Participant Letter

February 1, 2021

Name

Title

Address

Dear <Salutation>:

Thank you for taking part in the Survey of State Court Criminal Appeals (SSCCA) project. This study provides an excellent opportunity for the «Appellate_Court_Division» to contribute to the very limited empirical knowledge of the factors that prompt defendants to seek appellate review and the outcomes of those reviews. The SSCCA is conducted by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), working in conjunction with the Executive Committee of the National Conference of Appellate Court Clerks, on behalf of the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

This study involves the collection of a variety of detailed case processing information on a sample of criminal cases disposed in your appellate court in 2010. To initiate data collection, we will need your assistance in compiling a list of criminal appeals disposed in 2010. A template for the list will be electronically provided. Additionally, we may need your help in accessing case documents (docket sheets, legal briefs, and opinions) unless your court offers online access. If these documents are available online, please let us know, and we can gather all of the information we need without additional assistance from your court.

Although participation in this study is voluntary, the response of your agency is very important to this project, and I hope you and your staff will agree to assist us. We estimate that it should take your staff about 3 to 18 hours to complete all aspects including sample list generation and submission of necessary materials for the criminal appeals project. In compliance with the Paper Work Reduction Act, we weighed the resources required to collect these data against the critical information that will be generated with your participation. This information has been reviewed and approved by the Office of Management and Budget (please see OMB control number XXX on the data collection forms).

We request that all information be submitted by [DEADLINE]. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Shauna Strickland who is the SSCCA liaison at the National Center for State Courts or Thomas H. Cohen who is the data collection manager at the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Their contact numbers are listed below. I may also be contacted if you have any questions or concerns about this project.

Sincerely,

Duren Banks

Chief, Prosecution and Adjudication Statistics Unit

Bureau of Justice Statistics

(202) 305-1355

Duren.Banks@usdoj.gov

CC:

Thomas H. Cohen

Statistician
Bureau of Justice Statistics
(202) 514-8344
Thomas.H.Cohen@usdoj.gov

Shauna M. Strickland

Senior Court Research Analyst

National Center for State Courts

(757) 259-1511

sstrickland@ncsc.org