NCJ Number
96076
Date Published
1982
Length
97 pages
Annotation
This document, part of the evaluation of Massachusetts statewide sentencing guidelines, deals with the collection of sentencing data; it describes data collection, data scope, file processing, confidentiality procedures, and tape and file specifications. Also included are the data dictionary listing, the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) access programs, and variable frequency distributions. 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 Massachusetts Sentencing Data Base includes 128 variables with information on a random sample of Massachusetts offenders sentenced in the Massachusetts Superior Court between November 1977 and October 1978. The sample is approximately one-third of the number of defendants sentenced during the 1-year period. Cases were chosen and coded by the Massachusetts Sentencing Guidelines project during 1979. Ten of the 14 Massachusetts counties were included in the sampling frame. Following case selection, each defendant's records and files located in the county's district attorney office, clerk of court office, and Superior Court probation office were assembled, and the information contained in these files was coded and code checked by project staff. The data compiled contain information pertaining to each defendant's social and economic background, juvenile and adult criminal history, current offense characteristics, and the elements of the disposition for the current offense. The data were prepared using an SPSS program.