Building Tribal-Researcher Capacity to Inform Data-Driven Practices, Technology, and Tribal Justice, United States, 2019 (ICPSR 38013)

Version Date: Feb 13, 2023

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Principal Investigator(s):
Lama Hassoun Ayoub, Center for Court Innovation

https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38013.v1

Version V1

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Summary

The Center for Court Innovation, in partnership with independent consultants from the public defender's office of certain tribes, conducted a comprehensive survey of tribal justice system stakeholders, focused on the existing use of risk-needs assessments and similar tools, and existing data collection/technology used by tribal jurisdictions around the country. The survey results create a comprehensive portrait of tribal court system risk and need assessment, data collection, management, and challenges reported by those directly involved in managing and working with people in the system.

Citation

Hassoun Ayoub, Lama. Building Tribal-Researcher Capacity to Inform Data-Driven Practices, Technology, and Tribal Justice, United States, 2019. Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-02-13. https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR38013.v1

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Funding

United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. National Institute of Justice (2018-75-CX-0012)

Subject Terms

Geographic Coverage

Smallest Geographic Unit

Other

Restrictions

Access to these data is restricted. Users interested in obtaining these data must complete a Restricted Data Use Agreement, specify the reasons 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)

2019 (Fall)

Date of Collection

2019-09 -- 2019-12

Data Collection Notes

  1. The Principal Investigator did not include in the data file demographic information about the person completing the survey. Information that could be used to identify the tribe or location of the respondent has been removed. This includes the name of the tribe, size and geography of the tribal area, unique characteristics of the tribal program, and information about specific data management systems used which might be used to pinpoint the tribal respondents.

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Study Purpose

The research team had two main goals for this survey. First, in collaboration with multiple tribes, create a culturally appropriate client assessment tool to learn about assets and needs of tribal courts. Second, to develop solutions for tracking criminal justice data and aiding communication between agencies.

Sample

The target population for the survey included judges, court clerks and coordinators, prosecutors and defense providers, law enforcement, and court-affiliated service providers within tribal courts. The initial list of tribal courts for recruitment was obtained from the publicly available list of tribal courts managed by the Tribal Law and Policy Institute. This list provides contact information for 343 tribal courts--not all of whom would be eligible for the survey since the researchers were primarily interested in criminal, civil or specialized courts.

Survey recruitment was two-pronged: (1) initial indirect recruitment; (2) targeted follow-up recruitment for those who did not respond to initial requests. For initial indirect recruitment, respondents were recruited through existing relationships with external tribal practitioners; presentations by members of the Tribal Justice Exchange team at annual conferences, outreach through online groups, listservs, and contacts and individual outreach by the tribal consultants.

Time Method

Cross-sectional

Universe

Staff and clients from within the Tribal court system.

Unit(s) of Observation

Organization

Data Type(s)

Mode of Data Collection

Description of Variables

Main sections of the survey included questions on:

  • Jurisdiction - who and where does agency serve
  • Agency Characteristics - roles within jurisdiction, agency size, what demographic gets information collected on clients
  • Client Assessment Tools - types of screeners and assessments, when and how are assessments used and on whom
  • Technology - access, use, and reliability
  • Tracking - how and what information gets tracked
  • Communication - methods and frequency of communication with external stakeholders, within agency, and with clients
  • Reporting - how often and with whom

Response Rates

The survey was completed by 67 justice system representatives from 36 tribes from all regions in the country. This represents a response rate of about 10.5% of all tribal courts in the country.

Presence of Common Scales

Not Applicable

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Original Release Date

2023-02-13

Version History

2023-02-13 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.

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Weight

Not Applicable

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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.

  • ICPSR usually offers files in multiple formats for researchers to be able to access data and documentation in formats that work well within their needs. If you have questions about the accessibility of materials distributed by ICPSR or require further assistance, please visit ICPSR’s Accessibility Center.

  • 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.