[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 30 (Thursday, February 13, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8325-8326]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02842]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

[OMB Number 1121-NEW]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed eCollection; 
eComments Requested; New Collection: Criminal Cases in State Courts 
(CCSC), Previously Posted as Analysis of Publicly Available Court Data 
(APACD)

AGENCY: Bureau of Justice Statistics, Department of Justice.

ACTION: 30-Day notice.

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SUMMARY: 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. This proposed information collection was 
previously published, allowing for a 60 day comment period. Seven 
comments from the public were received during this period and are 
thoroughly addressed in the supporting statement for this collection. 
Three comments requested that information on interpreters be added. The 
requesters sought data elements reflecting for whom the interpreter was 
ordered (defendant, witness, victim), whether the interpreter was 
present for all hearings, and the qualifications of the interpreter. 
BJS added data elements asking courts to provide whether an interpreter 
was ordered for the case and for which party(ies) to the case the 
interpreter was ordered. BJS does not expect these changes to impact 
the estimated respondent burden.

DATES: Comments are encouraged and will be accepted for an additional 
30 day until March 16, 2020.

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 M. Strong, Statistician, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 810 
Seventh Street NW, Washington, DC 20531 (email: 
[email protected]; telephone: 202-616-3666). Written comments 
and/or suggestions can also be sent to the Office of Management and 
Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention 
Department of Justice Desk Officer, Washington, DC 20503 or sent to 
[email protected].

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 agency, including 
whether the information will have practical utility;
-- Evaluate the accuracy of the agencies estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
-- Enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; 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

[[Page 8326]]

of information technology, e.g., permitting electronic submission of 
responses.

Overview of This Information Collection

    (1) Type of Information Collection: New collection.
    (2) Title of the Form/Collection: Criminal Cases in State Courts 
(CCSC), formerly titled Analysis of Publicly Available Court Data.
    (3) Agency form number, if any, and the applicable component of the 
Department sponsoring the collection: The Data Extraction guide is 
CCSC-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: 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. A total of 150 
jurisdictions (states or counties) will be included in this effort.
    BJS is requesting that the data extracts provided by courts include 
all felony and misdemeanor criminal cases disposed of between January 1 
and December 31, 2019. BJS is also requesting that the extracts include 
defendant demographics; information about charges, disposition, and 
sentences. State and local courts can provide the data extract or 
extracts in any format.
    BJS plans to publish this information in reports and reference it 
when responding to queries from the U.S. Congress, Executive Office of 
the President, the U.S. Supreme Court, state officials, international 
organizations, researchers, students, the media, and others interested 
in criminal justice statistics.
    (5) An estimate of the total number of respondents and the amount 
of time estimated for an average respondent to respond/reply: BJS will 
send a data extraction guide to 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 79 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: There are an estimated 6,000 total burden hours 
associated with this collection.
    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, Suite 3E.405B, Washington, DC 
20530.

    Dated: February 7, 2020.
Melody Braswell,
Department Clearance Officer, PRA, U.S. Department of Justice.
[FR Doc. 2020-02842 Filed 2-12-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4410-18-P