BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Office of Justice Programs (OJP) Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
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Home  |  Raw data
Raw data
In cooperation with data.gov and the President's Open Governement Directive, BJS will post raw data files to this page as they become available. The datasets listed on this page are:
  • "raw" or unaggregated data
  • intended for analytic use
  • include crime, justice and sociodemographic variables
  Data confidentiality
Federal law and regulations require that research data collected by the U.S. Department of Justice or by its grantees and contractors may only be used for statistical and research analysis. The applicable law and regulations may be found in the United States Code, 42 USC Section 3789g(a), and the Code of Federal Regulations, 28 CFR 22.

File formats
The dataset listings below provide access to all data files in ASCII/TXT format, and associated codebooks in PDF format. In some cases, SPS data setup files may also be provided. SPS files must be opened using SPSS data analysis software. All files are provided as compressed ZIP files to expedite download. Help with using BJS products.

Index of available files by topic -

  Corrections data
  Courts and sentencing data
  Law Enforcement data
  Victimization data


Corrections data

 

Annual Survey of Jails in Indian Country
The survey of all known confinement facilities operated by tribal authorities or the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), provides data on number of inmates and facility characteristics and needs. Variables describe each facility, including rated capacity, number of adult inmates, number of juveniles held, number of inmates held by sex and conviction status on June 30, number of admissions and discharges in the last 30 days, number of inmate deaths, the peak population during June, facility crowding, and renovation and building plans.

Download data:      
1998: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1999: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2000: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2001: ASCII|SPS|Codebook

Annual Survey of Jails
This collection provides annual data on jail populations across the nation. These data are used to track growth in the number of jails and their capacities nationally, changes in the demographics of the jail population (including sex, race, and adult or juvenile status), supervision status of persons held, prevalence of crowding issues, and a count of non-United States citizens within the jail population.

In its statistics on jails, BJS reports data for jail jurisdictions. A jail jurisdiction (typically a county) represents the entity that is responsible for managing the jail facilities under its authority. Jail jurisdictions may contain multiple facilities and/or multiple facility operators (i.e., both county and privately operated facilities). In the Annual Survey of Jails, BJS obtains data from jails responding or reporting units. For example, four reporting units in Allegheny County (PA) represent a single jail jurisdiction.  The codebook describes the steps taken to aggregate the data into jurisdiction level:

Download individual reporting-level data for:
2007: ASCII|Codebook

Download jurisdiction-level data for:
1987: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1989: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1990: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1994: ASCII|SPS|Codebook
1995: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1996: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1997: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1998: ASCII|SPS|Codebook
2000: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2001: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2002: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2003: ASCII|SPS|Codebook
2004: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2006: ASCII|SPS|Codebook    

Download jurisdiction-level and individual reporting-level data for:
1985: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1986: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1991: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1992: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


Census of Jail Facilities
To reduce respondent burden and improve data quality and timeliness, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) split the jail census into two parts: The Census of Jail Inmates was conducted with a reference date of June 30, 2005. The following spring it was followed by this enumeration, the Census of Jail Facilities, which collected data as of March 31, 2006. Previous jail enumerations were conducted in 1970 (ICPSR 7641), 1972 (ICPSR 7638), 1978 (ICPSR 7737), 1983 (ICPSR 8203), 1988 (ICPSR 9256), 1993 (ICPSR 6648), and 1999 (ICPSR 3318). The United States Census Bureau collected the data for the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

The 2006 Census of Jail Facilities gathered data from all jail detention facilities holding inmates beyond arraignment, a period normally exceeding 72 hours. Jail facilities were operated by cities and counties, by private entities under contract to correctional authorities, and by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP). Excluded from the census were physically separate temporary holding facilities such as drunk tanks and police lockups that do not hold persons after being formally charged in court. Also excluded were state-operated facilities in Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Alaska, which have combined jail-prison systems. Fifteen independently operated jails in Alaska were included in the Census.
Download data:
2006: ASCII|Codebook


Census of Jail Inmates: Jurisdiction-Level Data
The Census of Jail Inmates is part of a series of data collection efforts aimed at studying the nation's locally-administered jails. To reduce respondent burden and improve data quality and timeliness, the Census was split into two data collections: the Census of Jail Inmates and the Census of Jail Facilities. The Census of Jail Inmates (CJI) collects data on jail jurisdictions' supervised populations, inmate counts and movements, and persons supervised in the community.
Download data:
2005: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities
Conducted approximately every five to seven years, the Census of State and Federal Adult Correctional Facilities provides detailed information on the types of inmates housed, facility age and type, security level, court orders, programs, health and safety conditions, confinement space, employment, and operating costs. The Census furnishes the sampling frame for the nationwide Survey of Inmates In State and Federal Correctional Facilities.
State data only:  
1979: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1984: ASCII|SPS|Codebook

State and Federal data:      
1990: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1995: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2000: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2005: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


Gender of Prisoners Admitted to State and Federal Institutions in the United States, 1926-1987
This data collection includes tabulations of annual adult admissions to federal and state correctional institutions by gender for the years 1926 through 1987. The two data files have identical structures: Part 1 includes information on male admissions, and Part 2 includes information on female admissions. The 3,348 cases in each part include one case for each of the 62 years of the collection for each of the following 54 categories: the 50 states, the District of Columbia, federal institutional totals, state cumulative totals, and United States totals (the sum of the federal and state cumulative totals).
Download data :
1926-1987: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


Historical Statistics on Prisoners in State and Federal institutions, Yearend 1925-1986
This data collection supplies annual data on the size of the prison population and the size of the general population in the United States for the period 1925 to 1986. These yearend counts include tabulations for prisons in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, as well as the federal prisons, and are intended to provide a measure of the overall size of the prison population.
Download data :
1925-1986: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


National Corrections Reporting Program
The National Corrections Reporting Program gathers data on prisoners entering and leaving the custody or supervision of state and federal authorities. The dataset is comprised of three types of data: prisoners who were admitted to prison (Part 1), released from prison (Part 2), or released from parole (Part 3). The National Prison Statistics (NPS) program was established in 1926 by the Bureau of the Census in response to a congressional mandate to compile national information on the populations confined in correctional institutions. This program described the characteristics and counts of prison inmates during each calendar year. Since its initiation, responsibility for this program has shifted among several agencies -- in 1950 it was transferred to the Federal Bureau of Prisons and to the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration in 1971. Since 1972, the Bureau of Census, under agreement with the Department of Justice, has had responsibility for compiling the statistical data. Census staff negotiates directly with each state, assembles and edits the data, and prepares the data for analysis and publication.
Download data:
2004   DS1: Prison Admissions (ASCII -13.6 MB)
DS2: Prison Releases  (ASCII - 17.6 MB)
DS3: Parole Releases (ASCII - 10.8 MB)
Codebook (1.3 MB)
  All files plus codebook (43.2 MB)


National Jail Census
This census provides information on county and municipal jails facilities in the United States and their administration. For all jails, the data include number of prisoners and their reason for being held, age and sex of prisoners, maximum sentence that could be served in the facility, facility capacity and age, types of security available, and operating expenditures. For jails in counties and municipalities with populations of 25,000 or more, data are supplied on quarterly jail population, age of cells, and availability of service facilities and programs for inmates.
Download data:    
1970: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1972: ASCII|Codebook 1978: ASCII|SPS|Codebook
1983: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1988: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1993: ASCII|SPS|Codebook
1999: ASCII|SPS|Codebook    


Courts and Sentencing data

 

Census of State Felony Courts
The purpose of this study was to provide a current listing of all felony courts in this country and to provide a universe from which a sample of courts could be selected based on felony caseload. The study includes information on all state felony courts in the United States, including the number of cases filed and disposed by conviction, acquittal, dismissal, or other means. Court administrators were asked to indicate the manner in which cases filed and disposed were counted, such as by defendant, charge, or indictment information. The total number of cases disposed during the period was also collected for juvenile delinquents and for traffic offenses (moving violations) where applicable. Finally, data were gathered on whether felonies reduced to misdemeanors were included in the felony count and whether lower courts in the jurisdiction accepted guilty pleas to felonies.

Download data:
1985: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


National Survey of Court Organization
The purpose of this study was to document the existing organization of courts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia as of 1971-1972. The survey covers all appellate courts, courts of general jurisdiction, special courts, and other courts of limited jurisdiction. Excluded were justices of the peace and similar magistrates whose compensation is solely on a direct fee basis, and courts of limited or special jurisdiction located in municipalities or townships with a 1960 population of less than 1,000. The data for courts include information on the organization of the court, geographic location, type of court, level of government administering the court, number, types, and full- or part-time status of judicial and other personnel, method of appealing cases, location of court records, and types of statistics. Court subdivision variables cover organization of the courts, geographic location, type of court, level of government administering the court, types of jurisdiction, percentage of judges' time spent on types of cases, availability of jury trials, and length of sentence and amounts of fines which may be imposed by the court.

Download data:
1971-72: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


Law Enforcement

 

Census of Law Enforcement Training Academies
Collects data on the number and types of staff employed at training facilities, budgets, sources of funds, number of officers trained, and policies and practices. In addition to basic organizational data, the survey collects information on training curriculum issues critical to current to law enforcement policy development.

Download data:
2002: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


Census of Publicly Funded Forensic Crime Laboratories
Collects data on staff, budgets, operating procedures, case workloads, training, and resource needs from more than 300 crime labs. This Bureau of Justice Statistics census represents the first national census of crime labs. Census information will be used to better understand the number of cases processed by these labs and the amount of resources required to meet the increased demand for forensic services. In developing and implementing this census, BJS worked closely with the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors (ASCLAD).

Download data:
2002 & 2005: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA), 2000
Provides data on all State and local law enforcement agencies operating nationwide. Data collected include the number of sworn and civilian personnel by state and type of agency, and functions performed by each agency.

Download data:      
1986: ASCII|Codebook 1992: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1996: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2000: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


Law Enforcement Agency Identifiers Crosswalk
To facilitate the creation and analysis of place-level data, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) created the Law Enforcement Agency Identifiers Crosswalk. The crosswalk file was designed to provide geographic and other identification information for each record included in either the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) files or BJS's Directory of Law Enforcement Agencies. The variables contained make it possible for researchers to take police agency-level data, combine them with Bureau of the Census and BJS data, and perform place-level, jurisdiction-level, and government-level analyses.

Download data:    
1996: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2000: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2005: ASCII|SPS|Codebook


Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS)
Conducted every 3 to 4 years, LEMAS collects data from over 3,000 state and local law enforcement agencies, including all those that employ 100 or more sworn officers and a nationally representative sample of smaller agencies. Data are obtained on the organization and administration of police and sheriffs' departments, including agency responsibilities, operating expenditures, job functions of sworn and civilian employees, officer salaries and special pay, demographic characteristics of officers, weapons and armor policies, education and training requirements, computers and information systems, vehicles, special units, and community policing activities.

Download data:      
1987: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1990: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1993: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 1997: ASCII|SPS|Codebook
1999: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2000: ASCII|SPS|Codebook 2003: ASCII|SPS|Codebook  


Victimization data

National Crime Victimization Survey [Collection Year Record-Type Files]
  The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) Series, previously called the National Crime Survey (NCS), has been collecting data on personal and household victimization through an ongoing survey of a nationally-representative sample of residential addresses since 1972. The NCVS was designed with four primary objectives: (1) to develop detailed information about the victims and consequences of crime, (2) to estimate the number and types of crimes both reported and not reported to the police, (3) to provide uniform measures of selected types of crimes, and (4) to permit comparisons over time and types of areas. The survey categorizes crimes as "personal" or "property."

Personal crimes include rape and sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault, and purse-snatching/pocket-picking, while property crimes include burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and vandalism. Each respondent is asked a series of screen questions designed to determine whether she or he was victimized during the six-month period preceding the interview. A "household respondent" is also asked to report on crimes against the household as a whole (e.g., burglary, motor vehicle theft).

The data include type of crime, month, time, and location of the crime, relationship between victim and offender, characteristics of the offender, self-protective actions taken by the victim during the incident and results of those actions, consequences of the victimization, type of property lost, whether the crime was reported to police and reasons for reporting or not reporting, and offender use of weapons, drugs, and alcohol. Basic demographic information such as age, race, gender, and income is also collected, to enable analysis of crime against various subpopulations.
 
Download data:
2008   DS1: Address Record-Type File (ASCII - 2.3 MB)
DS2: Household Record-Type File (ASCII - 7.7 MB)
DS3: Person Record-Type File (ASCII - 8.7 MB)
DS4: Incident Record-Type File (ASCII - 0.8 MB)
DS5: 2008 Collection Year Incident-Level Extract File (ASCII - 1.1 MB)
Codebook (5.7 MB)
  All files plus codebook (26.2 MB)




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