Core Capacity and Special Emphasis SAC Proposal: Michigan Statistical Analysis Center 2020

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 Michigan Justice Statistics Center (MJSC) is located in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University (MSU). On October 1, 1993, the Executive Order 1993-18 created MJSC and designated MSU School of Criminal Justice to operate the center and carry out the duties of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting criminal history data; producing reports; and providing information to policymakers and the public. The Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) is led by the SAC Director who also serves as the principal investigator and project director for this grant.

Under this award, the MSU’s SAC will conduct activities under the following Core Capacity areas: Research using incident-based crime data that are compatible with NIBRS; and, Collecting and analyzing data on criminal justice system processes, as well as Special Emphasis area: Analysis of state criminal history records. The major goals of the 2020 Core Capacity proposal are to conduct an assessment and review of the quality of incident-based data and to help the state develop and improve criminal justice statistical processes and make analytical tools available to agencies to better address public safety and administration of justice goals. Two projects are being proposed. The first project involves research on Michigan’s Incident Crime Reporting (MICR) system. The SAC plans to conduct a study on the ability to identify nonfatal shootings occurring in Detroit through the city’s NIBRS aggravated assault incident reports, and then validate estimates using the known incidents identified by the Detroit Police Department. The final deliverable will be the development of a report and a peer-review article that discusses the quality of Michigan’s NIBRS data. The second project involves collecting and analyzing data on criminal justice system processes. This research project will study MSP’s drug diversion task force that seeks to reduce heroin and opioid trafficking, resulting in the state’s overdose crisis. A final evaluation will be produced describing the activities and the outputs of the task force (e.g., investigations initiated, warrants served, arrests, referral to prosecution, convictions, license revocations, etc.). The evaluation serves as one of the first known studies of prescription drug enforcement in the state.

Currently, the SAC is conducting a study of firearm arrestees in Detroit as part of the Detroit Police Department’s Gunstat Program. The proposed Special Emphasis study seeks to extend this important public policy research through analysis of offending patterns among firearm arrestees using state criminal history records. Findings will be produced in a technical report and a peer review article.

Funds are also requested for travel expenses for SAC staff to attend a SJS-focused conference or meeting.

(CA/NCF)