[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 197 (Friday, October 13, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47768-47769]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-22167]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

[OMB Number 1121-NEW]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection 
eComments Requested; New Collection: State and Local Justice Agencies 
Serving Tribal Lands (SLJASTL): Survey of Prosecutor Offices in PL-280 
States Serving Tribal Lands (SSLPOSTL)

AGENCY: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice.

ACTION: 60-Day notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs, 
Bureau of Justice Statistics, will be submitting the following 
information collection request to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review and approval in accordance with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted for 60 days until 
December 12, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you have additional comments 
especially on the estimated public burden or associated response time, 
suggestions, or need a copy of the proposed information collection 
instrument with instructions or additional information, please contact 
Suzanne Strong, Statistician, Prosecution and Judicial Statistics, 
Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 Seventh Street NW., Washington, DC 
20531 (email: [email protected]; telephone: 202-616-3666).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Written comments and suggestions from the 
public and affected agencies concerning the proposed collection of 
information are encouraged. Your comments should address one or more of 
the following four points:

--Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary 
for the proper performance of the functions of the Bureau of Justice 
Statistics, including whether the information will have practical 
utility;
--Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
--Evaluate whether and if so how the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected can be enhanced; and
--Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are 
to respond, including through the use of appropriate automated, 
electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic 
submission of responses.

Overview of This Information Collection

    (1) Type of Information Collection: New collection.
    (2) The Title of the Form/Collection: State and Local Justice 
Agencies Serving Tribal Lands (SLJASTL): Survey of State and Local 
Prosecutor Offices in PL-280 States Serving Tribal Lands (SSLPOSTL).
    (3) The agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of 
the Department sponsoring the collection: No agency form number at this 
time. The applicable component within the Department of Justice is the 
Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the Office of Justice Programs.
    (4) Affected public who will be asked or required to respond, as 
well as a brief abstract: Respondents will be state and local 
prosecutor offices located in the sixteen Public Law 280 (PL-280) 
states. The respondent universe will be finalized after an initial 
telephone contact to determine which offices are most likely to provide 
services to tribal lands. Abstract: Among other responsibilities, the 
Bureau of Justice Statistics is charged with collecting data regarding 
crimes occurring on tribal lands. The SLJASTL is the first effort by 
BJS to collect data from state and local justice agencies responsible 
for policing and prosecuting crimes that occur on tribal lands in PL-
280 states. State and local prosecutors have jurisdiction over specific 
crimes and offenders when the crime occurs on tribal lands. There are 
no existing data collections that describe state and local prosecutors' 
role in prosecuting crime occurring on tribal lands.
    This collection involves a two-stage process. In the first phase, 
BJS will conduct a pilot test to determine whether prosecutor offices 
located closer to tribal lands are responsible for providing services, 
or if all prosecutor offices within the state share equal 
responsibility for prosecuting crime occurring on tribal lands. There 
are 267 counties that include tribal lands within their jurisdiction. 
BJS will not need to sample these offices as there is one prosecutor 
office per county and the sample size would likely be a full census of 
all 267 offices. There are 515 counties with no tribal lands in their 
jurisdiction. BJS will sample 50 prosecutor offices from the 515 
counties located in the counties with no tribal lands to determine 
whether these offices provide any services to tribal lands. BJS will 
also cognitively test the revised survey with 10 offices with tribal 
lands within their jurisdiction.
    In the second phase, BJS will refine the sampling frame and conduct 
the full survey. The SSLPOSTL will collect information that will help 
fill the gaps in our understanding of the nature of crime on tribal 
lands. There are two survey instruments: One for Alaska and one for the 
remaining fifteen PL-280 states. The data collection instruments are 
designed to capture administrative, operational and caseload data from 
prosecutor offices that investigate and prosecute crimes that occur on 
tribal lands in PL-280 states. The information collected includes the 
staffing of prosecutor offices; types of agreements prosecutor offices 
have with tribal governments; whether prosecutors try

[[Page 47769]]

cases occurring on tribal lands in tribal or state courts; non-
prosecutorial services provided on tribal lands (such as victim 
services and community outreach services); information sharing with 
tribal governments; training received by prosecutors about tribal 
lands; and the number and types of referrals to and cases prosecuted by 
state prosecutors. The survey is designed to describe the role that 
state and local prosecutor offices play in charging and prosecuting 
crimes that occur on tribal lands in PL-280 states.
    (5) An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount 
of time estimated for an average respondent to respond: BJS expects to 
cognitively test the revised survey with about 10 offices with an 
estimated burden of 60 minutes per respondent. BJS plans to contact 
about 50 prosecutor offices by telephone to ask whether they provide 
services to tribal lands with an expected respondent burden of 10 
minutes per respondent. After the pilot test, BJS will determine the 
total number of offices that will be contacted in the full survey 
effort. For the full survey, BJS estimates a maximum of 315 offices and 
a respondent burden of about 30 minutes per office, including follow-up 
time.
    (6) An estimate of the total public burden (in hours) associated 
with the collection: The total respondent burden for the cognitive test 
is approximately 10 hours. The total respondent burden for the 
telephone pilot test is approximately 8 burden hours. The maximum 
expected respondent burden for the full survey effort is approximately 
158 burden hours. The total burden for this effort is approximately 176 
burden hours.
    If additional information is required contact: Melody Braswell, 
Department Clearance Officer, United States Department of Justice, 
Justice Management Division, Policy and Planning Staff, Two 
Constitution Square, 145 N Street NE., 3E.405A, Washington, DC 20530.

    Dated: October 10, 2017.
Melody Braswell,
Department Clearance Officer for PRA, U.S. Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2017-22167 Filed 10-12-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4410-18-P