21--1979-12-07
This dataset replicates the citizen reporting component of POLICE RESPONSE TIME ANALYSIS, 1975 (ICPSR 7760). Information is included on 4,095 reported incidents of aggravated assault, auto theft, burglary, larceny/theft offenses, forcible rape, and robbery. The data cover citizen calls to police between April 21 and December 7, 1979. There are four files in this collection, one each for Jacksonville, Florida, Peoria, Illinois, Rochester, New York, and San Diego, California. The data are taken from police dispatch records and police interviews of citizens who requested police assistance. Variables taken from the dispatch records include the dispatch time, call priority, police travel time, age, sex, and race of the caller, response code, number of suspects, and area of the city in which the call originated. Variables taken from the citizen interviews include respondent's role in the incident (victim, caller, victim-caller, witness-caller), incident location, relationship of caller to victim, number of victims, identification of suspect, and interaction with police.
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Capturing Human Trafficking Victimization Through Crime Reporting, United States, 2013-2016 (ICPSR 37907)

Released/updated on: 2021-08-16
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 2013-01-01--2016-12-31

Despite public attention to the problem of human trafficking, it has proven difficult to measure the problem. Improving the quality of information about human trafficking is critical to developing sound anti-trafficking policy. In support of this effort, in 2013 the Federal Bureau of Investigation incorporated human trafficking offenses in the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program. Despite this achievement, there are many reasons to expect the UCR program to underreport human trafficking. Law enforcement agencies struggle to identify human trafficking and distinguishing it from other crimes. Additionally, human trafficking investigations may not be accurately classified in official data sources. Finally, human trafficking presents unique challenges to summary and incident-based crime reporting methods. For these reasons, it is important to understand how agencies identify and report human trafficking cases within the UCR program and what part of the population of human trafficking victims in a community are represented by UCR data. This study provides critical information to improve law enforcement identification and reporting of human trafficking.

Coding criminal incidents investigated as human trafficking offenses in three US cities, supplemented by interviews with law and social service stakeholders in these locations, this study answers the following research questions:

  • How are human trafficking cases identified and reported by the police?
  • What sources of information about human trafficking exist outside of law enforcement data?
  • What is the estimated disparity between actual instances of human trafficking and the number of human trafficking offenses reported to the UCR?
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Enhancing the Research Partnership Between the Albany Police Department and the Finn Institute, 2005-2016 (ICPSR 37820)

Released/updated on: 2020-12-16
Geographic coverage: United States, New York (state), Albany (New York)
Time period: 2005-01-01--2016-01-01

The Finn Institute is an independent, not-for-profit corporation that conducts research on matters of public safety and security. The project provided for steps that would strengthen and enhance an existing police-researcher partnership, focused around analyses of proactive policing. As part of a research partnership with the Albany Police Department (APD) and the Finn Institute, this study was oriented around a basic research question: can proactive policing be conducted more efficiently, in the sense that a better ratio of high-value to lower-value stops is achieved, such that the trade-off between crime reduction and police community relations is mitigated.

Albany Resident Survey Dataset (DS1) unit of analysis was individuals. Variables include neighborhood crime and disorder, legitimacy and satisfaction with police service, and direct and vicarious experience with stop and perceptions of stops as a problem. Demographic variables include age, race, education, employment, marital status, and household count.

Management of "Smart Stops" Dataset (DS2) unit of analysis was investigatory stops; variables include records of individual stops, the month and year of the stop, whether the location of the stop was a high-crime location, whether the person stopped (or any of the persons stopped, if multiple people were stopped at one time) were high-risk, and whether the stop resulted in an arrest.

Trends in Proactive Policing Dataset (DS3) unit of analysis was APD officers. Variables include number of stops per quarter; variables include demographics such as officer characteristics such as their assignments, length of service, and gender.

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Evaluation of a Centralized Response to Domestic Violence by the San Diego County Sheriff's Department Domestic Violence Unit, 1998-1999 (ICPSR 3488)

Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: San Diego, United States, California
Time period: 1998-01-01--1999-01-01
This study examined the implementation of a specialized domestic violence unit within the San Diego County Sheriff's Department to determine whether the creation of the new unit would lead to increased and improved reporting, and more filings for prosecution. In order to evaluate the implementation of the specialized domestic violence unit, the researchers conducted the following tasks: (1) They surveyed field deputies to assess their level of knowledge about domestic violence laws and adherence to the countywide domestic violence protocol. (2) They studied a sample from the case tracking system that reported cases of domestic violence handled by the domestic violence unit to determine changes in procedures compared to an earlier case tracking study with no specialized unit. (3) They interviewed victims of domestic violence by phone to explore the responsiveness of the field deputies and the unit detectives to the needs of the victims. Part 1 (Deputy Survey Data) contains data on unit detectives' knowledge about the laws concerning domestic violence. Information includes whether or not the person considered the primary aggressor was the person who committed the first act of aggression, if a law enforcement officer could decide whether or not to complete a domestic violence supplemental report, whether an arrest should be made if there was reasonable cause to believe that a misdemeanor offense had been committed, and whether the decision to prosecute a suspect lay within the discretion of the district or city attorney. Demographic variables include deputy's years of education and law enforcement experience. Part 2 (Case Tracking Data) includes demographic variables such as race and sex of the victim and the suspect, and the relationship between the victim and the suspect. Other information was collected on whether the victim and the suspect used alcohol and drugs prior to or during the incident, if the victim was pregnant, if children were present during the incident, highest charge on the incident report, if the reporting call was made at the same place the incident occurred, suspect actions described on the report, if a gun, knife, physical force, or verbal abuse was used in the incident, if the victim or the suspect was injured, and if medical treatment was provided to the victim. Data were also gathered on whether the suspect was arrested or booked, how the investigating officer decided whether to request that the prosecutor file charges, type of evidence collected, if a victim or witness statement was collected, if the victim had a restraining order, prior history of domestic violence, if the victim was provided with information on domestic violence law, hotline, shelter, transportation, and medical treatment, highest arrest charge, number of arrests for any drug charges, weapon charges, domestic violence charges, or other charges, case disposition, number of convictions for the charges, and number of prior arrests and convictions. Part 3 (Victim Survey Data) includes demographic variables such as victim's gender and race. Other variables include how much time the deputy spent at the scene when s/he responded to the call, number of deputies the victim interacted with at the scene, number of deputies at the scene that were male or female, if the victim used any of the information the deputy provided, if the victim used referral information for counseling, legal, shelter, and other services, how helpful the victim found the information, and the victim's rating of the performance of the deputy.
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Evaluation of the Use of Computers in Patrol Cars by the San Francisco Police Department, 1999-2000 (ICPSR 3489)

Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: San Francisco, United States, California
Time period: 1999-01-01--2000-01-01
In an effort to reduce the workload of police officers participating in problem-solving and community-oriented activities, the San Francisco Police Department applied for and was awarded a Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Making Officer Redeployment Effective (MORE) grant in 1995 to integrate Mobile Computing Terminals (MCTs), or laptop computers, into its daily operations. The National Institute of Justice funded an evaluation of this COPS MORE initiative. The evaluation examined the efficacy of a technological intervention to improve operational efficiency, service quality, and the corresponding changes in officers' attitudes and behaviors associated with integrating the use of MCTs for computerized incident reporting into the work process. The two systematic methods of data collection used for this research project were pencil-and-paper surveys of officers' attitudes toward computers and community policing and direct observation of the behavior of officers on patrol, including measurements of time to complete reports and time engaged in police activities.
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Experience of Violence in the Lives of Homeless Persons: The Florida Four City Study, 2003-2004 (ICPSR 20363)

Released/updated on: 2010-11-22
Geographic coverage: United States, Orlando, Florida, Tampa, Jacksonville, Miami
Time period: 2003-01-01--2004-01-01
The primary goal of this study was to develop an understanding of the role of violence in the lives of homeless women and men. The objectives were to determine how many women and men have experienced some form of violence in their lives either as children or adults, the factors associated with experiences of violence, the consequences of violence, and the types of interactions with the justice system. The survey sample was comprised of about 200 face-to-face interviews with homeless women in each of four Florida cities (Jacksonville, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa). In all, 737 women were interviewed. In addition, 91 face-to-face interviews with homeless men were also conducted only in Orlando. For Part 1 (Female Interviews), the data include information related to the respondent's living conditions in the past month, as well as experiences with homelessness, childhood violence, adult violence, forced sexual situations, and stalking. Additional variables include basic demographic information, a self-report of criminal history, information related to how the respondent spent her days and evenings, and the physical environment surrounding the respondent during the day and evening. For Part 2 (Male Interviews), the data include much of the same information as was collected in Part 1. Information from Part 1 not included in Part 2 primarily includes questions pertaining to experience with forced sexual situations, and questions related to pregnancy and children.
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Exploring Alternative Data Sources for the Study of Assault in Miami, Florida, St. Louis, Missouri, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1994 -1997 (ICPSR 4358)

Released/updated on: 2013-06-10
Geographic coverage: United States, Missouri, Florida, St. Louis, Pennsylvania, Miami, Pittsburgh
Time period: 1994-01-01--1997-01-01
The study involved the collection of data on serious assaults that occured in three cities: Miami, Florida (1996-1997), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (1994-1996), and St. Louis, Missouri (1995-1996). The data were extracted from police offense reports, and included detailed information about the incidents (Part 1) as well as information about the victims, suspects, and witnesses for each incident (Parts 2-9).
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Impact of Legal Advocacy on Intimate Partner Homicide in the United States, 1976-1997 (ICPSR 25621)

Released/updated on: 2009-07-10
Geographic coverage: Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Detroit, Indiana, Tucson, Albuquerque, Fort Worth, Cincinnati, Austin, Oakland, San Jose, San Diego, Columbus (Ohio), Memphis, Jacksonville, Arizona, Buffalo, Boston, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, Seattle, El Paso, Nashville, California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Tulsa, Fresno, Illinois, Texas, Portland (Oregon), Georgia, Virginia, Maryland, Indianapolis, Oregon, Virginia Beach, United States, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Cleveland, Washington, Nebraska, Omaha, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Massachusetts, Colorado, Honolulu, Missouri, New Orleans, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, St. Louis, Wisconsin, District of Columbia, San Antonio, Chicago, Hawaii, Minnesota, Kansas City (Missouri), New York (state), Michigan, Miami, San Francisco, Baltimore, New Mexico, Long Beach, Louisiana, Ohio, Los Angeles, Toledo, Philadelphia, Houston
Time period: 1976-01-01--1996-01-01, 1976-01-01--1997-01-01
This study examined the impacts of jurisdictions' domestic violence policies on violent behavior of family members and intimate partners, on the likelihood that the police discovered an incident, and on the likelihood that the police made an arrest. The research combined two datasets. Part 1 contains information on police, prosecution policies, and local victim services. Informants within the local agencies of the 50 largest cities in the United States were contacted and asked to complete a survey inventorying policies and activities by type and year of implementation. Data from completed surveys covered 48 cities from 1976 to 1996. Part 2 contains data on domestic violence laws. Data on state statutes from 1976 to 1997 that related to protection orders were collected by a legal expert for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
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Law Enforcement and Sex Offender Registration and Notification: Perspectives, Uses, and Experiences, 2014-2015 [United States] (ICPSR 36534)

Released/updated on: 2017-12-19
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 2014-02-01--2014-06-01, 2015-04-01--2015-05-01

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.

This study represents the first comprehensive national assessment of law enforcement uses of and perspectives on sex offender registration and notification (SORN) systems. The two-year, mixed-method study featured collection and analysis of interview data from over two-dozen jurisdictions, and administration of a nationwide survey of law enforcement professionals. The study examined ways in which law enforcement leaders, uniformed staff, and civilian staff engaged in SORN-related duties perceive SORN's roles and functions, general effectiveness, and informational utility. Additionally, the study elicited law enforcement perspectives related to promising SORN and related sex offender management practices, perceived barriers and challenges to effectiveness, and policy reform priorities.

This collection includes two SPSS data files and one SPSS syntax file: "LE Qualitative Data.sav" with 55 variables and 101 cases, "LE Quantitative Data-ICPSR.sav" with 201 variables and 1402 cases and "LE Quantitative Data Syntax.sps".

Qualitative data from interviews conducted with law enorcement professionals are not available at this time.

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Linking Theory to Practice: Examining Geospatial Predictive Policing, Denver, Colorado, 2013-2015 (ICPSR 37299)

Released/updated on: 2020-02-26
Geographic coverage: United States, Colorado, Denver
Time period: 2013-01-01--2015-12-31

This research sought to examine and evaluate geospatial predictive policing models across the United States. The purpose of this applied research is three-fold: (1) to link theory and appropriate data/measures to the practice of predictive policing; (2) to determine the accuracy of various predictive policing algorithms to include traditional hotspot analyses, regression-based analyses, and data-mining algorithms; and (3) to determine how algorithms perform in a predictive policing process.

Specifically, the research project sought to answer questions such as:

  • What are the underlying criminological theories that guide the development of the algorithms and subsequent strategies?
  • What data are needed in what capacity and when?
  • What types of software and hardware are useful and necessary?
  • How does predictive policing "work" in the field? What is the practical utility of it?
  • How do we measure the impacts of predictive policing?

The project's primary phases included: (1) employing report card strategies to analyze, review and evaluate available data sources, software and analytic methods; (2) reviewing the literature on predictive tools and predictive strategies; and (3) evaluating how police agencies and researchers tested predictive algorithms and predictive policing processes.

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Missing Data in the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), 1977-2000 [United States] (ICPSR 32061)

Released/updated on: 2012-11-26
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 1977-01-01--2000-01-01
This study reexamined and recoded missing data in the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) for the years 1977 to 2000 for all police agencies in the United States. The principal investigator conducted a data cleaning of 20,067 Originating Agency Identifiers (ORIs) contained within the Offenses-Known UCR data from 1977 to 2000. Data cleaning involved performing agency name checks and creating new numerical codes for different types of missing data including missing data codes that identify whether a record was aggregated to a particular month, whether no data were reported (true missing), if more than one index crime was missing, if a particular index crime (motor vehicle theft, larceny, burglary, assault, robbery, rape, murder) was missing, researcher assigned missing value codes according to the "rule of 20", outlier values, whether an ORI was covered by another agency, and whether an agency did not exist during a particular time period.
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National Survey of Staffing Issues in Large Police Agencies, 2006-2007 [United States] (ICPSR 29162)

Released/updated on: 2012-10-26
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 2006-01-01--2007-01-01
The primary objective of this study was to formulate evidence-based lessons on recruitment, retention, and managing workforce profiles in large, United States police departments. The research team conducted a national survey of all United States municipal police agencies that had at least 300 sworn officers and were listed in the 2007 National Directory of Law Enforcement Administrators. The survey instrument was developed based on the research team's experience in working with large personnel systems, instruments used in previous police staffing surveys, and discussions with police practitioners. The research team distributed the initial surveys on February 27, 2008. To ensure an acceptable response rate, the principal investigators developed a comprehensive nonresponse protocol, provided ample field time for departments to compile information and respond, and provided significant one-on-one technical assistance to agencies as they completed the survey. In all, the surveys were in the field for 38 weeks. Respondents were asked to consult their agency's records in order to provide information about their agency's experience with recruiting, hiring, and retaining officers for 2006 and 2007. Of the 146 departments contacted, 107 completed the survey. The police recruitment and retention survey data were supplemented with data on each jurisdiction from the American Community Survey conducted by the United States Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reports. The dataset contains a total of 535 variables pertaining to recruitment, hiring, union activity, compensation rates, promotion, retirement, and attrition. Many of these variables are available by rank, sex and race.
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Neighborhood Revitalization and Disorder in Salt Lake City, Utah, 1993-2000 (ICPSR 3261)

Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Time period: 1993-01-01--2000-01-01
This project examined physical incivilities (disorder), social strengths and vulnerabilities, and police reports in a declining first-ring suburb of Salt Lake City. Physical and social conditions were assessed on residential face blocks surrounding a new subdivision that was built as a revitalization effort. Data were collected before and after the completion of the new subdivision to assess the effects of the subdivision and of more proximal social and physical conditions on residents' blocks in order to understand important revitalization outcomes of crime, fear, and housing satisfaction and conditions. The study also highlighted place attachment of residents as a psychological strength that deserved greater attention. The research site consisted of a neighborhood located on the near west side of Salt Lake City that had been experiencing gradual decline. The neighborhood surrounded a new 84-unit single family detached housing subdivision, which was built in 1995 with money from a HUD demonstration grant. The study began in 1993 with a systematic observational assessment of crime and fear-related physical features on 59 blocks of the older neighborhood surrounding the planned housing site and 8 sampled addresses on each block, followed by interviews with surrounding block residents during 1994-1995, interviews with residents in the newly built housing in 1997, and interviews and physical condition assessments on the surrounding blocks in 1998-1999. Police crime report and city building permit data for the periods during and immediately following both waves of data collection were obtained and matched to sample addresses. Variables in Parts 1 and 2, Environmental and Survey Data for Older Subdivision, focus on distance of respondent's home to the subdivision, psychological proximity to the subdivision, if new housing was in the respondent's neighborhood, nonresidential properties on the block, physical incivilities, self-reported past victimization, fear of crime, place attachment, collective efficacy (neighboring, participation, social control, sense of community), rating of neighborhood qualities, whether block neighbors had improved property, community confidence, perceived block crime problems, observed conditions, self-reported home repairs and improvements, building permits, and home satisfaction. Demographic variables for Parts 1 and 2 include income, home ownership, ethnicity, religion, gender, age, marital status, if the resident lived in a house, household size, number of children in the household, and length of residence. Variables in Part 3, Environmental and Survey Data for Intervention Site, include neighborhood qualities and convenience, whether the respondent's children would attend a local school, and variables similar to those in Parts 1 and 2. Demographic variables in Part 3 specify the year the respondent moved in, number of children in the household, race and ethnicity, marital status, religion, sex, and income in 1996.
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Police Decision Making in Sexual Assault Cases: An Analysis of Crime Reported to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, 2008 (ICPSR 32601)

Released/updated on: 2013-11-18
Geographic coverage: United States, Los Angeles, California
Time period: 2005-01-01--2009-01-01

This study used a mixed-methods approach to pursue five interrelated objectives: (1) to document the extent of case attrition and to identify the stages of the criminal justice process where attrition is most likely to occur; (2) to identify the case complexities and evidentiary factors that affect the likelihood of attrition in sexual assault cases; (3) to identify the predictors of case outcomes in sexual assault cases; (4) to provide a comprehensive analysis of the factors that lead police to unfound the charges in sexual assault cases; and (5) to identify the situations in which sexual assault cases are being cleared by exceptional means. Toward this end, three primary data sources were used: (1) quantitative data on the outcomes of sexual assaults reported to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) from 2005 to 2009, (2) qualitative data from interviews with detectives and with deputy district attorneys with the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office who handled sexual assault cases during this time period, and (3) detailed quantitative and qualitative data from case files for a sample of cases reported to the two agencies in 2008.

The complete case files for sexual assaults that were reported to the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in 2008 were obtained by members of the research team and very detailed information (quantitative and qualitative data) was extracted from the files on each case in Dataset 1 (Case Outcomes and Characteristics: Reports from 2008). The case file included the crime report prepared by the patrol officer who responded to the crime and took the initial report from the complainant, all follow-up reports prepared by the detective to whom the case was assigned for investigation, and the detective's reasons for unfounding the report or for clearing the case by arrest or by exceptional means. The case files also included either verbatim accounts or summaries of statements made by the complainant, by witnesses (if any), and by the suspect (if the suspect was interviewed); a description of physical evidence recovered from the alleged crime scene, and the results of the physical exam (Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) exam) of the victim (if the victim reported the crime within 72 hours of the alleged assault). Members of the research team read through each case file and recorded data in an SPSS data file. There are 650 cases and 261 variables in the data file. The variables in the data file include administrative police information and charges listed on the police report. There is also information related to the victim, the suspect, and the case.

Datasets 2-5 were obtained from the district attorney's office and contain outcome data that resulted in the arrest of a suspect. The outcome data obtained from the agency was for the following sex crimes: rape, attempted rape, sexual penetration with a foreign object, oral copulation, sodomy, unlawful sex, and sexual battery.

Dataset 3 (Sexual Assault Case Attrition: 2005 to 2009, Los Angeles Police Department - Adult Arrests) is a subset of Dataset 2 (Sexual Assault Case Attrition: 2005 to 2009, Los Angeles Police Department - All Cases) in that it only contains cases that resulted in the arrest of at least one adult suspect. Dataset 2 (Sexual Assault Case Attrition: 2005 to 2009, Los Angeles Police Department - All Cases) contains 10,832 cases and 29 variables. Dataset 3 (Sexual Assault Case Attrition: 2005 to 2009, Los Angeles Police Department - Adult Arrests) contains 891 cases and 45 variables.

Similarly, Dataset 5 (Sexual Assault Case Attrition: 2005 to 2009, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department - Adult Arrests) is a subset of Dataset 4 (Sexual Assault Case Attrition: 2005 to 2009, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department - All Cases) in that it only contains cases that resulted in the arrest of at least one adult suspect. Dataset 4 (Sexual Assault Case Attrition: 2005 to 2009, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department - All Cases) contains 3,309 cases and 33 variables. Dataset 5 (Sexual Assault Case Attrition: 2005 to 2009, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department - Adult Arrests) contains 904 cases and 47 variables.

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Repeat Complaint Address Policing: Two Field Experiments in Minneapolis, 1985-1987 (ICPSR 9788)

Released/updated on: 2006-01-18
Geographic coverage: Minneapolis, United States, Minnesota
Time period: 1985-01-01--1987-01-01
A leading sociological theory of crime is the "routine activities" approach (Cohen and Felson, 1979). The premise of this theory is that the rate of occurrence of crime is affected by the convergence in time and space of three elements: motivated offenders, suitable targets, and the absence of guardianship against crime. The purpose of this study was to provide empirical evidence for the routine activities theory by investigating criminal data on places. This study deviates from traditional criminology research by analyzing places instead of collectivities as units of spatial analysis. There are two phases to this study. The purpose of the first phase was to test whether crime occurs randomly in space or is concentrated in "hot spots". Telephone calls for police service made in 1985 and 1986 to the Minneapolis Police Department were analyzed for patterns and concentration of repeat calls and were statistically tested for randomness. For the second phase of the study, two field experiments were designed to test the effectiveness of a proactive police strategy called Repeat Complaint Address Policing (RECAP). Samples of residential and commercial addresses that generated the most concentrated and most frequent repeat calls were divided into groups of experimental and control addresses, resulting in matched pairs. The experimental addresses were then subjected to a more focused proactive policing. The purposes of the RECAP experimentation were to test the effectiveness of proactive police strategy, as measured through the reduction in the incidence of calls to the police and, in so doing, to provide empirical evidence on the routine activities theory. Variables in this collection include the number of calls for police service in both 1986 and 1987 to the control addresses for each experimental pair, the number of calls for police service in both 1986 and 1987 to the experimental addresses for each experimental pair, numerical differences between calls in 1987 and 1986 for both the control addresses and experimental addresses in each experimental pair, percentage difference between calls in 1987 and 1986 for both the control addresses and the experimental addresses in each experimental pair, and a variable that indicates whether the experimental pair was used in the experimental analysis. The unit of observation for the first phase of the study is the recorded telephone call to the Minneapolis Police Department for police service and assistance. The unit of analysis for the second phase is the matched pair of control and experimental addresses for both the residential and commercial address samples of the RECAP experiments.
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Role of Stalking in Domestic Violence Crime Reports Generated by the Colorado Springs Police Department, 1998 (ICPSR 3142)

Released/updated on: 2005-11-04
Geographic coverage: United States, Colorado, Colorado Springs
Time period: 1998-04-01--1998-09-01
This study examined the role of stalking in domestic violence crime reports produced by the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD). It provided needed empirical data on the prevalence of stalking in domestic violence crime reports, risk factors associated with intimate partner stalking, and police responses to reports of intimate partner stalking. The study was conducted jointly by the Justice Studies Center (JSC) at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and the Denver-based Center for Policy Research (CPR). JSC staff generated the sample and collected the data, and CPR staff processed and analyzed the data. The sample was generated from CSPD Domestic Violence Summons and Complaint (DVSC) forms, which were used by CSPD officers to investigate crime reports of victims and suspects who were or had been in an intimate relationship and where there was probable cause to believe a crime was committed. During January to September 1999, JSC staff reviewed and entered information from all 1998 DVSC forms into a computerized database as part of the evaluation process for Domestic Violence Enhanced Response Team (DVERT), a nationally recognized domestic violence prevention program. A subfile of reports initiated during April to September 1998 was generated from this database and formed the basis for the study sample. The DVSC forms contained detailed information about the violation including victim and suspect relationship, type of violation committed, and specific criminal charges made by the police officer. The DVSC forms also contained written narratives by both the victim and the investigating officer, which provided detailed information about the events precipitating the report, including whether the suspect stalked the victim. The researchers classified a domestic violence crime report as having stalking allegations if the victim and/or police narrative specifically stated that the victim was stalked by the suspect, or if the victim and/or police narrative mentioned that the suspect engaged in stalking-like behaviors (e.g., repeated following, face-to-face confrontations, or unwanted communications by phone, page, letter, fax, or e-mail). Demographic variables include victim-suspect relationship, and age, race, sex, and employment status of the victim and suspect. Variables describing the violation include type of violation committed, specific criminal charges made by the police officer, whether the alleged violation constituted a misdemeanor or a felony crime, whether a suspect was arrested, whether the victim sustained injuries, whether the victim received medical attention, whether the suspect used a firearm or other type of weapon, whether items were placed in evidence, whether the victim or suspect was using drugs and/or alcohol at the time of the incident, number and ages of children in the household, whether children were in the home at the time of the incident, and whether there was a no-contact or restraining order in effect against the suspect at the time of the incident.
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Survey of Police Chiefs' and Data Analysts' Use of Data in Police Departments in the United States, 2004 (ICPSR 32103)

Released/updated on: 2013-02-21
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 2004-01-01--2004-03-01
This study surveyed police chiefs and data analysts in order to determine the use of data in police departments. The surveys were sent to 1,379 police agencies serving populations of at least 25,000. The survey sample for this study was selected from the 2000 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) survey. All police agencies serving populations of at least 25,000 were selected from the LEMAS database for inclusion. Separate surveys were sent for completion by police chiefs and data analysts. Surveys were used to gather information on data sharing and integration efforts to identify the needs and capacities for data usage in local law enforcement agencies. The police chief surveys focused on five main areas of interest: use of data, personnel response to data collection, the collection and reporting of incident-based data, sharing data, and the providing of statistics to the community and media. Like the police chief surveys, the data analyst surveys focused on five main areas of interest: use of data, agency structures and resources, data for strategies, data sharing and outside assistance, and incident-based data. The final total of police chief surveys included in the study is 790, while 752 data analyst responses are included.
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Systems Change Analysis of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Programs in One Midwestern County of the United States, 1994-2007 (ICPSR 25881)

Released/updated on: 2011-07-06
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 1994-01-01--2005-12-01, 1999-09-01--2005-12-01, 2007-04-01--2007-05-01, 1994-01-01--2005-12-01, 1999-09-01--2007-05-01, 2008-07-01--2008-08-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether adult sexual assault cases in a Midwestern community were more likely to be investigated and prosecuted after the implementation of a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program, and to identify the 'critical ingredients' that contributed to that increase.

Part 1 (Study 1: Case Records Quantitative Data) used a quasi-experimental, nonequivalent comparison group cohort design to compare criminal justice systems outcomes for adult sexual assault cases treated in county hospitals five years prior to the implementation of the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) program (January 1994 to August 1999) (the comparison group, n=156) to cases treated in the focal SANE program during its first seven years of operation (September 1999 to December 2005) (the intervention group, n=137). Variables include focus on case outcome, law enforcement agency that handled the case, DNA findings, and county-level factors, including prosecutor elections and the emergence of the focal SANE program.

Part 2 (Study 2: Case Characteristics Quantitative Data) used the adult sexual assault cases from the Study 1 intervention group (post-SANE) (n=137) to examine whether victim characteristics, assault characteristics, and the presence and type of medical forensic evidence predicted case progression outcomes.

Part 3 (Study 3: Police and Prosecutors Interview Qualitative Data) used in-depth interviews in April and May of 2007 with law enforcement supervisors (n=9) and prosecutors (n=6) in the focal county responsible for the prosecution of adult sexual assault crimes to explore if and how the SANEs affect the way in which police and prosecutors approach such cases. The interviews focused on four main topics: (1) whether they perceived a change in investigations and prosecution of adult sexual assault cases in post-SANE, (2) their assessment of the quality and utility of the forensic evidence provided by SANEs, (3) their perceptions regarding whether inter-agency training has improved the quality of police investigations and reports post-SANE, and (4) their perceptions regarding if and how the SANE program increased communication and collaboration among legal and medical personnel, and if such changes have influenced law enforcement investigational practices or prosecutor charging decisions.

Part 4 (Study 4: Police Reports Quantitative Data) examined police reports written before and after the implementation of the SANE program to determine whether there had been substantive changes in ways sexual assaults cases were investigated since the emergence of the SANE program. Variables include whether the police had referred the case to the prosecutor, indicators of SANE involvement, and indicators of law enforcement effort.

Part 5 (Study 5: Survivor Interview Qualitative Data) focused on understanding how victims characterized the care they received at the focal SANE program as well as their expriences with the criminal justices system. Using prospective sampling and community-based retrospective purposive sampling, twenty adult sexual assault vicitims were identified and interviewed between January 2006 and May 2007. Interviews covered four topics: (1) the rape itself and initial disclosures, (2) victims' experiences with SANE program staff including nurses and victim support advocates, (3) the specific role forensic evidence played in victims' decisions to participate in prosecution, and (4) victims' experiences with law enforcement, prosecutors, and judicial proceedings, and if/how the forensic nurses and advocates influenced those interactions.

Part 6 (Study 6: Forensic Nurse Interview Qualitative Data) examined forensic nurses' perspectives on how the SANE program could affect survivor participation with prosecution indirectly and how the interactions between SANEs and law enforcement could be contributing to increased investigational effort. Between July and August of 2008, six Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) were interviewed. The interviews explored three topics: (1) the nurses' philosophy on victim reporting and participating in prosecution, (2) their perceptions regarding how patient care may or may not affect victim participation in the criminal justice system, and (3) their perception of how the SANE programs influence the work of law enforcement investigational practices.The interviews explored three topics: (1) the nurses' philosophy on victim reporting and participating in prosecution, (2) their perceptions regarding how patient care may or may not affect victim participation in the criminal justice system, and (3) their perception of how the SANE programs influence the work of law enforcement investigational practices.

Curated

United Nations Surveys of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems Series, Waves 1-10, 1970-2006 (ICPSR 26462)

Released/updated on: 2010-07-22
Geographic coverage: South America, Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, Global, Latin America
Time period: 1970-01-01--2006-01-01
The major goal of the United Nations Surveys on Crime Trends and the Operations of Criminal Justice Systems was to collect data on the incidence of reported crime and the operations of criminal justice systems with a view to improving the analysis and dissemination of that information globally. Surveys were distributed to officials in every member country of the United Nations. Designated officials completed the surveys to the best of their abilities given the country's available data. The survey questionnaire consisted of a series of questions which asked for data, primarily statistical, on the main components of the country's criminal justice system, for the given time period of the wave of data collection. To date, there have been ten waves of data collection. Crime variables include counts of recorded crime for homicide, assault, rape, robbery, theft, burglary, fraud, embezzlement, drug trafficking, drug possession, bribery, and corruption. There are also counts of suspects, persons prosecuted, persons convicted, and prison admissions by crime, gender, and adult or juvenile status. Other variables include the population of the country and largest city, budgets and salaries for police, courts, and prisons, and types of sanctions, including imprisonment, corporal punishment, deprivation of liberty, control of freedom, warning, fine, and community sentence. The countries participating in the survey and the variables available vary across the ten waves. There are two versions of the Wave 2 data (Part 2: Wave 2a , 1975-1980; Part 3: Wave 2b, 1975-1980) because, for various reasons, the variables from Wave 1 and some variables from Wave 2 were combined into one dataset. Similarly, some variables from Wave 2 were combined into one dataset with the variables from Wave 3. For this study, the combined Wave 1 and Wave 2 dataset was separated into Parts 1 and 2 (Wave 1, 1970-1975, and Wave 2a, 1976-1980, respectively) and the combined Wave 2 and Wave 3 dataset was separated into Parts 3 and 4 (Wave 2b, 1975-1980, and Wave 3, 1980-1986, respectively).
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United Nations World Crime Surveys: Fourth Survey, 1986-1990 (ICPSR 6945)

Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, Latin America
Time period: 1986-01-01--1990-01-01
The Fourth United Nations Survey, covering the years 1986-1990, was designed to increase knowledge regarding the incidence of reported crime and the structure of criminal justice systems, as a basis for improving the international exchange of information. The main objectives of the survey were to determine which data are generally available in national databases and to provide an instrument for strengthening cooperation among member states of the United Nations by putting the review and analysis of national crime-related data in a broader context. Variables describe combined police and prosecution expenditure by year and by country, number of police personnel by gender, total number of homicides by country and by city, number of assaults, rapes, robberies, thefts, burglaries, frauds, and embezzlements, amount of drug crime, number of people formally charged with crime, age of suspects, number and gender of prosecutors, number of individuals prosecuted and the types of crimes prosecuted for, gender and age of individuals prosecuted, types of courts, number of individuals convicted and acquitted, numbers sentenced to capital punishment and to various other punishments, number of convictions on various charges, number of individuals sentenced and in detention, number of prisoners, sentence lengths, and prison demographics.
Curated

United Nations World Surveys on Crime Trends and Criminal Justice Systems, 1970-1994: Restructured Five-Wave Data (ICPSR 2513)

Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: Asia, Europe, Africa, North America, Global, Latin America
Time period: 1970-01-01--1994-01-01
The United Nations International Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch began the Surveys of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems (formerly known as the World Crime Surveys) in 1978. The goal of the data collection effort was to conduct a more focused inquiry into the incidence of crime worldwide. To date, there have been five quinquennial surveys, covering the years 1970-1975, 1975-1980, 1980-1986, 1986-1990, and 1990-1994, respectively. Starting with the 1980 data, the waves overlap by one year to allow for reliability and validity checks of the data. For this data collection, the original United Nations data were restructured into a standard contemporary file structure, with each file consisting of all data for one year. Naming conventions were standardized, and each country and each variable was given a unique identifying number. Crime variables include counts of recorded crime for homicide, assault, rape, robbery, theft, burglary, fraud, embezzlement, drug trafficking, drug possession, bribery, and corruption. There are also counts of suspects, persons prosecuted, persons convicted, and prison admissions by crime, gender, and adult or juvenile status. Other variables include the population of the country and largest city, budgets and salaries for police, courts, and prisons, and types of sanctions, including imprisonment, corporal punishment, deprivation of liberty, control of freedom, warning, fine, and community sentence. The countries participating in the survey and the variables available vary by year.
Curated
Restricted

Use of Force by the Montgomery County, Maryland Police Department, 1993-1999 (ICPSR 3793)

Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: United States, Maryland
Time period: 1993-01-01--1999-12-01
This study was designed to describe the types and amount of force used by and against the police in Montgomery County, Maryland, for the seven years between January 1993 and December 1999. The researchers collected data from the Montgomery County Police Department's Use of Force Reports and arrest records for this time period. Part 1 contains data obtained from the Use of Force Reports, including information about the characteristics of the force used, injuries and medical treatment, characteristics of the officer and citizen involved, and the time and date of the incident. Part 2 contains data from the arrest records, including variables for location, time, and date of the arrest, the most serious charge, and demographic characteristics of the officer and arrestee. Part 3 contains aggregate data, including rate of force by different arrest characteristics, that were derived from the data in Parts 1 and 2.
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Restricted

Using Public Health Databases to Analyze Legal Intervention Shootings, United States, 2006-2017 (ICPSR 37339)

Released/updated on: 2020-06-30
Geographic coverage: United States
Time period: 2006-01-01--2014-12-31, 2015-01-01--2017-12-31
This project used national databases to describe the incidence and distribution of fatal and nonfatal police shootings and to develop an empirically based typology of legal intervention homicides. To accomplish this, the study team evaluated the comprehensiveness of the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) for fatal police shootings along with various open-source databases. The study team also explained the variation across states in fatal police shootings using a validated national database (Washington Post "Fatal Force Database") and is currently examining the variation in fatal police shooting across urban vs. rural areas.
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Using Sentiment Analysis and Topic Modeling in Assessing the Impact of Police "Signaling" on Investigative and Prosecutorial Outcomes in Sexual Assault Reports, Cleveland, Ohio, 1993-2011 (ICPSR 38644)

Released/updated on: 2025-12-16
Geographic coverage: United States, Ohio, Cleveland
Time period: 1993-01-01--2011-01-01

The Cuyahoga County (Ohio, USA) Sexual Assault Kit (SAK) Initiative, led by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office, was launched in 2013 to test and follow up on previously untested sexual assault/rape kits that were collected as evidence from sexual assault victims. Rape reports typically include an incident report taken by the responding officer(s) who is tasked with gathering pertinent facts and evidence and then forwarding the report to an investigator (detective) for follow-up, as well as a summary of the investigative activity on the case as noted by the investigator, which can include the decision of the assigned prosecutor to file or not file charges.

Signaling is defined as information conveyed by responding officers in the narratives of police reports regarding a victim's creditability and rape-myth adherence. The goal was to better understand if and how responding officers' written reports in sexual assault cases impact investigating officers' decision-making and how cases proceed (or fail to proceed) in the criminal justice process. The objective of the study was to explore the first step in the investigative process to elucidate facilitators and barriers to sexual assault cases reaching a successful disposition.

The research team employed text mining and machine learning methods using natural language processing and advanced statistical analyses to evaluate the narratives of 5,638 police reports of sexual assaults where victims had sexual assault kits collected in Cuyahoga County over the span of nearly two decades (primarily 1993 through 2011). These reports were analyzed using topic modeling and sentiment analysis. The team addressed three research questions:

  1. To what extent did "sentiments" in the responding officers' narratives reveal positive or negative signaling of victims' credibility?
  2. To what extent were the "topics" and sentiments in the responding officers' narratives different in cases with increased investigative activity compared to those with less?
  3. To what extent were both the topics and sentiments in the responding officers' narratives different for cases that were successfully investigated and prosecuted compared to those that were not?

This collection includes a quantitative dataset (DS1) and a qualitative dataset (DS2). The report-level quantitative dataset contains calculated sentiment scores, categorical variables describing the incident and outcome, and demographic variables of the victim(s) and suspect(s) for all reports analyzed (n=5,639). The full text for all reports is available in a CSV file that can be merged with the main data file. The qualitative data is a subset of reports from the main dataset (n=18) with high, medium, and low sentiment scores that were manually coded by the research team.

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