NCJ Number
176911
Date Published
1998
Length
210 pages
Annotation
In May of 1990 and 1995, the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, Probation Division, conducted a statewide survey of juvenile and adult probationers' intake data; this report presents the survey results.
Abstract
The survey contained several major categories of variables, including offenders' personal characteristics, current offenses, criminal histories, and court actions. These data provide only a "snapshot" of offenders; the study did not investigate the processes by which offenders are placed on probation. The primary purpose of the survey analyses was to determine whether there had been any significant changes in the probation population in the first half of the 1990s. The analyses also examined subgroups of offenders: those placed on probation for drug and violent crimes, as well as those sentenced to probation in urban and rural counties. The report contains three levels of analysis of the adult and juvenile probation intake data. The first level of analysis focused on adult probationers -- 8,105 in 1990 and 3,939 in 1995 -- and explored information on demographic characteristics, prior criminal histories, current offenses, court-ordered dispositions, and court-ordered treatments. The second level of analysis focused on juvenile probation. Data were collected on more than 2,600 juvenile offenders -- 1,577 in 1990 and 1,051 in 1995. A total of 23 variables were analyzed in the juvenile survey, including demographic characteristics, offense types, and previous juvenile justice experiences. The third level of analysis explored differences between adult probationers sentenced in urban and rural counties. The 1995 intake data for the 3,939 adults sentenced to probation were analyzed to determine the similarities and differences between these two offender populations. Extensive tabular data