[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 23, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56838-56839]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-23092]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

[OMB Number 1121-NEW]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection 
eComments Requested; New Collection: Analysis of Publicly Available 
Court Data (APACD)

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 (BJS), 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 23, 2019.

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 Unit, 
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

[[Page 56839]]

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: Analysis of Publicly 
Available Court Data (APACD).
    (3) The agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of 
the Department sponsoring the collection: The Data Extraction Guide is 
APACD-001. 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 court administrators or 
their information technology (IT) staff within state or county courts. 
Abstract: Among other responsibilities, the Bureau of Justice 
Statistics is charged with collecting data regarding the prosecution of 
crimes by state and federal offices. This effort is directed towards 
state and county courts regarding the processing of criminal felony and 
misdemeanor cases in courts of limited and general jurisdiction. The 
APACD will collect information from state and county courts by 
requesting data extracts of court case management systems. Thirty-one 
states and the District of Columbia have statewide court case 
management systems. An additional five states have a majority of 
counties included, with one to four counties missing from the statewide 
case management systems, for a total of 10 additional counties needed 
to complete the almost-statewide systems. The remaining fourteen states 
and Puerto Rico do not have statewide case management systems, or at 
least not statewide systems that cover most of the state.
    BJS will request complete records from the statewide and mostly-
statewide systems, with separate requests to the counties not included 
in the mostly statewide systems. BJS will also sample counties from the 
states unable to provide statewide extracts. The requests will sample 
with certainty any county with a total resident population exceeding 
one million persons.
    This is BJS's first collection from state courts since the Survey 
of Juveniles Charged in Adult Criminal Courts effort in 2014. BJS is 
requesting that the extracts include all felony and misdemeanor 
criminal cases disposed of by December 31, 2019. BJS is also requesting 
that the extracts include defendant demographics; information about 
charges, hearings, disposition, and sentences; attorney information; 
diversion and problem-solving court information; and whether a bench 
warrant was issued during the case. State and local courts can provide 
the data extract or extracts in any format.
    (5) An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount 
of time estimated for an average respondent to respond: BJS will send a 
data extraction guide to a total of 150 jurisdictions. The 150 
jurisdictions include 36 states (including 10 counties that are not 
included in the statewide case management systems) and the District of 
Columbia, 23 counties with total populations exceeding 1,000,000 
residents, and 80 sampled counties representing the 14 states and 
Puerto Rico that cannot provide statewide data. The expected burden 
placed on these jurisdictions is about 30 hours per jurisdiction, with 
an additional 10 hours to explain any data inconsistencies or questions 
of the data collection team.
    (6) An estimate of the total public burden (in hours) associated 
with the collection: The total respondent burden is approximately 6,000 
burden hours for the 150 jurisdictions.
    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 18, 2019.
Melody Braswell,
Department Clearance Officer for PRA, U.S. Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2019-23092 Filed 10-22-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4410-18-P