1. PO Box 267, Northfield Falls, VT 05664 Voice: 802.485.4250 www. vcjr.org Max Schlueter, Ph.D. Vermont Center for Justice Research COURT DOCKET DATA: A RESEARCH TREASURE TROVE April 11, 2013

2. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 2 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

3. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 3 What Is Court Docket Data? Records that the courts use to document ◦Defendants ◦Charges ◦Dispositions ◦Sentences All activity related to a case

4. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 4 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

5. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 5 What’s The Going Rate? Vermont State-Wide Sentencing Statistics 2008-2012 13 VSA 1201 (a) Burglary Minimum Years Maximum Years Days to Serve MeanMedianModeMeanMedianModeMeanMedianMode Straight (N=633)2.28227.6475 Split (N=157)2.9226.865176.9191.560 Probation (N=86)1.76225.154.255 Deferred (N=263)3.433

6. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 6 Sentencing Practices: Race & Sentencing

7. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 7 Sentencing Practices: Legislative Hearings Sentences 18 VSA 4230(a)(1) 2008-2012 SENTENCETotal INCARCERATIONSPLITPROBATIONFINEDEFERREDMISSING CountyAddison1563211784182 Bennington4276091122214 Caledonia3163656119149 Chittenden611576118970367 Essex12281115 Franklin3272811363189 Grand Isle205124023 Lamoille2831956143123 Orange801294143 Orleans2931585114147 Rutland71236114230246 Washington695279152199 Windham3931518231243 Windsor44221176192264 Total472613731248218322404

8. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 8 Policy Analysis: Juvenile Justice Interactive Graphic Juvenile Crime Charge Dispositions

9. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 9 Throughput Analysis: DUI

10. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 10 Time Series Analysis Time to Disposition 15 24 15 8 9 14 3003 8 16 10 9 34 17 31 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 <11-34-67-910-1213-2627-5253- 104 >104 Weeks Number of Cases IDVDDistrict Court Figure 2

11. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 11 Time Series Analysis

12. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 12 Program Evaluation: SIU

13. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 13 Disproportionate Minority Contact Data ItemsRate of Occurrence - White Youth Rate of Occurrence - Minority Youth 1. Refer to Juvenile Court108.3369.44 2. Cases Diverted38.9112.00 3. Cases Involving Secure Detention64.50152.00 4. Cases Petitioned (Charge Filed)86.3984.00 5. Cases Resulting in Delinquent Findings39.5561.90 6. Cases resulting in Probation Placement107.3661.54 7. Cases Resulting in Confinement in Secure Juvenile Correctional Facilities 2.167.69 8. Cases Transferred to Adult Court50.6876.19

14. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 14 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

15. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 15 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

16. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 16 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

17. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 17 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

18. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 18 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

19. COURT DOCKET DATA Vermont Center for Justice Research www.vcjr.org 802-485-4250 19 CONTACT INFORMATION Max Schlueter Vermont Center for Justice Research mschlueter@vcjr.org 802-485-4250 www.vcjr.org