Federal Justice Statistics Program: Paired-Agency Linked Files, 1994-2022

The new FJSRC linking system, implemented with the 2008
FJSRC data, includes sets of agency dyad linked files
created by improved methods of algorithmic matching. There
are both inter-agency linked files and intra-agency dyad
linked files.
The inter-agency matched pair files (or "dyads") permit
the linking of records from two different source agencies
for adjacent stages of federal case processing by providing
a crosswalk of the agency-specific key ID variables for the
two agency data files in the pair. These agency ID
variables (sequential ID numbers) may be used to link
records from one agency's standard analysis file (SAF) to
the next. The system enables users to track individual
defendant-cases through stages of the federal criminal
justice system (from arrest to prosecution, adjudication,
sentencing, and corrections) sequentially, one agency dyad
pair at a time. Each inter-agency paired linked file
relates the sequential record numbers (i.e. SEQ_NUM)
included in the SAFs from one agency/stage to another.
The intra-agency matched pair files (also dyads) permit
the same type of linking as described above except that the
linkages are within the same federal agency. The linkages
are to different stages of case processing withing a
particular agency.
The system covers all data years from 1994-2022.
These data are part of a series designed by the Urban
Institute (Washington, D.C.) and the Bureau of Justice
Statistics. Data and documentation were prepared by the
Urban Institute through 2012. Data from 2013 and on were prepared by Abt Associates.