PO Box 267, Northfield Falls, VT Voice: www. vcjr.org Max Schlueter, Ph.D. Vermont Center for Justice Research COURT DOCKET DATA: A RESEARCH TREASURE TROVE April 11, 2013

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research PREVIEW ◦What is court docket data? ◦How can you use court docket data? ◦Strategies for obtaining court docket data ◦Important data fields to request ◦A system for data transfer and transformation

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research What Is Court Docket Data? Records that the courts use to document ◦Defendants ◦Charges ◦Dispositions ◦Sentences All activity related to a case

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research How Can You Use Court Docket Data “What’s the going rate for XXXX? Sentencing Practices Policy & Planning Throughput Analysis Time Series Analysis Program Evaluation Disproportional Minority Contact

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research What’s The Going Rate? Vermont State-Wide Sentencing Statistics VSA 1201 (a) Burglary Minimum Years Maximum Years Days to Serve MeanMedianModeMeanMedianModeMeanMedianMode Straight (N=633) Split (N=157) Probation (N=86) Deferred (N=263)3.433

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Sentencing Practices: Race & Sentencing

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Sentencing Practices: Legislative Hearings Sentences 18 VSA 4230(a)(1) SENTENCETotal INCARCERATIONSPLITPROBATIONFINEDEFERREDMISSING CountyAddison Bennington Caledonia Chittenden Essex Franklin Grand Isle Lamoille Orange Orleans Rutland Washington Windham Windsor Total

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Policy Analysis: Juvenile Justice Interactive Graphic Juvenile Crime Charge Dispositions

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Throughput Analysis: DUI

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Time Series Analysis Time to Disposition < >104 Weeks Number of Cases IDVDDistrict Court Figure 2

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Time Series Analysis

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Program Evaluation: SIU

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Disproportionate Minority Contact Data ItemsRate of Occurrence - White Youth Rate of Occurrence - Minority Youth 1. Refer to Juvenile Court Cases Diverted Cases Involving Secure Detention Cases Petitioned (Charge Filed) Cases Resulting in Delinquent Findings Cases resulting in Probation Placement Cases Resulting in Confinement in Secure Juvenile Correctional Facilities Cases Transferred to Adult Court

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Strategies For Obtaining Court Docket Data Do some homework: ◦The details of Court organization / authority ◦Court MIS ◦Is court docket data subject to the Public Record Law ◦It may be available, but is it free? ◦How much work is involved for the court? The “Trusted Partner” Concept Bang for the buck: One abstract, many users

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Strategies For Obtaining Court Docket Data Know: ◦What data you want ◦In what format you want it ◦How often you want it ◦How will you protect it Be flexible Be willing to start small Be prepared to sign an MOU Build a strong relationship with the Court’s IT staff

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Important Data Fields to Request Docket #s Agency case numbers Defendant Data ◦Personal identifiers: Name, DOB, Court ID#, SID# ◦Descriptive Demographics: Race, Gender, Zip Code Dates Charges

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research Important Data Fields to Request Disposition Data: ◦Diversion, conviction, not guilty, dismissed by prosecuting attorney, dismissed by court Sentencing Data ◦Incarceration, splits, probation, fines, ◦Minimum & Maximum Sentences

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research A System for Data Transfer & Transformation Court extracts data Court loads the data on their FTP Site SAC downloads the data to staging database SAC imports data into SPSS SAC conducts data quality checks SAC adds value to the data by creating new variables and recoding data SAC merges new file to production database

COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research CONTACT INFORMATION Max Schlueter Vermont Center for Justice Research