HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF THE BJS 
  JUSTICE EXPENDITURE AND EMPLOYMENT SERIES
  
  The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) began the collection of
  justice expenditure and employment data with fiscal year 1971,
  using a special sample drawn by the U. S. Census Bureau  
  especially for this purpose.  The annual Survey of Criminal
  Justice Expenditure and Employment (JEE Survey) provided
  comparable trend data from 1971 to 1979.  That survey was the
  source of detailed, comprehensive statistics on the justice
  activities of the federal, state, and local governments.  Each
  annual survey resulted in a preliminary report or BJS Bulletin,
  a publication of detailed tabulations of national and
  state-local estimates as well as individual government data,a
  volume displaying trends since 1971, and additional data
  accessible on magnetic tape. 
  
  In 1980, BJS discontinued the JEE Survey for budgetary reasons
  following the collection of 1979 data.  The cancellation of the
  JEE Survey left a gap in national criminal justice statistics,
  which the JEE Extracts series is designed to fill, albeit on a
  limited basis. Instead of presenting data based on a separate
  survey, the JEE Extracts contain justice expenditure and
  employment data from the Census Bureau's annual sample surveys
  of government finances and public employment.
  
  The Census Bureau surveys have traditionally provided limited
  data on the justice sectors of police protection (from 1902)
  and corrections (from 1954), with slightly more data being
  collected for state governments and the largest local
  governments. Beginning with 1982, these surveys began
  collecting judicial and legal services data as a separate
  category, allowing for the JEE extracts program to estimate 
  total justice expenditure and employment.  This is done by 
  extracting criminal justice data from the Census Bureau's annual 
  government finance and employment surveys.  
  
  Special JEE Surveys collected 1985, 1988, and 1990 JEE Survey
  data that are comparable to data for 1971 to 1979.  The current
  Extracts methodology produces considerably less detailed
  information than is available from those special JEE Surveys. 
  Another significant difference, which is not as noticeable,
  relates to the comparability of the JEE Extracts variables to
  the variables in those JEE Surveys. In many instances,
  variables by the same name are not comparable between the two
  programs.  While great care was taken to adjust the source data
  to maximize comparability with the JEE Survey data,
  irreducible differences remain.  These are detailed in
  JEECOMP.TXT (Comparability Issues Between the JEE Survey and
  the JEE Extracts Programs) on this zip archive. 
  
  In making trend comparisons, users should limit their analysis
  to one of the two sources:
  -- long-term trends for 1971-79, 1985, 1988, and 1990 from the
  JEE Survey series
  -- more recent trends from 1980 using the JEE Extracts data.
  
  Only JEE Extracts data are available from the BJS website.