Cover Letter

DATE

AGENCY ID

NAME
TITLE
STREET

CITY, STATE ZIPCODE

Dear LAST NAME,

Thank you for your continued participation in the Annual Parole Survey. Enclosed are instructions for accessing the 2011 Annual Parole Survey online, a core component of the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ (BJS) data collections on community corrections which has been conducted since 1980. We are asking for your assistance in helping us gather data for the 2011 collection.

BJS uses the data from this survey to track changes in the parole population both nationwide and at the state level. These detailed data are not available from any other single source. The survey provides important information for policy development and criminal justice planning, and is essential to the support of criminal justice information systems at all levels of government. Researchers, policymakers, and practitioners rely on this information to measure growth in the parole population and to identify factors related to this growth.

The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, as amended (42 USC 3732), authorizes the collection of this data. Although participation is voluntary, your response is needed to make the data complete and accurate. We ask that you complete and submit your form by February 28, 2011.

We request that all forms for 2011 be submitted via web, or by using the New Data Upload Feature (see enclosed flyer for details). Please contact (name), our collection agent at the U.S. Census Bureau with any inquiries by email ([email protected]) or phone (1-800-253-2078).

I also want to alert you to the fact that you will receive separate cover requests to participate in other BJS data collections during the upcoming year. These include: the National Prisoner Statistics Program, the National Corrections Reporting Program, and the Capital Punishment Statistics Program. Without your assistance on each of these, BJS would not be able to provide comprehensive statistics on correctional populations in the U.S.

Thank you for your continued support of BJS’ statistical programs. If you have any general comments about these collections, feel free to contact me at (202) 616-3615 or at [email protected] or William Sabol at (202) 514-1062 or at [email protected].

Sincerely,

Tom Bonczar William J. Sabol, Ph.D.

Statistician, Corrections Statistics Program Deputy Director, Statistical Collections & Analysis

Enclosures