The National Assessment Program (NAP) Survey was conducted to determine the needs and problems of state and local criminal justice agencies. At the local level in each sampled county, survey questionnaires were distributed to police chiefs of the largest city, sheriffs, jail administrators, prosecutors, public defenders, chief trial court judges, trial court administrators (where applicable), and probation and parole agency heads. Data were collected at the state level through surveys sent to attorneys general, commissioners of corrections, prison wardens, state court administrators, and directors of probation and parole. For the 1992-1994 survey, 13 separate questionnaires were used. Police chiefs and sheriffs received the same survey instruments, with a screening procedure employed to identify sheriffs who handled law enforcement responsibilities. Of the 411 counties selected, 264 counties also employed trial court administrators. Judges and trial court administrators received identical survey instruments. A total of 546 surveys were mailed to probation and parole agencies, with the same questions asked of state and local officers. Counties that had separate agencies for probation and parole were sent two surveys. All survey instruments were divided into sections on workload (except that the wardens, jail administrators, and corrections commissioners were sent a section on jail use and crowding instead), staffing, operations and procedures, and background. The staffing section of each survey queried respondents on recruitment, retention, training, and number of staff. The other sections varied from instrument to instrument, with questions tailored to the responsibilities of the particular agency. Most of the questionnaires asked about use of automated information systems, programs, policies, or aspects of the facility or security needing improvement, agency responsibilities and jurisdictions, factors contributing to workload increases, budget, number of fulltime employees and other staff, and contracted services. Questions specific to police chiefs and sheriffs included activities aimed at drug problems and whether they anticipated increases in authorized strength in officers. Jail administrators, corrections commissioners, and wardens were asked about factors contributing to jail crowding, alternatives to jail, medical services offered, drug testing and drug-related admissions, and inmate classification. Topics covered by the surveys for prosecutors, public defenders, judges, and state and trial court administrators included types of cases handled, case timeliness, diversion and sentencing alternatives, and court and jury management. State and local probation and parole agency directors were asked about diagnostic tools, contracted services, and drug testing. Attorneys general were queried about operational issues, statutory authority, and legal services and support provided to state and local criminal justice agencies.

Investigator(s): Bureau of Justice Statistics These surveys provide a broad-based, systematic examination of the nature of general civil litigation (e.g., tort, contract, and real property cases) disposed in a sample of the nation's 75 most populous counties. Data collection was carried out by the National Center for State Courts with the assistance of WESTAT. Data collected includes information about the types of civil cases litigated at trial, types of plaintiffs and defendants, trial winners, amount of total damages awarded, amount of punitive damages awarded, and case processing time. In addition, information was collected on general civil cases concluded by bench or jury trial that were subsequently appealed to a state's intermediate appellate court or court of last resort. The appellate datasets examine information on the types of civil bench and jury trials appealed, the characteristics of litigants filing an appeal, the frequency in which appellate courts affirm, reverse, or modify trial court outcomes and cases further appealed from an intermediate appellate court to a state court of last resort.

The United States Sentencing Commission, established by the 98th Congress, is an independent agency in the judicial branch of government. The Commission's primary function is to institute guidelines that prescribe the appropriate form and severity of punishment for offenders convicted of federal crimes. This survey was developed in response to issues that arose during site visits conducted in conjunction with an implementation study of sentencing guidelines and was intended to supplement the information obtained in the more extensive site visit interviews. Topics include the impact of the plea agreement, departures by the court, mandatory minimum sentences, the general issue of unwarranted sentencing disparity, and whether this disparity had increased, decreased, or stayed about the same since the sentencing guidelines were imposed in 1987.

Investigator(s): Pretrial Services Resource Center The National Pretrial Reporting Program project was initiated in 1983 by the Pretrial Services Resource Center with funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) to determine the feasibility of a national pretrial database. Specifically, the project sought to determine whether accurate and comprehensive pretrial data can be collected at the local level and subsequently aggregated at the state and federal levels. Before this project began, there was no national system for regularly tracking information on persons and cases from the point they entered the local court system until they were adjudicated and sentenced, nor was it clear that such a system could be established. The project was developed in three phases and each phase has taken the program closer to its goal of providing BJS with reliable and valid data on the movement of defendants through the criminal court system. Phase 1 of the project, though limited to three jurisdictions, demonstrated that baseline data could be collected to describe how criminal defendants are processed through the courts. Phase II of the project not only focused on the collection and analyses of the data, but was also concerned with the procedural methods necessary to devise a national baseline data collection project. Although there were problems encountered and lessons learned in Phase II, the findings confirmed that a national effort could be undertaken. In the summer of 1987, Phase III of the program was developed. Changes incorporated in Phase III were a direct result of the lessons learned from Phase II, with the goal of achieving a more accurate and representative database. To accomplish this, significant changes were made, particularly in four areas: site selection, defendant sampling, site personnel training, and targeted charge. A more ambitious project was envisioned as well, with the project targeting 40 jurisdictions for data collection. Another major change in Phase III concerned the decision to target felony defendants only, since many of the ongoing BJS projects were limited to felony defendants. The data collected in the period 1988-1993 provide a picture of felony defendants' movements through the criminal courts and what happens during the course of their journey.

Investigator(s): U.S. Sentencing Commission These data, collected to assist in the development of sentencing guidelines, describe offense and sentencing characteristics for organizations sentenced in federal district courts. The United States Sentencing Commission's primary function is to inform federal courts of sentencing policies and practices that include guidelines prescribing the appropriate form and severity of punishment for offenders convicted of federal crimes. Court-related variables include primary offense type, pecuniary offense loss and gain, dates of disposition and sentencing, method of determination of guilt, number of counts pled and charged, and dates and types of sentencing and restitution. Defendant organization variables include ownership structure, number of owners and employees, highest level of corporate knowledge of the criminal offense, highest level of corporate indictment and conviction for participation in the criminal offense, annual revenue, equity and financial status of the defendant organization, whether it was a criminal organization, duration of criminal activity, and risk to national security. Part 1, Organizational Defendants Data, 1988, describes offense and sentencing characteristics for organizations sentenced in federal district courts in 1988. Part 2, Organizational Defendants Data, 1989-1990, is a compilation of offense and sentencing characteristics for the population of organizations sentenced in federal district courts during the period January 1, 1989, to June 30, 1990. Part 3, Statute Data, 1989-1990, is a secondary component of the Commission's study that includes only the statutes of conviction and number of counts per conviction, during the period January 1, 1989, to June 30, 1990. Part 4, Organizational Defendants Data, 1987-1993, includes all organizational defendants sentenced pursuant to the Chapter Two, Part R (1987) antitrust guidelines and the Chapter Eight (1991) sentencing guidelines for organizational defendants that were sentenced between November 1, 1987, through September 30, 1993, and were received by the Commission. Part 6, Organizational Defendants Data, 1994, gives information on organizational defendants sentenced during fiscal year October 1, 1993, through September 30, 1994, and includes culpability scores and Chapter Eight (1991) culpability scoring procedures. Part 8, Organizational Defendants Data, 1995, covers fiscal year October 1, 1994, through September 30, 1995, and also includes culpability scores and Chapter Eight (1991) culpability scoring procedures. This file includes 9 defendants sentenced pursuant to Section 2R1.1 (1987) and 111 defendants sentenced pursuant to the Chapter Eight guidelines. Years Produced: Updated annually

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.

Investigator(s): Bureau of Justice Statistics Data in this collection examine the processing of federal offenders. The Cases Terminated files (Parts 1-3 and 25-28) contain information about defendants in criminal cases filed in the United States Federal District Court and terminated in the calendar year indicated. Defendants in criminal cases may either be individuals or corporations, and there is one record for each defendant in each case terminated. Information on court proceedings, date the case was filed, date the case was terminated, most serious charge, and reason for termination are included. The Docket and Reporting System files (Parts 4-7 and 31-34) include information on suspects in investigative matters that took an hour or more of a United States Attorney's time with one of the following outcomes: (1) the United States Attorney declined to prosecute, (2) the case was filed in Federal District Court, or (3) the matter was disposed by a United States magistrate. Codes for each disposition and change of status are also provided.The Pretrial Services data (Parts 8 and 22) present variables on the circuit, district, and office where the defendant was charged, type of action, year of birth and sex of the defendant, major offense charge, and results of initial and detention hearings. The Parole Decisions data (Part 9) contain information from various parole hearings such as court date, appeal action, reopening decision, sentence, severity, offense, and race and ethnicity of the defendant. The Offenders Under Supervision files (Parts 15-16 and 37-40) focus on convicted offenders sentenced to probation supervision and federal prisoners released to parole supervision. The Federal Prisoner files (Parts 18 and 20) supply data on when an offender entered and was released from confinement, as well as the amount of time served for any given offense.Years Produced: Annually.NACJD has prepared a resource guide for the Federal Justice Statistics Program.