Conversion of Criminal History Records into Research Databases

The Conversion of Criminal History Records into Research Databases project aims to produce a software system that will convert computerized rap sheets (or records of arrest and prosecution) from state agencies and the FBI into a commonly-formatted database for recidivism research. The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) will provide the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) with a data file that contains national criminal history data from a sample of persons released from state prisons during 2005. In cooperation with BJS, NORC will develop software to transform a large set of state-specific data elements and coding values into nationally standardized fields and codes that will be used to examine the extent to which former prisoners return to criminal activity.
After the completion of the project, BJS will use the conversion software to support future research on the recidivism of criminal offenders. CA/NCF