The purposes of this study are to describe sentencing outcomes in felony courts for selected serious offenses--homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, and drug trafficking--and to establish a statistical series on sentencing outcomes in felony courts throughout the United States. The jurisdictions consist of cities and counties with an average population of 1.1 million. Among the jurisdictions, the sentencing schemes available varied, with both determinate and indeterminate sentencing practices in operation. The study distinguishes between core informational items such as criminal charges, type of sentence imposed and terms of the prison sentence, and optional items such as characteristics of the offense and the defendant, and how the case was processed.

The purpose of this study was to document the existing organization of courts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia as of 1971-1972. The survey covers all appellate courts, courts of general jurisdiction, special courts, and other courts of limited jurisdiction. Excluded were justices of the peace and similar magistrates whose compensation is solely on a direct fee basis, and courts of limited or special jurisdiction located in municipalities or townships with a 1960 population of less than 1,000. The data for courts include information on the organization of the court, geographic location, type of court, level of government administering the court, number, types, and full- or part-time status of judicial and other personnel, method of appealing cases, location of court records, and types of statistics. Court subdivision variables cover organization of the courts, geographic location, type of court, level of government administering the court, types of jurisdiction, percentage of judges' time spent on types of cases, availability of jury trials, and length of sentence and amounts of fines which may be imposed by the court.

Investigator(s): Bureau of Justice Statistics The National Justice Agency List is a master name and address file created and maintained by the United States Bureau of the Census for the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The file was first created in 1970, and the Census Bureau has continued to maintain and expand the file. For the original survey, each county in the United States and each municipality and township with a 1960 population of 1,000 or more persons was surveyed to identify the names and addresses of the criminal justice agencies and institutions controlled by local government. The survey was conducted by mail canvass. In addition to the mail survey, the Census Bureau collected information on state-level governments and counties with a 1960 population of 500,000 or more and cities with a 1960 population of 300,000 or more through in-house research methods. The reference information included a variety of published government documents such as budget statements, organization manuals, and state, county, and municipal directories.