Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Retrieving administrative data to assess long-term outcomes: a case study of the 23-year follow-up of the Milwaukee domestic violence experiment

  • Published:
Journal of Experimental Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

To describe how social scientists, criminal justice practitioners, and administrative agencies collected administrative data to follow-up a criminological experiment after two decades. To make recommendations that will guide similar long-term follow-ups.

Methods

A case study approach describes the processes of and sociological benefits to collecting administrative data to assess criminal justice and life-course outcomes.

Results

While maintaining experimental integrity, we developed, executed, and verified processes to retrieve arrest, mortality, and residential data for the experimental subjects, which enabled us to complete the longest ever follow-up of a criminal justice experiment.

Conclusions

When experiments have policy implications, administrative data may be preferable to survey data for assessing primary effects. Successful social science research can be conducted in conjunction with multiple administrative agencies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Sherman, Harris, and Mazeika were at the University of Maryland in 2011.

  2. MPD did not systematically record victimization until 2007, so those data were not used for the follow-up.

  3. Harris overcame the triplicate records problem programmatically, post-retrieval.

  4. Brad Bartholomew searched the SSDI using Steve Morse’s aggregator website: http://www.stevemorse.org/ssdi/ssdi.html. Bartholomew coded the records for confidence in name–birth date matching. Harris accepted only records indicating full confidence.

  5. The justification letter is available from Harris, upon request.

  6. The initial application submitted to UMD’s IRB is available from Harris, upon request.

  7. DMV periodically produces standardized information on all registered drivers.

References

  • Brame, R., Turner, M. G., Paternoster, R., & Bushway, S. D. (2012). Cumulative prevalence of arrest from ages 8 to 23 in a national sample. Pediatrics, 129, 21–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Card, D., Chetty, R., Feldstein, M., & Saez, E. (2010). Expanding access to administrative data for research in the United States. Retrieved January 15, 2014, from: http://eml.berkeley.edu/~saez/card-chetty-feldstein-saezNSF10dataaccess.pdf.

  • Huntingdon, J. T., Butterfield, M., Fisher, J., Torrent, D., & Bloomston, M. (2013). The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) most accurately reflects true survival for older oncology patients. American Journal of Cancer Research, 3, 518–522.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacKenzie, D. L. (2012). Challenges of conducting field experiments in correctional settings: boot camp prison study as an example. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 8, 289–306.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mott, F. L. (2002). Looking backward: Post-hoc reflections on longitudinal surveys. In E. Phelps, F. F. Furstenberg, & A. Colby (Eds.), Looking at lives: American longitudinal studies of the twentieth century (pp. 61–86). New York: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L.W. & Berk, R.A. (1984). The specific deterrent effects of arrest for domestic assault. American Sociological Review, 49, 261–272.

  • Sherman, L.W. & Smith, D.A. (1992). Crime, punishment, and stake in conformity: legal and informal control of domestic violence. American Sociological Review, 57, 680–690.

  • Sherman, L.W. & Harris, H.M. (2013a). Effects of arrest over the life-course: A 24-year follow-up of the Milwaukee domestic violence experiment. (Paper presented at the Stockholm Criminology Symposium, Sweden).

  • Sherman, L.W. & Harris, H.M. (2013b). Increased homicide victimization of suspects arrested for domestic assault: a 23-year follow-up of the Milwaukee Domestic Violence Experiment (MilDVE). Journal of Experimental Criminology, 9, 491–514.

  • Sherman, L.W. & Harris, H.M. (2015). Increased death rates of domestic violence victims from arresting vs. warning suspects in the Milwaukee Domestic Violence Experiment (MilDVE). Journal of Experimental Criminology (in press). doi:10.1007/s11292-014-9203-x.

  • Stiles, P. G., Boothroyd, R. A., Robst, J., & Ray, J. V. (2011). Ethically using administrative data in research: Medicaid administrators’ current practices and best practice recommendations. Administration & Society, 43, 171–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strang, H. (2012). Coalitions for a common purpose: managing relationships in experiments. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 8, 211–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Straus, M. A. (1986). Domestic violence and homicide antecedents. Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine, 62, 446–465.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tourangeau, R. (2000). Remembering what happened: Memory errors and survey reports. In A. A. Stone, J. S. Turkkan, C. A. Bachrach, J. B. Jobe, H. S. Kurtzman, & V. S. Cain (Eds.), The science of self-report: implications for research and practice (pp. 61–86). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Heather M. Harris

  2. Milwaukee Police Department, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Daniel S. Polans

  3. The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, USA

    David Mazeika

  4. University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

    Lawrence W. Sherman

  5. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Lawrence W. Sherman

Authors
  1. Heather M. Harris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel S. Polans
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David Mazeika
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Lawrence W. Sherman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heather M. Harris.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Harris, H.M., Polans, D.S., Mazeika, D. et al. Retrieving administrative data to assess long-term outcomes: a case study of the 23-year follow-up of the Milwaukee domestic violence experiment. J Exp Criminol 12, 599–608 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-016-9265-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-016-9265-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation