An Update on the MACR

• In Event: Research on the Effects of Juvenile Transfer and Jurisdictional Boundaries

Abstract

The building block of the California Uniform Crime Reports arrest data is a arrest-level data set called the Monthly Arrest and Citation Register. These data have rarely been used in research, in part due to their many limitations, but represent one of the longest-running data sets collected on arrests. In this paper, I report on the properties of the MACR from 1980-2012. I explore the utility of these data for tracking the youthful transition to adult criminal careers, tracking intergenerational patterns of involvement in crime, and regional and temporal variation in arrests. I also report on the plans of California state government for the maintenance of the MACR file, which I anticipate will eliminate the utility of the micro data altogether. Consequently, this paper represents not only the most recent update on the underutilized MACR, but also likely the last.

Author

• Justin McCrary, University of California, Berkeley