Guidelines Research Proposals

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Guidelines Research Proposals
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Felony Child Abuse and Neglect

• Focus Convictions under 18.2-371.1(A) between
  FY03 and FY07
• Any parent, guardian or other person responsible
  for the care of a child under the age of 18 who
  by willful act or omission or refusal to provide
  any necessary care for the child's health causes
  or permits serious injury to the life or health
  of such child.
• For the purposes of this subsection, serious
  injury includes but is not limited to
• (i) disfigurement
• (ii) a fracture
• (iii) a severe burn or laceration
• (iv) mutilation
• (v) maiming
• (vi) forced ingestion of dangerous substances
• (vii) life-threatening internal injuries

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Background

• The Commission received 262 guidelines forms with
  felony child abuse as the most serious offense
  between FY03 and FY07
• Purpose of Study Increase compliance with
  sentencing guidelines in felony child abuse
  cases

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Data Sources

• Sentencing Guidelines Database
• Provides sentencing information from the
  guidelines forms, including the offenders prior
  record, the nature of the offense(s), and
  judicial departure reasons, if applicable
• Pre/Post-Sentence Investigation (PSI) Database
• Provides detailed information regarding offenders
  and corresponding offenses
• Includes the offenders social history, victim
  characteristics, and the degree of victim injury
• A detailed offense narrative is available in most
  cases, which allows for supplemental data
  collection

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Supplemental Data Collection

• Offense narratives are available for most cases
  in the PSI data
• The narratives allow us to collect more detailed
  information regarding the offense and, in
  particular, the nature of the victims injuries
• Since 33 of the judges who exceeded the
  guidelines recommendation cited victim injury as
  a departure reason, several measures of victim
  injury were developed for use in the supplemental
  data collection instrument

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Proposed Supplemental Data Collection Instrument
i Age at the time of the offense if series of
offenses, age at time of 1st offense ii
Includes foster parents, residential facility
staff, legal guardian, etc. iii Failure to act
i.e. not paying attention, not seeking medical
attention iv Act causes injury i.e. striking
the victim, burning the victim, etc.

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Proposed Supplemental Data Collection Instrument
Cont.
i Mental health care counseling by counselor,
therapist, etc. ii Life threatening injury or
injury involved permanent impairment (permanent
brain damage, loss of limb or organ, etc.) iii
Non-life threatening injury requiring
hospitalization but not extensive or irreparable
physical damage (i.e. broken bones, severe burns
or lacerations, etc.) iv Physical injuries not
requiring hospitalization (i.e. bruises, minor
cuts) v Fear of impending danger from
victims perspective

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Proposed Supplemental Data Collection Instrument
Cont.
i Called an ambulance, took victim to hospital,
etc.

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Additional Variables of Interest

• Offender Factors
• History of violence
• Prior person offenses
• Prior convictions for
• Family offenses
• Felony child abuse
• Domestic assault
• Offense Factors
• Number of co-defendants
• If other offenses were committed in conjunction
  with the child abuse/neglect

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Work Plan

• Commission staff would conduct data retrieval and
  analysis during the summer
• Results of the analysis would be presented at the
  September 2008 meeting

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Felony Vandalism

• Focus Convictions under 18.2-137(B)(ii)
  between FY03 and FY07
• Vandalism of property, memorial or monument with
  a value of 1,000 or more
• Purpose of Study Explore possibility of adding
  felony vandalism to the miscellaneous sentencing
  guidelines worksheet

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Background

• Felony vandalism cases comprise the largest
  portion of convictions not covered by the
  guidelines
• The staff of the Commission have attempted to
  incorporate this offense into the miscellaneous
  guidelines in the past but have been unsuccessful
• The Commission has obtained access to an
  additional data source to supplement the cases
  contained in the Pre/Post-Sentence Investigation
  (PSI) Database

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Data Sources

• Pre/Post-Sentence Investigation (PSI) Database
• Provides detailed information regarding offenders
  and corresponding offenses
• Is an incomplete representation of felony cases
  processed through Virginias circuit courts
• PSI reports are not generated for some felony
  circuit court cases, particularly if the offender
  is not sentenced to a prison term or supervised
  probation
• A lag in reporting exists
• PSI data show 666 felony vandalism convictions
  between FY03 and FY07. Of these, felony
  vandalism was the primary offense in 281 cases.

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Data Sources Cont.

• Court Automated Information System (CAIS)
• System used by most of the circuit courts to
  track cases
• Contains information on felony vandalism cases
  that are not in the PSI database
• Includes basic case information, including
  offender demographics, the type of offense(s),
  and the type/length of sentence
• According to preliminary analysis, there were 223
  additional cases with felony vandalism as the
  primary offense at conviction between FY03 and
  FY07

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Supplemental Data

• More detailed information for the cases in the
  CAIS data would be collected from various
  sources
• Virginia State Police (Prior record)
• Sentencing guidelines and PSI data
• Cases for the same offender that were resolved
  around the same time may provide additional
  information regarding the offender

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Variables of Interest

• Factors included on the miscellaneous worksheet
• Counts of primary offense
• Additional offenses
• Prior record
• Legally restrained at the time of the offense
• Additional factors
• Value of property
• Assessed through amount of restitution ordered

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Work Plan

• Commission staff would conduct data analysis
  during the summer
• Results of the analysis would be presented at the
  September 2008 meeting

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