| Summary: | This is an independent sample of juvenile defendants drawn from the State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) for 1998 (see ICPSR 2038). SCPS 1998 tracked felony cases filed in May 1998 until final disposition or until one year had elapsed from the date of filing. SCPS 1998 presents data on felony cases filed in approximately 40 of the nation's 75 most populous counties in 1998. These 75 counties account for more than a third of the United States population and approximately half of all reported crimes. The cases from these 40 jurisdictions were weighted to represent all felony filings during the month of May in the 75 most populous counties. Data were collected on arrest charges, demographic characteristics, criminal history, pretrial release and detention, adjudication, and sentencing. Within each sampled site, data were gathered on each juvenile felony case. Cases were tracked through adjudication or for up to one year. The source used to identify the upper age for juveniles and the filing mechanism appropriate to each state was the OJJDP publication, Trying Juveniles as Adults in Criminal Court: An Analysis of State Transfer Provisions (December 1998).
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