Examining Prosecutorial Discretion in Federal Criminal Cases, [United States], 2002-2010 (ICPSR 36989)

Version Date: May 14, 2018

Cite this study |

Principal Investigator(s):
Rob Tillyer, University of Texas at San Antonio; Richard D. Hartley, University of Texas at San Antonio

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36989.v1

Version V1

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Summary

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 directly examined the nature and characteristics of cases prosecuted in the federal courts by analyzing prosecutorial decisions to proceed with charges (or not) once an arrest is initiated, and to investigate any adjustment from the arresting offense to the charging offense. These decisions were analyzed to document their correlates and identify variation across case type.

The collection contains 1 SPSS data file (2002-10-Arrest-cases--FINAL-ANALYSIS.sav (n=794,807; 43 variables)) and 1 SPSS syntax file.

Citation

Tillyer, Rob, and Hartley, Richard D. Examining Prosecutorial Discretion in Federal Criminal Cases, [United States], 2002-2010. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2018-05-14. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR36989.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2015-R2-CX-0041)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

Federal judicial district

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reason for the request, and obtain IRB approval or notice of exemption for their research.

Distributor(s)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research
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Time Period(s)

2002 -- 2010

Date of Collection

2002 -- 2010

Data Collection Notes

  1. 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.

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Study Purpose

The primary focus of the study was to assess prosecutorial discretion in federal court cases, specifically:

1. What factors influence a prosecutor's decision to proceed with charges against an individual arrested for a federal offense?

2. Given the prosecutor's decision to proceed with charges, is the charge(s) similar or different from the original arresting charge?

3. Does case type impact a prosecutor's decision to proceed with charges and/or explain any differences between the arresting charge and the final charge?

4. Do prosecutorial decisions to proceed with charges and/or select a final charge vary by district?

Study Design

Data for this project were drawn from the Federal Justice Statistics Program database housed within the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) for the years 2000-2010. Datasets were merged by arrest record. Arrests involving more than three charges were removed from further analysis (N=271).

Sample

Data are not a sample.

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend / Repeated Cross-section

Universe

Individuals arrested for a federal offense by any federal agency, 2002-2010

Unit(s) of Observation

Individual

Data Source

National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD)

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

The data include 43 variables and 794,807 cases. Variables include whether or not a case was dismissed by the prosecutor, and whether or not the offense charged by the prosecutor was different from the arresting charge, or in other words, whether the charge was changed by the prosecutor. Also included are temporal or geographic case characteristics: which of the 94 federal districts, the arresting agency, whether the case was forwarded to a U.S. Magistrate or filed in U.S. District Court, whether the case was considered a priority, and a measure of district case load. Demographic variables include arrestee's sex, race, age, citizenship status, and whether they were born outside of the US.

Response Rates

N/A

Presence of Common Scales

none

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Original Release Date

2018-05-14

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Weight

none

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Notes

  • 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 public-use data files in this collection are available for access by the general public. Access does not require affiliation with an ICPSR member institution.

  • One or more files in this data collection have special restrictions. Restricted data files are not available for direct download from the website; click on the Restricted Data button to learn more.