Effects of Sentences on Subsequent Criminal Behavior: A User's Guide to the Machine-Readable Files and Documentation and Original Codebooks

• NCJ Number: 146238
• Author(s): D R Smith; W R Smith
• Date Published: 1992
• Length: 427 pages
• Grant Number(s): 85-IJ-CX-0005
• Contract Number(s): OJP-89-C-008
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub; Office of Justice Programs (OJP)
• Corporate Author: Sociometrics Corporation
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Measurement/Evaluation Device
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Issued in three volumes; Data set JU.136.137

Annotation

These volumes present background and coding information for a data set from a study that examined the variables, including information on prior offending, that determine sentencing and subsequent recorded criminal behavior.

Abstract

The study collected longitudinal data on statewide arrests and incarceration histories of a sample of offenders from the time the offender was age 18 up to the time of the study. The sample consisted of offenders who appeared before a New Jersey State court between October 1976 and September 1977 and were convicted of an indictable offense. Detailed data focusing on the target offense and sentence were also collected, providing detailed information about one cycle in the offender's career. The data are contained in two files. The sentence file contains court data covering 1,377 variables on 14,329 cases. The event file contains arrest and incarceration history data in the criminal careers of 12,321 of the 14,329 selected offenders. This file has 41 variables on 349,775 events. Tables and coding information