National Corrections Reporting Program

Through the National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP), the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) collects individual (or offender-level) data on prisoners entering and leaving the custody or supervision of state prison systems and discharges from parole. The NCRP data, which have been collected annually since 1983, are derived from state prison and parole administrative records.

BJS uses these data to study a wide variety of special topic issues in corrections,such as:
- recidivism of state prisoners (by linking the NCRP data to criminal history records)
- prisoner reentry issues
- aging of the prison population
- trends in state parole
- outcomes of parole supervision.

These data are also used to support ongoing studies of changes in the racial and offense composition of corrections populations; movements and transitions between stages of the corrections process; and, to compare differences among states correctional populations.

Under this award, the recipient will be responsible for six major components of the National Corrections Reporting Program (NCRP) during the October 1, 2010 - September 30, 2011 period:

(1) Managing the transition of the NCRP data collection from the Census Bureau;

(2) Conducting recurring, annual NCRP project tasks;

(3) Enhancing the NCRP, and building enhancements into annual tasks;

(4) Proposing a small-scale study to test implementing the Department of Justices Global Justice Information Sharing Initiative with the NCRP;

(5) Conducting a scan and assessment of state and federal administrative records for purposes of linkage with NCRP records; and

(6) Maintaining effective communication with BJS and stakeholders about the project.

CA/NCF