Aug 13 -- The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has asked OMB to approve plans to conduct the Annual Parole Survey and Annual Probation Surveys for 2020-2022. These surveys have been used since 1977 to collect annual year-end counts and yearly movements of community corrections populations; characteristics of the community supervision population, such as gender, racial composition, ethnicity, conviction status, offense, and supervision status. The surveys also track key outcomes of offenders on probation or parole, such as completion of supervision terms and return to incarceration (or recidivism).
The Annual Surveys of Probation and Parole (ASPP) are designed to collect all probation and parole data from community-supervising jurisdictions within each state. The universe includes all federal, state, and locally administered probation and parole departments. Information is collected from central reporters within each state wherever possible, to reduce the burden on individual agencies. For parole, there are 52 respondents: 50 central state reports, the District of Columbia and the federal system. For probation, there are approximately 808 respondents: 40 state reporters and 768 separate city, county, or court reporters. The District of Columbia self-reports, and the data for the federal system are obtained indirectly from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts through BJS’ Federal Justice Statistics Program.
For 2020-2022, BJS seeks approval to continue both the routine annual collection and work on expanding the known universe of probation supervising agencies. Based on the past few years frame development research, in RY2020, BJS will add all the newly identified agencies to confirm their status as supervising agencies and produce an up-to-date frame for use in RY2021 and RY2022. In addition, the RY 2020 collection will include a short supplement to examine the core estimates of probation and parole population counts after a few months of the coronavirus (COVID19) impacts to the criminal justice system and questions about policy and practice changes resulting from the coronavirus.
BJS submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202008-1121-001 Click on IC List for survey instruments, View Supporting Statement for narrative on purposes, uses, methods, and schedule.
FR notice:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/08/13/2020-17690/agency-information-collection-activities-proposed-collection-comments-requested-extension-of-a
Point of contact: Barbara Oudekerk, Statistician, Bureau of Justice Statistics Barbara.A.Oudekerk@usdoj.gov 202-616-3904
For AEA members wishing to provide comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806