2019 State Justice Statistics Program for the State of North Carolina

The State Justice Statistics (SJS) Program is designed to maintain and enhance each state's capacity to address criminal justice issues through collection and analysis of data. The SJS Program provides support to each state to coordinate and conduct statistical activities within the state, conduct research to estimate impacts of legislative and policy changes, and serve as a liaison in assisting BJS to gather data from respondent agencies within their states.

The North Carolina SAC (NCSAC) is housed in the North Carolina Department of Public Safety (NCDPS) which is the State Administering Agency (SAA). The NCSAC was reestablished in 2018 by the Secretary of the NCDPS and the Executive Director of the Governor’s Crime Commission. The NCSAC is requesting funds to support two core capacity projects (Build a Data Warehouse) (Aggravated Assault Study).

For the data warehouse building project, the NCSAC will use SJS funds to build a comprehensive justice-related data warehouse for the state. Currently, there is no one source or repository and many different state agencies collect data through various reporting systems. For the project, the NC Dept of Information Technology (NCDIT) will assist in developing the data infrastructure and processes necessary to access and manage the data. Data dashboards will be created and maintained on the NCSAC web site. The dashboards will combine data from multiple agencies to provide interactive data analytics and visualizations of criminal justice indicators. Steps to complete the project include: acquiring the software and completing the training; developing a data management plan with the multiple agencies; implementing data protocols; cleaning and analyzing the data obtained; designing data visualizations; and publishing the data dashboards and final report.

For the aggravated assault research project, the NCSAC will use SJS funds to conduct an in-depth analysis of aggravated assaults in the state. One component of this project will be to conduct an examination of the NC General Statutes that outline the elements of an aggravated assault as it relates to specific actions of the offender and the level of injuries sustained by the victim. The NC General Statutes will be compared to the offense as defined by the UCR and NIBRS to determine the impact differing definitions have on agency reporting. For the second component of this project, the NCSAC will collect and analyze incident narratives from NC police departments. Multiple years from various jurisdictions will be sampled. The narratives will be analyzed using a qualitative research software to better understand the specific use of the firearm by the offender and the level of injury sustained by the victim, as well as capturing differences and trends by jurisdiction or over time. Steps to complete the project include: comparing the NC General Statutes and NIBRS offense definitions; conducting quantitative data analysis; identifying patterns over time; developing sample; transposing and cleaning incident data; completing the qualitative analysis; and writing up the final report.

(CA/NCF)