March, 2008
The New York City Criminal Justice
Agency, Inc. (CJA),
is a not-for-profit corporation that provides a variety of criminal justice services under a contract with the City of New York. In order to perform these functions CJA maintains a computerized database containing arrest and defendant information, and case-processing and court-outcome data. Within the agency the Research Department uses this information to assist in the operational work of the organization, and for program-planning purposes both within and outside of CJA..
As part of its information services, the Research Department reports on Agency activity, arrest patterns, arraignment outcomes, and failure-to-appear (FTA) rates in Criminal and Supreme Court. This information, encompassing the entire range of Agency activities, is presented in our Annual Report series. The first Annual Report, which was published in February 2005, covered arrests during the last six months of 2003, beginning with the implementation of CJA's new recommendation system. (Data for previous years are available in the discontinued Semi-Annual Report series.) Subsequent issues cover a full calendar year of arrests, with FTA and release data for the previous year's Supreme Court cases. The one-year reporting delay for Supreme Court is necessary to allow time for these more serious cases to reach disposition. The Annual Report for 2006
with Supreme Court data for 2005 arrests, was released in December 2007.
CJA's research agenda covers a broad array of criminal justice policy concerns, ranging from studies of juvenile justice, domestic violence, and alternative-to-incarceration programs to participation in the creation of new City initiatives. For example, Research Department staff helped develop the targeting criteria for Operation Spotlight, a program designed to identify active offenders who repeatedly engage in nonfelony crimes, for court decision makers. The Department's specialized research projects are designed to evaluate or better inform criminal justice policies. Summaries of several current research projects are provided below.
The Day Custody Program:
CJA is continuing to study the Day Custody Program (DCP), started in 2005 by the Center for Alternative Sentencing and Employment Services (CASES), in conjunction with the New York City Department of Correction (DOC). The research examines the volume and characteristics of DCP-sentenced cases and defendants; program completion rates; re-arrest rates; and the characteristics of the screened but not program-sentenced cases.
Bail Making In New York City:
This study is an extension of previous research on release and bail decisions, which included an examination of the effect of pretrial detention on case outcomes. The findings have been presented in a series of reports beginning in 2004. Most recently, a study analyzing the effect of detention on felony case outcomes was released in March 2008. The research has now moved on to an examination of the form in which bail is posted—as cash or bond—in the four largest boroughs of New York City. Of particular interest is the current role of bail bondsmen, after decades in which they had all but disappeared in New York City . The form of bail, the involvement of commercial bondsmen, and other surety data are not computerized by the City's courts or detention facilities, so the project involves a labor-intensive effort to collect information from paper bail and bond receipts scattered among courthouses in each borough and the various Department of Correction facilities. The first report (scheduled for completion June 2008, for release later in the year) will examine bail making in Manhattan and will make use of extensive defendant data collected in the CJA interview to analyze factors that facilitate or hinder the ability to make bail. A citywide report will be prepared the following year.
Likelihood of Re-Arrest Among Released Prisoners
CJA is conducting research on the likelihood of re-arrest after release from jail/prison among offenders who received a sentence involving incarceration of six or more months in Criminal or Supreme Court. Data for the study will be drawn from a cohort of arrests made in the fourth quarter of 2003. The analysis will focus on re-arrests in general and re-arrests for violent felony offenses. Multivariate models will be developed to identify significant predictors of post-sentencing re-arrests. The findings from this study will be used by the Office of the Criminal Justice Coordinator of the City of New York to assist Alternative to Incarceration Programs in targeting cases for intervention in court.
Criminal Justice Responses to Domestic Violence:
CJA is continuing its research on criminal justice policy responses to domestic violence. Domestic violence has become a focus of attention as demonstrated by new legislative initiatives, changes in police arrest practices, and in prosecutorial and court policies. These national trends are reflected in New York City, which has seen more frequent arrests in domestic violence cases, more vigorous prosecutions, greater use and enforcement of court orders of protection, and new court procedures and programs, including specialized courts to hear domestic violence cases. Using quantitative analysis along with field observation and in-depth interviews, CJA's research examines the court processing of domestic violence cases. CJA is currently examining case processing and patterns of offending for young male domestic violence offenders in New York City.
The Juvenile
Offender Weapon Study:
This study will build on previous research on juveniles in New York City processed as adults in the Supreme Court to explore the use of weapons by juveniles with serious charges. The study will also look at the presence of weapon offenses among prior arrests, if any, and at re-arrests. We will compare juveniles with gun charges to those with other weapon charges and those without weapon charges to determine how these charges affect rates of re-arrest and length of time to the first re-arrest and to the first violent re-arrest.