User's Guide to California Juvenile Court Case Records, 1980-1988

• NCJ Number: 152265
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 63 pages
• Grant Number(s): 85-JN-CX-0012
• Sponsoring Agency: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
• Corporate Author: National Juvenile Court Data Archive
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Measurement/Evaluation Device
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This user's guide for 1980-1988 California juvenile court case records contains introductory information, procedures for using the codebook, a variable list, and codebook variable descriptions.

Abstract

The introduction contains a history of California's juvenile court and probation statistical system, a description of data- collection methods, related publication descriptions, a description of the archived file structure, and a statement of terms of availability. Instructions for using the codebook provide an example of information in the codebook for a typical variable. Information for a typical variable includes the starting location and width of the variable in the machine- readable data file. This is the format information required to read the data into other systems. Also included in the information on each variable are the variable number, the variable label used by statistical systems to identify the variable on program output, a description of the variable contents, the code values occurring in the data for the variable, and the textual definitions of the codes. Also included are the designation of missing data and an explanatory/cautionary note. The variable list is divided into identification variables and case variables. Identification variables are file identifier, record number, type of action, month of action, day of action, year of action, prior status, county code, month of birth, day of birth, year of birth, sex, and race. Case variables are referral source, law enforcement agency, referral offense, detention, prosecuting attorney action, defense representation, disposition, court sustained offense, and current case status. Appendixes contain a Juvenile Court and Probation Statistical Report, offense codes and corresponding statute section, and original data collector's statement of acceptance.