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Improving Collection of Indicators of Criminal Justice System Involvement in Population Health Data Programs Proceedings of a Workshop (2017) / Chapter Skim
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7 Alternative Approaches to Criminal Justice Measurement
Pages 57-66

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From page 57...
... Those strategies included linking criminal justice involvement to ongoing general social surveys, gaining more knowledge of the needs of the incarcerated population through criminal justice and inmate surveys, and using administrative records to make linkages to past incarceration experience. He then turned to the designated speakers to discuss their experiences with the Fragile Families Study, community-based surveys, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, the Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, and the National Crime Victimization Survey.
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From page 58...
... The systematic oversample of unmarried parents in the Fragile Families sampling plan produces a sample that is highly socioeconomically disadvantaged, with high rates of incarceration experience, particularly among the fathers. This makes the study of parental incarceration more feasible than many other samples.
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From page 59...
... Conversely, a data linkage exercise such as this can also reveal to what extent official records miss criminal history experiences that are reported in surveys. As part of the data-matching pilot study, information on 333 fathers from the Fragile Families New York City sample was submitted to New York State's Department of Criminal Justice Services after working to design a data collection protocol that adequately addresses human subject protection and privacy protection.
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From page 60...
... COMMUNITY-BASED SURVEYS John Boyle (ICF International) drew on his experience conducting more than 3,000 surveys to discuss how household surveys can serve as a vehicle for collecting information on such topics as incarceration experience and criminal justice involvement.
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From page 61...
... Boyle urged workshop participants to consider twin registries as a vehicle to collect information on criminal justice involvement and said he thinks that they are a great resource for studying counterfactual cases. He concluded his talk by stressing the importance of reducing/minimizing nonresponse bias, cognitive testing of criminal justice questions, and framing the questions in a double-anchored fashion to get accurate responses.
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From page 62...
... She suggested that three subsamples of the survey -- a supplemental sample designed to oversample minority groups; the NLSY79 child sample consisting of children born to female respondents; and the NLSY79 young adults sample consisting of these same children aged 15 and older -- would be of primary interest to the workshop participants. The first sample is useful for understanding the prevalence of criminal justice involvement and health outcomes in minority groups, and the child and young adult samples can provide information on collateral consequences of parental incarceration.
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From page 63...
... Johnson explained that PSID data can be linked to other sources, such as Medicare claims, Housing and Urban Development records, census data, and real estate data. It would be possible to link PSID data to criminal justice and inmate surveys; the challenge is getting consent from survey respondents regarding linking their data to other sources.
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From page 64...
... BJS's correctional unit has undertaken efforts to link data from the National Prisoner Statistics Program and the National Corrections Reporting Program to other data sources, including those with health data. He relayed the experience of BJS in using Social Security numbers as the identifier variable: they are generally a good linking variable for the nonprison population but not for those who have a criminal history record.
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From page 65...
... Allen Beck (Bureau of Justice Statistics) informed the workshop participants that the health data captured on inmate surveys conducted by the agency are collected through self-reporting.
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From page 66...
... She pushed for inclusion of measures on criminal justice involvement in national health surveys as the value of such information can further the understanding of the effects of incarceration and criminal justice contact on individuals, families, and communities.
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Key Terms

  • justice involvement
  • fragile families
  • health data
  • administrative data
  • criminal history

  • incarceration experience
  • administrative records
  • longitudinal survey
  • cohort study
  • criminal histories

  • justice services
  • national longitudinal
  • data linkage
  • national crime
  • victimization survey

  • study participants
  • crime victimization
  • household surveys
  • inmate surveys
  • income dynamics

  • justice statistics
  • justice questions
  • health surveys
  • health statistics
  • psid data

  • families study
  • panel survey
  • involvement collected
  • incarceration experiences
  • survey respondents


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