Memo to OMB on NJRP Feasibility Study

MEMORANDUM
MEMORANDUM TO:

Shelly Wilkie Martinez
Official of Statistical and Science Policy
Office of Management and Budget

THROUGH:

Lynn Murray
Clearance Officer
Justice Management Division
William J. Sabol, Ph.D.
Acting Director
Bureau of Justice Statistics

FROM:

Tracey Kyckelhahn
Statistician
Bureau of Justice Statistics

DATE:

January 12, 2015

SUBJECT:

BJS request for OMB Clearance to conduct surveys of 22 state
sentencing commissions to assess the feasibility of obtaining caselevel data on felony and misdemeanor cases processed in the state
courts to support the National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP)
under the generic clearance agreement OMB Number 1121-0339.

INTRODUCTION
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is planning to conduct a survey of the 22 state sentencing
commissions, administrative agencies responsible for maintaining effective, fair, and efficient
sentencing systems for each state. This survey will assess the feasibility of collecting statewide
data on felony and misdemeanor cases processed in state trial courts to support the work of BJS’s
National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP). Not only will this project inform BJS about the
feasibility of statewide data collection about court proceedings for felony and misdemeanor
cases, but it will also help BJS to identify challenges and strategies to successfully and efficiently
field such an administrative data collection program on a yearly basis.
BACKGROUND
The National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP) compiled case-level data on the sentences
felony offenders receive in a nationally representative sample of counties biennially from 1986
through 2006. The program collected information through extraction of data from state and
county court management information systems on the conviction offense, mode of conviction,
type of sentence, and sentence length. The NJRP also compiled data on felony offender

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characteristics including age, race, and gender. The NJRP provided federal, state, and local
government agencies, as well as researchers and policy analysts, with information on the
disposition of adult felony cases in state courts and felony offender characteristics. Some of the
many analytical uses of the NJRP data included the comparison of felony convictions in state
and federal courts and examinations of changes in felony cases sentenced in state courts over
time.
The data were extracted in the last year of collection from courts in a nationally representative
sample of 300 counties throughout the United States (Rosenmerkel, Durose, & Farole, 2010).
The final sample of counties for the 2002, 2004, and 2006 data collections consisted of 58 of the
75 largest counties and 242 other counties. Further, the final sample contained counties from all
states except for, by chance, Nevada, South Dakota, and Wyoming. In 2006, the NJRP obtained
case-level information on a sample of 494,055 convicted felons representing the estimated
1,132,292 persons convicted of a felony in state courts during that year.
After the 2006 collection, BJS temporarily suspended the NJRP to conduct a redesign of the
program that would improve the comprehensiveness and continuity of data collected on criminal
cases processed in state courts. BJS’s goal in this redesign was to develop a methodology for
collecting statewide data from all 50 states annually with decreased burden on the states in
providing the data. BJS has been working with state court administrative offices to assess the
quality and availability of data contained in their administrative systems. However, it is
anticipated that other state agencies have data that would be relevant to the NJRP. In BJS’s
Federal Justice Statistics Program, multiple agencies submit court-related data, including the
Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Executive Office for United States
Attorneys, and the United States Sentencing Commission. The combination of these three
agencies’ data provides comprehensive criminal case processing information at the federal level.
Therefore, at the state level BJS is investigating if agencies other than courts (such as state
sentencing commissions) have data that could be used to support the goals of NJRP.
REQUEST FOR DEVELOPMENTAL WORK
BJS plans to engage in developmental research for the NJRP project under the generic clearance
(OMB number 1121-0339). BJS is exploring options for how the national statewide data
collection of information on court proceedings for felony and misdemeanor cases could be
structured and implemented to achieve the comprehensive and efficient ongoing collection of
data. To this end, it is important to canvass state capacities to report detailed data concerning
court proceedings, including convictions and sentencing. The results will inform the
development of an effective design for a future iteration of NJRP data collection.
BJS has developed a preliminary study to assess the feasibility of gathering data concerning
court proceedings for felony and misdemeanor cases from all 22 state sentencing commissions.
This feasibility study is called the State Sentencing Commission Study (SSCS). The study began
by examining information related to data accessibility that was publicly available for all 22
sentencing commissions. Results from this review led to the design of the SSCS.
This document is a request to OMB for developmental research under BJS’s generic clearance
and seeks permission to conduct a survey (attachment A) of all 22 sentencing commissions to (a)

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assess the feasibility of collecting data on court proceedings for felony and misdemeanor cases
and (b) identify strategies to collect these data with decreased burden for the states. The generic
clearance will provide BJS with a means to meet the obligations of the Paperwork Reduction Act
of 1995 (PRA). The following sections describe proposed plans and methods to field the SSCS:
Task 1: Identify the points of contact
The SSCS will be administered through several steps. First, it will be necessary to identify points
of contact (POCs) with detailed knowledge about the data collected by each sentencing
commission. Because variation exists across commissions in terms of the agencies or branches in
which the commissions are housed and the sources of the data provided to them, the team will
research and consider the contexts in which the commissions operate and their data sources prior
to identifying the most likely points of contact. Contact information available publicly from the
National Association of Sentencing Commissions and individual state sentencing commission
websites will also be used.
This study proposes to contact all 22 state sentencing commissions. The names of the
commissions are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. State Sentencing Commissions
State Sentencing Commissions
Alabama Sentencing Commission
Alaska Judicial Council
Arkansas Sentencing Commission
Connecticut Sentencing Commission
Delaware Sentencing Accountability Commission
DC Sentencing & Criminal Code Revision Commission
Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council
Kansas Sentencing Commission
Louisiana Sentencing Commission
Maryland State Commission on Criminal Sentencing Policy
Massachusetts Sentencing Commission
Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission
Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission
New Mexico Sentencing Commission
New York State Permanent Sentencing Commission
North Carolina Sentencing & Policy Advisory Commission
Ohio Criminal Sentencing Commission
Oregon Criminal Justice Commission
Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing
Utah Sentencing Commission
Virginia Criminal Sentencing Commission
Washington State Sentencing Guidelines Commission

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Task 2: Administer the survey
Task 2 will include reaching out to the identified POCs to confirm they are the appropriate
person to receive the survey or to identify the appropriate POC. They will then be sent a paper
copy of the survey by either email or mail, depending on their preference. The survey
(attachment A) consists of nine sections. The content of these sections is summarized in Table 2.
Table 2. Summary of NJRP SSCS Survey

1

Introduction

Number of
Questions
N/A

2

Overview

1

3

Coverage

4

4

Unit of Count

1

5

3

6

Charge and
Disposition
Data elements

1

How information on charges and dispositions is
maintained
Information included in system

7

Sources of data

1

Agencies that contribute to data

8

Data
Completeness
Data Requests
and Access

4

Frequency of reporting and form of reporting,
amount of missing data
How to access data and time required for process

Section Domain

9

5

Description
Introduction to survey procedures and recording
Overview of electronic data stored by commission
including contents and potential access by BJS
Information on source of data and completeness
of reporting by courts/agencies
How cases and defendants are recorded in system

The design of the SSCS reflects its aim to gather detailed information on the feasibility of
collecting case-level statewide data in the future. Questions allow agencies to provide estimates
when precise time figures are unavailable. The domains covered in the survey will help BJS
identify the breadth of the data that commissions can provide, an initial assessment of the quality
of the data that could be provided and. the process by which the data could be accessed.
Once the POCs are surveyed, the project team will review responses and follow up to resolve
open issues that may arise (see attachment B for follow up protocol). Thank you notes
(attachment C) will be sent to POCs upon survey completion.
Task 3: Summarize Survey Data
The objective of Task 3 is to compile and assess the NJRP SSCS survey responses. .The findings
from the survey will be compiled into a NJRP Design and Development Report: Sentencing
Commission Study, which will highlight the survey’s findings and include methodological
recommendations. The report will discuss the feasibility of collecting statewide case-level court
processing data in those states with sentencing commissions.

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EXPECTED BURDEN TO COMPLETE THE NJRP SSCS SURVEY
It is expected that the selected POC will not have to gather information from other sources.
Representatives from three state sentencing commissions--Washington, Oregon, and Illinois-participated in a pilot study, and each completed the survey in between 30 and 45 minutes. For
those sentencing commissions that do not maintain data, the time to complete the survey will be
considerably shorter. If needed, a follow up interview will be conducted to clarify any answers
from the respondent.
The estimated maximum time to complete the SSCS for each agency is 1-1.5 hours depending on
whether follow-up is required. It is expected that follow-up will be required with one-half of the
agencies. The total burden, therefore, across all respondents at all commissions is 26.5 hours.
The burden hour estimates are divided across the three activities, including identification of
points of contact (11 hours), survey (11 hours), and follow-up (5.5 hours). The burden hour
estimates are based on prior experience collecting similar data and from the pilot study. Table 3
summarizes the expected burden estimates.
Table 3. Expected Burden to Complete the NJRP SSCS Survey
Average burden
Activities
per respondent
Identifying points of contact to
.5 hour
complete survey instrument

Total estimated burden hours
.5 hour x 22 respondents = 11

Completing survey

.5 hour

.5 hours x 22 respondents = 11

Survey followup

.5 hour

.5 hour x 11 respondents = 5.5
Total Respondent Burden = 26.5 hours

HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH APPLICABILITY
§45 CFR 46.102 defines a human subject as a living individual about whom an investigator
conducting research obtains data through intervention or interaction with an individual or with
his/her identifiable private information. IRB approval is being sought through the Westat review
board. The survey will be conducted once approval is obtained.
CONTACT INFORMATION
The contact people for questions regarding data collection and aspects of the design of this
research are listed below:
Howard Snyder, Ph.D.
Deputy Director
Bureau of Justice Statistics
U.S. Department of Justice

BJS/National Judicial Reporting Program State Sentencing Commission Study

810 7th Street NW, Room 2326
Washington, DC 20531
Office Phone: (202) 616-8305
E-Mail: Howard.Snyder@usdoj.gov
Tracey Kyckelhahn, Ph.D.
Statistician
Bureau of Justice Statistics
U.S. Department of Justice
810 7th Street NW, Room 2401
Washington, DC 20531
Office Phone: (202) 353-7381
E-Mail: Tracey.Kyckelhahn@usdoj.gov
APPENDICES
A.
B.
C.
D.

National Judicial Reporting Program State Sentencing Commission Study Survey
Follow-Up Phone Call/Email
Thank You Email
Participant Letter

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