NJRP attachments with Table of Contents

Attachment Table of Contents
Document

Page

Attachment A: NJRP Sentencing Commission Study Survey

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Attachment B: Follow-up Phone Call/Email

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Attachment C: Thank You Email

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Attachment D: Participant Letter

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Attachment A: National Judicial Reporting Program
Sentencing Commission Study Survey

OMB No.1121-0339: Approval Expires 1/31/2016

RETURN TO

Cynthia Helba
RB4164
Westat
1650 Research Boulevard
Rockville, MD 20850

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

National Judicial Reporting Program:
Sentencing Commission Survey

BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS
AND ACTING AS COLLECTION AGENT

DATA SUPPLIED BY
NAME

Title

ADDRESS
TELEPHONE

Number and street or P.O. box/Route

City

Area Code

Area Code Number
FAX
NUMBER

Number

State Zip Code

E-MAIL
ADDRESS

This information will only be used if questions arise about the responses provided; it will not be made public.
GENERAL INFORMATION
 If you have any questions about completing this survey, please contact Cynthia Helba of Westat at 1-301-2944454 or BJS Statistician, Tracey Kyckelhahn at (202) 353-7381.
 Please mail your completed survey to Westat before April 30, 2015 or FAX (all) pages to 301-294-3928.
 Please retain a copy of the completed survey for your records.

INTRODUCTION
 BJS is undertaking research to learn about existing state felony court record systems as part of an effort to
redesign one of BJS’s longstanding statistical collections, the National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP).
The NJRP collected information on felony sentencing in state courts from 1986 to 2006 from a nationally
representative sample of 300 counties. The data collected included demographic information of the offender,
conviction offense, and sentencing information. The data were standardized across all counties. The NJRP is
being expanded to collect statewide data, when available, and to collect information on all dispositions (both
convictions and non-convictions).
 In addition to surveying state sentencing commissions about their data systems, BJS plans to survey other
possible suppliers of court data, such as administrative offices of state courts. BJS believes that state
sentencing commissions’ data systems may contain data elements included in state court administrative office
systems, as well as data elements pertaining to prior criminal history and guideline-based sentences. To the
extent that these elements are reliably recorded across state sentencing commissions, BJS believes that they
will contribute important information for understanding felony court sentencing outcomes.
The purpose of this survey is to gather information about the data system maintained by the sentencing commission
in [NAME OF STATE]. The questions ask about the following topics:

1.
2.
3.
4.

Scope of cases, such as felony, misdemeanor, and guideline vs. non-guideline cases;
Geographic coverage;
Case and defendant characteristics; and
How to request and access the data, should BJS be interested in obtaining an extract of data.

Burden statement
Under the Paperwork Reduction Act, we cannot ask you to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid
OMB control number. The burden of this collection is estimated to average 37 minutes per response, including reviewing
instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering necessary data, and completing and reviewing this form. Send comments
regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this survey, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Director, Bureau
of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh Street, NW, Washington, DC 20531.

National Judicial Reporting Program
Sentencing Commission Survey
Overview
1.

Does your agency maintain electronic data on court proceedings for felony cases?
Yes
No


“Maintain” in this context means collecting and storing electronic data on court proceedings on a regular basis rather
than collect data for special one-time studies or reports.



“Court proceedings” means information about cases processed by the trial courts in your state, such as offenses
charged, dispositions, and sentences.

IF NO: Did your agency do this in the past?
Yes
No
IF NO: Thank you, the survey is complete.

Scope of Coverage
2.

As you know, cases in state courts can begin as a felony cases and through charge modification be disposed as
misdemeanor cases. In addition, cases can begin as misdemeanor cases and become felony cases by the time of
disposition. For the National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP), BJS wants to be able to describe the universes of felony
cases disposed, including:


Cases disposed that included a felony charge at filing; and



Cases disposed that were originally filed as a misdemeanor case but through charge modification involved a felony
charge at disposition.
a.

Does your agency’s electronic data file include information on all disposed cases that were originally filed with
at least one felony charge in a state court, regardless of the charges that were present at disposition?
Yes
No

b.

Does your agency’s electronic data file include information on all cases that included a felony charge at
disposition?
Yes
No

3.

Which of the following types of cases are stored in your agency’s electronic database?
a.

Guideline cases?
Yes
No

b.

Non-guideline cases?
Yes
No

1

4.

The dispositions of which of the following types of felony cases are stored in your agency’s electronic database?
Yes
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

5.

No

Felony cases filed? ..................................................................................
Felony cases that are dismissed prior to adjudication? ............................
Felony cases that are adjudicated not guilty? ..........................................
Felony cases in which the defendant was convicted? ..............................
Does your agency’s electronic data file include dispositional information
for cases that are filed as a felony but disposed of as a misdemeanor? ..

Which of the following types of misdemeanor cases are stored in your agency’s electronic database?
Yes

No

Misdemeanor cases filed? ..................................................................................
Misdemeanor cases that are dismissed prior to adjudication? ...........................
Misdemeanor cases that are adjudicated not guilty? ..........................................
Misdemeanor cases in which the defendant was convicted? .............................

Unit of Count
BJS has defined the unit of count for NJRP as a person case disposed. A person case disposed involves a unique individual
adjudicated for one or more offenses that were referred to court intake on a single day and disposed. To clarify:

6.



Case: A case is a the set of all charges filed against a unique individual and referred to court intake on a single day;



Cases with Multiple Charges: If a single individual is charged in one case with two counts of robbery and one count
of aggravated assault, that would be counted as one person case because a person case may involve more than
one offense;



Multiple Cases: If a unique individual appeared in three cases within a year (e.g., one filed in May, one in June, and
one in August), that would count as three person cases;



Multiple Defendants: If a single filing involves multiple defendants, the number of person cases resulting from this
filing would equal the number of defendants;



Disposition: A case is disposed when 1) the petition to adjudicate the individual is withdrawn or 2) when the matter
is adjudicated by a judicial officer and the individual is either acquitted or convicted and sentenced.

With this background, can the data in your agency’s electronic database be manipulated to provide information with the
following units of count? [NOTE: If a defendant is convicted in two cases filed at different times but the two are combined
into one sentencing event, then we may need to be able to create two case records from this sentencing to have
comparability with the NJRP counts from other jurisdictions.]
Yes
a.

Does your agency use a hierarchy rule to select the most serious
charge(s)? ................................................................................................

b.

Person-cases adjudicated but not convicted? .............................................

c.

Person cases withdrawn before adjudication? ............................................

d.

If a defendant has two person cases filed (e.g., one in May and
one in June) that are then combined for disposition (e.g., at a
hearing in August) with one sentencing event, can the two filed
cases with their dispositions be reported separately? ..............................

2

No

Charge and Disposition Information
7.

This section asks how charge/offense information is maintained in your electronic system and at what unit of analysis in
your agency’s electronic database.
a.

If a person is convicted on multiple charges, does your agency’s electronic database retain information on all
charges?
Yes
No

If NO:

b.

1.

How many charges per individual are recorded in your agency’s electronic database?

2.

How does your agency’s electronic database select the charge(s) to retain?

Does your agency use a hierarchy rule to select the most serious charge(s)?
Yes

1.
2.
3.
4.

8.

No

Does offense information include the state statute? ..................................
Does offense information include a text description?.................................
Are dispositions recorded for each charge in a case? ...............................
If a person has a single sentencing event that is based on more
than one person case filed, is it possible to associate the charges
with each filed person case?......................................................................

The following asks for information about the type of information that is maintained in your agency’s electronic database
about dispositions and the unit of analysis.
a.

Are dispositions associated with cases?
Yes
No

b.

Are dispositions associated with charges?
Yes
No

If YES:
1.

9.

If dispositions are associated with charges and there are different dispositions across charges, by
what method is the most severe case disposition assigned? Please describe.

What are the earliest and the most recent years for which administrative data on felony cases disposed (including
archived data) are available in your agency’s electronic database?
Earliest year

Most recent year

3

Data Elements
10.

Does your agency’s electronic database include the following data elements? Does your electronic data include the
following items on each case?
Question 1

Data Element

Is this data element
in your information system?
Don’t
Yes
No
know

Case Identifiers
Docket/Case number
Defendant Identifiers
Defendant Unique Identifier
Fingerprint-based ID#
Offense Information
Arrest Date
Arrest Charges
Level of Arrest Charges (Felony/Misdemeanor)
Filing Date
Charges Filed
Level of Charges Filed (Felony/Misdemeanor)
Method of transfer (for juvenile cases)
Representation (Public Defender/Private/Self)
Pretrial Information
Was the defendant released pretrial?
Type of pretrial release (bond, release on own
recognizance, etc.)
Was the defendant charged with failure to appear
or a new offense while on pre-trial release
Disposition Information
Disposition Date
Manner of Disposition (Petition Withdrawn, Plea,
Jury Trial, Bench Trial)
Result of Disposition (Dismissed, Acquitted,
Convicted, Not Guilty, etc.)
Sentence Information
Sentencing Date
Type of sentence
Length of sentence for dispositions to
incarceration
Length of sentence for dispositions to community
supervision
Restitution amount
Amount of Fines
Prior Criminal History
Prior felony convictions
Prior misdemeanor convictions
Number of prior incarceration sentences
Defendant Characteristics
Race
Ethnicity
Gender
Date of Birth

4

Question 2
Can this element be
reported at the
person-case level?
Yes

No

Sources of Data
11.

What are the sources of the data in your agency’s electronic database other than courts?
a.

Courts
Law enforcement agencies
Prosecutor offices
Jails
Local probation departments
State department of corrections
State criminal history repositories
Other, please describe

b.

What levels of courts are included in the data? (Check all that apply)
No courts supply data
Municipal courts
Trial courts
District courts
Circuit courts
Superior courts
Appellate courts
Supreme courts
Other, please describe

c.

Which courts in your state that dispose of felony cases do not report to your agency? Please list.

Data Completeness
12.

How often do the reporting agencies submit data to you?
Daily
Monthly
Annually
Other, please describe

13.

Is information reported to your agency at various points in case processing?
Yes
Is case information reported to your agency at filing? ..................................
Is case information reported to your agency at adjudication? .......................
Is case information reported to your agency at sentencing? ........................

5

No

14.

Do agencies submit data to your agency in electronic format?
Yes
No

15.

Does a data dictionary exist for the elements in your agency’s electronic database?
Yes
No

Data Requests and Access
16.

Does your agency provide extracts of your administrative data to outside researchers?
Yes
No
If NO: Skip to Question 20

17.

If data can be requested- What steps would be needed for BJS to receive these electronic data (e.g., request form, review
process, fees if applicable)?
Yes

No

Is a standardized request form/process available?.......................................
Is there an internal review process involved upon requesting the data? ......
Are there any fees associated with requesting the data? .............................
Other.............................................................................................................
Please specify

18.

Are the legal, regulatory or administrative restrictions on access to the data extract?
Yes
No

19.

How soon after a reference period ends can a file extract be prepared and provided?

20.

Does your agency report findings regarding sentencing patterns and/or other aspects of case processing?
Yes
No

a.

If YES: How could BJS obtain copies of these reports?

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Back Page

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Attachment B: Follow-up Phone Call/Email

Appendix B: Follow-Up Phone Call/Email

Phone Call Script:
Hi, this is
calling again from Westat. We appreciate the time you previously spent answering
questions on our survey. I have a couple follow-up questions. My questions should be brief. Would it be
ok if I asked these questions now? [If now is not a good time] When would be a better time for you to
schedule a follow-up call?

Email Template:
[Agency contact],
Thank you again for completing the survey about your agency’s electronic data related to felony case
processing. We appreciate your time and assistance, and hope that you would be willing to answer just a
couple follow-up questions. Would you be available for a phone call to clarify these? My questions
should be brief. Please let me know if you would be available sometime this week, and we will schedule a
call at a time that is convenient for you.
Best regards,
[Westat contact]

Attachment C: Thank You Email

Appendix C: Thank You Email

[Agency contact],
Thank you for taking the time to complete the survey about your agency’s court processing data. The
Bureau of Justice Statistics and Westat appreciate your assistance in explaining what data your agency
has available and how it could be requested for a national study such as the National Judicial Reporting
Program (NJRP). You may hear from us again in the future as this study progresses. Please feel free to
contact me any time if you have questions about the project or follow-up thoughts from the survey.
Sincerely,
[Westat contact]

Attachment D: Participant Letter

January 12, 2015

Name
Title
Address
Address
Address
Dear ?:

Currently the Bureau of Justice Statistics is redesigning one of its longstanding courts collections, the
National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP). Part of this redesign will test the feasibility of obtaining
automated extracts of case records from state and local information systems that contain court data.
Information we hope to obtain from automated information systems will include demographic
characteristics of the alleged offender, court referral date, offenses charged, adjudication date, and
sentence length and type. These data will provide high quality information that will benefit criminal
justice policymakers, planners, and funders.
As part of this process, we are contacting state sentencing commissions to assess the availability of data
for future inclusion in the NJRP. To achieve the project’s goals, BJS is requesting your participation. We
have included a survey asking for information about any data available from your sentencing commission.
BJS has retained Westat to oversee this new project. Project staff will be available to discuss any
questions you may have about the questionnaire or the NJRP, and will conduct a follow-up interview if
needed.
Your cooperation to help us fill this national information gap will enable policymakers and planners
identify important trends in the processing of felony cases.
Sincerely,

William J. Sabol
Acting Director
Bureau of Justice Statistics