Application of the Current Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP) to Guide Current Criminal Justice Policy

Session Submission Type: Complete Thematic Panel

Abstract

The Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP) is an on-going data collection program sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) that compiles data on nearly all phases of the criminal justice process: prosecution, pretrial supervision, sentencing, prison stay, and post-release supervision. BJS has undertaken a redesign of the FJSP to improve and expand the FJSP to include additional data sources and to re-structure the data files as a longitudinal series that follows offenders over time and across agencies. The papers in this panel demonstrate how the FJSP and recent improvements to the FJSP offers new potentials for application of the data to increase public understanding of the federal justice system and conduct research to answer pressing policy questions.

Sub Unit

• Area VII: Criminal Justice Policy and Practice / 46: Prisoner Experiences with the Justice System

Individual Presentations

• Characterizing Offender Experiences in the Federal Justice System: An Exploration of Typologies Using the FJSP - Jeremy Luallen, Abt Associates Inc.; Dan Litwok, Abt Associates Inc.

• Leveraging a New FJSP Research Platform to Examine the Effects of Prosecutorial Actions - Ryan Kling, Abt Associates Inc.; Omri Drucker, Abt Associates Inc.

• Organizations as Defendants in the Federal Criminal Justice System - Mark Motivans, Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice; Christopher Cutler, Abt Associates Inc.

• A Study of Criminal Social Networks in the Federal Justice System - Matthew Ranson, Abt Associates Inc.; Sharmini Radakrishnan, Abt Associates Inc.; Holly Swan, Abt Associates Inc.

Chair

• Holly Swan, Abt Associates Inc.

Discussant

• Gerry Gaes, Florida State University