Survey of State Attorneys General, United States, 2014 (ICPSR 37949)
Version Date: May 24, 2021 View help for published
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s)
United States. Bureau of Justice Statistics
https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR37949.v1
Version V1
Summary View help for Summary
The 2014 Survey of State Attorneys General (SAG) collected information on jurisdiction, sources and circumstances of case referrals, and the participation of attorneys general offices in federal or state white-collar crime task forces in 2014. White-collar crime was defined by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) as: "any violation of law committed through non-violent means, involving lies, omissions, deceit, misrepresentation, or violation of a position of trust, by an individual or organization for personal or organizational benefit." SAG sought to analyze how attorneys general offices as an organization in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories respond to white-collar offenses in their jurisdiction.
BJS asked respondents to focus on the following criminal and civil offenses: bank fraud, consumer fraud, insurance fraud, medical fraud, securities fraud, tax fraud, environmental offenses, false claims and statements, illegal payments to governmental officials (giving or receiving), unfair trade practices, and workplace-related offenses (e.g., unsafe working conditions). Variables included whether or not offices handled criminal or civil cases in the above categories, estimated number of cases in each category, and what types of criminal or civil sanctions were imposed on white-collar offenders. Researchers also assessed collaboration with partners outside of state attorneys offices, whether cases were referred for federal or local prosecution, and what circumstances lead to referring cases to state regulatory agencies. The extent to which state attorneys offices maintain white-collar crime data was also recorded.
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Subject Terms View help for Subject Terms
Geographic Coverage View help for Geographic Coverage
Smallest Geographic Unit View help for Smallest Geographic Unit
State
Distributor(s) View help for Distributor(s)
Time Period(s) View help for Time Period(s)
Date of Collection View help for Date of Collection
Data Collection Notes View help for Data Collection Notes
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U.S. territories (American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands) were excluded because they did not maintain data systems needed to complete the survey.
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Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, and West Virginia did not respond to the survey.
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Ohio reported jurisdiction over both criminal and civil white-collar crime but did not answer any other questions.
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Arkansas provided a report from its Medicaid Fraud Control Unit but did not respond to the survey. The report did not provide any information that could be used to describe responses to white-collar crime needed for this survey.
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Wyoming did not handle any criminal or civil white-collar cases in 2014.
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Indiana, Michigan, and Missouri provided responses from both the attorneys general offices and their respective Medicaid Fraud Control Units. These responses were combined for each state, and the tables in the Bureau of Justice Statistics report note when the responses differed.
Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose
The 2014 Survey of State Attorneys General (SAG) collected information on jurisdiction, sources and circumstances of case referrals, and the participation of attorneys general offices in federal or state white-collar crime task forces in 2014. White-collar crime was defined by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) as: "any violation of law committed through non-violent means, involving lies, omissions, deceit, misrepresentation, or violation of a position of trust, by an individual or organization for personal or organizational benefit." SAG sought to analyze how attorneys general offices as an organization in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories respond to white-collar offenses in their jurisdiction. BJS asked respondents to focus on the following criminal and civil offenses: bank fraud, consumer fraud, insurance fraud, medical fraud, securities fraud, tax fraud, environmental offenses, false claims and statements, illegal payments to governmental officials (giving or receiving), unfair trade practices, and workplace-related offenses (e.g., unsafe working conditions). In total, 44 state attorneys general offices and the District of Columbia's Office of the Attorney General handled cases involving white-collar crime.
Study Design View help for Study Design
During 2015, the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) served as the data collection agent in the 50 states and the District pf Columbia for the State and Local White Collar Crime Program, the funding program for the 2014 Survey of State Attorneys General (SAG). NW3C also subcontracted with the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) to assist with fielding the survey.
Two meetings were held with panels of subject matter experts. The first meeting focused on developing a definition of white-collar crime that could be applied in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The second meeting focused on appropriate survey items for attorneys general and other potential sources for white-collar crime data.
Web-based data collection for SAG began in January 2015 and concluded in September 2015. Representatives from the NAAG called and emailed the attorneys general offices that did not respond, identified the person responsible for completing the survey, and encouraged response. BJS did not attempt the weight the data for unit-level non-response because the offices vary widely in their jurisdictional and statutory responsibilities.
Item non-response occurred when a responding attorney general office failed to answer all survey questions. Questions may have been skipped for a variety of reasons. For some questions, the office could answer "unable to be determined." For questions with an "other" category, the office was asked to write in any information missing from available response options. If there was no information in the write-in field, then BJS determined that the office did not have a response and it was recorded as a "no."
BJS determined that it could not impute item non-response for missing data because of the non-random variations in legislative and jurisdictional responsibilities among attorneys general offices. As a result, data are presented in the original form, including notes to identify when data are not reported.
Time Method View help for Time Method
Universe View help for Universe
Attorneys general offices in the United States in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Unit(s) of Observation View help for Unit(s) of Observation
Data Type(s) View help for Data Type(s)
Mode of Data Collection View help for Mode of Data Collection
Response Rates View help for Response Rates
The overall response rate was 86 percent.
HideOriginal Release Date View help for Original Release Date
2021-05-24
Version History View help for Version History
2021-05-24 ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Notes
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.