State courts

From 1986 to 2006 the National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP) collected felony sentencing from a nationally representative stratified sample of state courts in 300 counties. The information collected included: age, race and gender of offenders; dates of arrest, conviction and sentencing data; mode of conviction and type of sentence imposed. Data were collected every 2 years during this time period.

The Court Statistics Project (CSP) provides a systematic means to develop a valid, uniform, and complete statistical database that details the operation of state court systems. It provides high-quality, baseline information on state court structure, jurisdiction, reporting practices, and caseload volume and trends. Effective management and planning at the local, state, and national levels depend on accurate, consistent, and comparable information to assess the business of the state courts, identify trends in litigation, and estimate future levels of demand.

Formerly National Pretrial Reporting Program (through 1994), SCPS provided data on the criminal justice processing of persons charged with felonies in 40 jurisdictions representative of the 75 largest counties. These counties accounted for nearly half of the serious crime nationwide. The program prospectively tracked felony defendants from charging by the prosecutor until disposition of their cases (a maximum of 12 months for nonmurder cases and 24 months for murder cases).

Dataset from 40 urban counties used to describe the characteristics of more than 7,000 juveniles charged with felonies in State courts. The findings indicated that prosecution of juveniles in criminal court is generally reserved for those charged with the quite serious crimes of murder, robbery, and aggravated assault