New Orleans Offender Study: Phase 1, Volume 1: Description of Official Record Data and Coding Process

• NCJ Number: 124023
• Author(s): M R Geerken
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 65 pages
• Grant Number(s): 86-IJ-CX-0021
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Technical)

Annotation

This report describes the methods used to develop part of the database for the New Orleans Offender Study, using official records of arrest, custody, and community supervision. Data set archived by the NIJ Data Resources Program at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data, located at URL http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/nacjd.

Abstract

The database is unique in that it combines five separate record sets. These record sets include jail and penitentiary custody information; probation and parole supervision data; and local, State, and national arrest histories. The decisions used in the process of combining these data sets required research into the problems inherent in all official criminal history data and on analyses of data on offenders in New Orleans. Discussion of the impacts that statistical errors and biases have on criminal justice research, tables, appended lists of codes, and 19 references.