Related Guides
Data
For additional sources of crime data and statistics, see the Criminal Justice Data & Statistics research guide.
- ICPSR Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research This link opens in a new window ICPSR is the world's largest archive of computer readable social science data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields.
- Annual Parole Survey Series (ICPSR) The Annual Parole Surveys collect administrative data from parole agencies in the United States. Data collected include the total number of adults on state and federal parole on January 1 and December 31 of each year, the number of adults entering and exiting parole supervision each year, and the characteristics of adults under the supervision of parole agencies. The surveys cover all 50 states, the federal system, and the District of Columbia.
- Annual Probation Survey Series (ICPSR) The Annual Probation Surveys collect administrative data from probation agencies in the United States. Data Collected include the total number of adults on state and federal probation on January 1 and December 31 of each year, the number of adults entering and exiting probation supervision each year, and the characteristics of adults under the supervision of probation agencies. The surveys cover all 50 states, the federal system, and the District of Columbia.
- Assessing the Influence of Home Visit Themes and Temporal Ordering On High-Risk Parolee Outcomes, Georgia, 2011-2015 (ICPSR 36517) This project explored the intensity of supervision conditions on parole failures by considering the role of home visits in five major events: general violations, drug test failures, technical violation arrests, new felony arrests, and revocations. Longitudinal data from the State of Georgia were pooled to examine 28,284 parolees who completed supervision in 2011 - 2013.
- Experimental Comparison of Telepsychiatry and Conventional Psychiatry for Mentally Ill Parolees in California, 2011-2015 (ICPSR 36111) The main goal of the study was to empirically measure the effectiveness of Telepsychiatry for mentally ill parolees.Parolees enrolled in the study were assigned to either face-to-face sessions with their psychiatrists for the duration of their treatment or telepsychiatry sessions with their psychiatrist, in which the parolees interacted with their assigned psychiatrist via a web-based screen interface.
- Evaluating the Impact of Probation and Parole Home Visits, United States, 2016 and 2018 (ICPSR 37172) In 2014, the researchers began work on a grant from the National Institute of Justice to evaluate the effectiveness of home and field contacts in community supervision. The study was designed to describe the varying practices of home and other field contacts in community supervision, to document their use nationwide, and to evaluate their effectiveness in maintaining public safety and promoting compliance with supervision requirements. The research is designed to address the gap in the understanding of home and field contacts as part of community supervision.
- Federal Justice Statistics Program: Offenders in Prison at Year-End, 2016 (ICPSR 37412) The data contain records of sentenced offenders in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) at year-end of fiscal year 2016. The data include commitments of United States District Court, violators of conditions of release (e.g., parole, probation, or supervised release violators), offenders convicted in other courts (e.g., military or District of Columbia courts), and persons admitted to prison as material witnesses or for purposes of treatment, examination, or transfer to another authority.
Statistical Sources & Mapping
- Survey of Prison Inmates, BJS Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI) is a periodic, cross-sectional survey of the state and sentenced federal prison populations. Its primary objective is to produce national statistics of the state and sentenced federal prison populations across a variety of domains, including but not limited to demographic characteristics, current offense and sentence, incident characteristics, firearm possession and sources, criminal history, socioeconomic characteristics, family background, drug and alcohol use and treatment, mental and physical health and treatment, and facility programs and rule violations. From January through October 2016, data were collected through face-to-face interviews with prisoners using computer-assisted personal interviewing (CAPI).
- Annual Survey Of Jails, BJS The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) periodically conducts census data collections from all local jails in the United States. In years between census collections, BJS conducts the Annual Survey of Jails (ASJ). The survey collects data annually from a sample of local jails and uses the data to estimate the number and characteristics of inmates in local jails nationwide.
- Federal Bureau of Prisons Maintains statistics on inmates, population, and staff.
- Crime in the United States An annual publication for more than eight decades, this report contains a compilation of the volume and rate of violent and property crime offenses for the nation and by state. Individual law enforcement agency data are also provided for those contributors supplying 12 months complete offense data. In addition, this report also includes arrest, clearance, trends, and law enforcement employee data. Also available to use with Crime in the United States is the online UCR Data Tool to research crime statistics for the nation, by state, and by individual law enforcement agency.
- Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics (University of Albany) The Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics brings together data about all aspects of criminal justice in the United States presented in over 600 tables from more than 100 sources. Selected data to 2013.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics BJS mission: To collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government. These data are critical to federal, state, and local policymakers in combating crime and ensuring that justice is both efficient and evenhanded.
- National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) archives and disseminates data on crime and justice for secondary analysis. The archive contains data from over 2,600 curated studies or statistical data series. NACJD is home to several large-scale and well known datasets, including the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and the Project on Human Development in Chicago
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (HHS) The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) is the agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that leads public health efforts to advance the behavioral health of the nation. SAMHDA provides public use data to support a better understanding of substance abuse and mental health
- The National Registry of Exonerations The Registry collects, analyzes and disseminates information about all known exonerations of innocent criminal defendants in the United States, from 1989 to the present. We publish their stories and we provide accessible, searchable online statistical data about their cases. We also conduct empirical studies of the process of exoneration and of factors that lead to the underlying wrongful convictions.
- Sunlight Foundation Hall of Justice Hall of Justice is a Sunlight Foundation Project working with criminal justice data. The project is no longer maintained, but you can find the archived underlying data set here:
- World Prison Brief Provides information about prison systems throughout the world. It enables more evidence-based discussion of ways to improve prison systems in accordance with international human rights standards. In each country page information is provided on prison populations and prison population rates per 100,000 of the national population, on the use of imprisonment for women and juveniles, on the extent of pre-trial imprisonment and on prison overcrowding, as well as a record of the national ministries
Mapping/Visualization
- Policy Map This link opens in a new window Easy-to-use online mapping and visualization tool. Downloadable U.S. demographic, economic and social data by city, state, zip code, county or census tract. Types of data include crime, housing, health, education and occupations, derived from both public and proprietary sources.
Public Opinion
- Roper Center Public Opinion Archives This link opens in a new window The Roper Center is a public opinion archive that preserves the data from polls conducted by many leading survey organizations. Most of the data are from the United States, but over 50 nations are represented. The iPOLL databank offers access to nearly half a million survey questions and answers asked in the U.S. by more than 150 survey organizations. Direct links are given to study documentation and datasets. Date coverage: 1930s – present.
- Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. We conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. We do not take policy positions.
