Steve Doig
Cronkite School of Journalism
steve.doig@asu.edu
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Bureau of Justice Statistics
 Census Bureau formerly gathered the data for the
Bureau of Justice Statistics
 Today most of the BJS surveys are being conducted by
private vendors
 BJS collects huge variety of corrections data on:
 Prison and jail inmates
 Federal, state and local corrections facilities
 Corrections staffing
 Sexual victimization in custody
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http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/
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Other BJS data collections
 State courts: Caseloads, criminal, civil, prosecutors,
public defenders, civil rights cases
 Federal: Corrections, courts, prosecution, law
enforcement
 Crime: National Crime Victimization Survey, UCR,
identity theft, gangs, weapon use, et al.
 Employment and expenditure: Data from Census
surveys of government and public employees
 Law enforcement: Census of State and Local LEAs,
training, human trafficking, et al.
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Corrections Unit Collections
Major Statistics Programs (initial year of program):
 National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) (1926)
 National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) (1983)
 Probation & Parole Statistics (parole 1975; probation 1977)
 Jail Collection Program (JCP) (jail census, 1970; annual surveys 1982)
 Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) (2000)
 Inmate Surveys (jails 1972; prisons 1974)
 Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA)
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
BJS Bulletins
Annual
Data Collections
Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear
NPS-1A; ASJ
HIV in Prison
NPS-1
Prisoners (at yearend)
NPS-1B
Capital Punishment
NPS-8
Probation & Parole in the United States
P&P
Jails in Indian Country
JIC
Survey of Sexual Violence
SSV
Prison Rankings on Sexual Violence
NIS
Jail Rankings on Sexual Violence
NIS
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Corrections Unit Collections
National Prisoner Statistics (NPS)
NPS-1A: Midyear (June 30)
prisoner population counts:
administrative survey.
State/Federal jurisdiction & custody prison
population counts, gender, race/Hispanic
origin, juveniles, noncitizens, prisoners in
privately operated facilities.
NPS-1B: Yearend (December 31)
prisoner population counts and
movements: administrative survey.
State/Federal jurisdiction & custody prison
population counts, prisoner movements,
gender, race/Hispanic origin, prisoners in
privately operated facilities; capacity; HIV;
HIV testing.
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Corrections Unit Collections
National Prisoner Statistics (NPS)
Territorial Prisons: Annual Survey.
Military Corrections Statistics:
Annual Survey
Bureau of Immigration Control
and Enforcement Facilities
Prisoners in the departments of
corrections in the U.S. Territories
(American Samoa, Guam, U.S. Virgin
Islands) and U.S. Commonwealths
(Northern Mariana Islands & Puerto Rico).
Persons held in U.S. military confinement
facilities inside and outside of the
continental U.S.; inmates by branch of
service, gender, race, Hispanic origin;
conviction status; sentence length;
offense; facility capacity.
Persons held by ICE (Immigration &
Customs Enforcement) for immigration
violations in Federal, State, local, and
privately-owned facilities.
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Corrections Unit Collections
National Prisoner Statistics (NPS) continued
Census of Adult Correctional
Facilities: ~ every 5/6 years
(2005).
Facility census providing information on
facility characteristics, inmates, programs,
and staff of State and Federal correctional
facilities, and for private correctional
facilities housing State or Federal inmates.
State Prison Expenditures:
~ intermittent (2001).
Costs of operating state prisons based on
institutional corrections elements of Survey
of Government Finance. Includes salary &
wages, contractual services, construction,
and medical.
Capital punishment (annual):
individual-level records; state &
federal laws.
Persons under sentence of death in
State/Federal nonmilitary facilities;
executions; death penalty statutes; capital
offenses; method of execution.
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Corrections Unit Collections
National Corrections Reporting Program (annual)
Prison admissions cohorts: up
to 40 states.
Prison release cohorts: up to
40 states
Parole discharge cohorts:
annual administrative data
from up to 33 states.
Individual prisoner records on prison
admissions, releases, and parole
discharges; demographic information,
conviction offenses, sentence length,
minimum time to be served, credited jail
time, type of admission, type of release,
time served, parole discharge method.
Prison stock populations:
annual administrative data
from up to 26 states.
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Corrections Unit Collections
Probation and Parole
Annual Survey of Probation in the
U.S.: 466 probation agencies
nationwide.
Annual Survey of Parole in the
U.S.: 54 parole agencies.
Probation and parole populations at
beginning and end of year; movements on
and off of probation and parole;
characteristics of probationers; methods of
discharging from probation and parole.
Census of Adult Parole
Supervising Agencies (2006).
Staffing and field offices; program
operations, practices; PREA frame.
Census of Probation Agencies
(planned for 2012).
Organization of probation offices; staffing
and operations; practices; possible
sampling frame for survey of probationers.
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Corrections Unit Collections
Jail Collection Program
Annual Survey of Jails: ~ 900 local jail
jurisdictions
Sample of about 900 jail administrators;
population counts and characteristics of jail
inmates; limited flow data.
Jails in Indian Country: 78 facilities in
Indian country.
Enumeration of confinement facilities,
detention centers, jails, and other facilities
operated by tribal authorities or Bureau of
Indian Affairs (BIA). Number of adults and
juveniles held, type of offense, average
daily population (ADP), peak population,
admissions, deaths, capacity; medical and
mental health services, suicide prevention,
substance abuse dependency.
Census of Local Jails (2006)
(every 5 years).
Information on each facility, programs,
crowding, health care, drug testing policies
and practices, work assignments.
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Corrections Unit Collections
Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP) (annual)
Deaths in Local Jails (all jails):
Quarterly summary reports
and incident reports for all
deaths. (Begun in 2000)
State prisons (all prisons):
Quarterly and incident reports.
(Begun in 2001)
State juvenile facilities:
Quarterly and incident reports.
Deaths in the process of arrest
(law enforcement custody):
Quarterly and incident reports;
47 state responders. (Begun in
2003.)
Summary counts of deaths; incident
records containing details on causes of
death, attributes of decedent,
characteristics of incidents related to
deaths.
OJJDP staff have agreed to continue the
juvenile collection.
Law enforcement deaths cover the time
from arrest (or attempted arrest) up to
booking in jail. Includes deaths in police
lockups.
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Corrections Unit Collections
Inmate Surveys
Survey of Inmates in State & Local
Correctional Facilities (SPI):
approx. every 5/6 years; nationally
representative samples of prison
inmates. 2003-04: ~ 14,000
inmates/300 state prisons; 6,000
inmates/53 BOP prisons. Planned
for 2012.
Information about individual
characteristics of prison inmates, current
offense and sentence, criminal history,
characteristics of victims, family
background, substance use, medical
conditions, mental health issues, services
received.
Survey of Inmates in Local Jails
(SILJ): approx. every 6 years;
nationally representative samples
of jail inmates. 2002: ~ 7,000
inmates in 417 local jails.
Planned for 2013.
Characteristics of jail inmates including
offenses, conviction status, criminal
histories, sentences, time served, drug
and alcohol use and treatment, medical
and mental health, family background.
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Corrections Unit Collections
Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA)
National Inmate Survey (NIS);
2007, 2008, 2010
NIS2007: Self-report accounts of sexual
violence; facility-level sample (146 prison
facilities, ~ 24,000 inmates; 282 local jails,
40,000+ inmates)
National Survey of Youth in
Custody (NSYC); in progress
NSYC: Self-report accounts of sexual
violence in juvenile facilities.
Former Prisoner Survey (FPS): in
progress
FPS: Nationally-representative sample of
former prisoners currently on parole
(~20,000); sexual assault experiences
during incarceration.
Survey of Sexual Violence (SSV)
Administrative records from samples of
prison and jail facilities: Alleged and
substantiated incidents of sexual assault
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Publications and Products
Data Collections
Special Reports
Veterans in State/Federal Prisons, 2004
Medical Problems of Inmates, ’97; ’04
SPI-04
SPI-97, SPI-04
Medical Problems of Jail Inmates, 2002
SILJ-02
Drug Use & Dependence, State & Federal Prisoners, 2004
SPI-04
Incarcerated Parents & Their Children, 1997; 2004*
SPI-97, SPI-04
Mental Health Problems of Prison & Jail Inmates
SPI-04, SILJ-02
Substance Dependence, Abuse, & Treatment of
Jail Inmates, 2002
Prison Rankings/Jail Rankings
SILJ-02
PREA
Characteristics of Victims of Sexual Assault in Prison*
*Forthcoming 2008.
PREA
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BJS Corrections Statistics Unit
Publications and Products
Data Briefs
Data Collections
Medical Causes of Death in State Prisons, 2001-2001
DCRP
Deaths in Law Enforcement Custody, 2003-2005
DCRP
Mortality in Local Jails, 2001-2005(06)*
DCRP
Statistical Tables
National Corrections Reporting Program Statistical Tables
NCRP
Deaths in Custody Statistical Tables
NCRP
*Forthcoming 2008.
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National Crime Victimization Survey
 Collects information from a national sample of 76,000
households about experience with violent and
property crime
 Conducted annually since 1973
 Covers crime reported and not reported to police
 Measures more than FBI’s Uniform Crime Report
 BJS uses to calculate national victimization rates by
types of crime for various groups
 Survey redesign being studied, including possibility of
statistics below the national level
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Using BJS data
 Get “Understanding Crime Statistics” beat book from IRE
bookstore
 BJS website (bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov) for current data:
 Download CSV (comma-separated values) text files that can
be imported into Excel
 Reports in PDF format
 Online query coming in 2012
 Older data at National Archive of Criminal Justice Data
(part of ICPSR.umich.edu)
 Free access
 Survey data analysis tool
 Some restrictions
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Some story ideas
 Size and cost of incarcerated population
 Jail booking fees
 Sex assaults in prisons and jails
 Recidivism
 Crackdown on probation causes crowded jails
 Mentally ill in prisons and jails
 Juveniles in adult jails and prisons
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Contact: William Sabol
Deputy Director, Statistical Collections & Analysis
william.sabol@usdoj.gov
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