The Survey of Felony Convictions was conducted in order to gather much needed national data on the sentencing of convicted felons. The National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP) is sponsored by the Bureau of Justice Statistics with the pretest of the program being conducted by the Bureau of the Census. Census will investigate the feasibility of developing national estimates of felony sentences by type of crime and by length and type of sentence. In particular, Census will be examining the courts to determine the availability of the records, the condition of the records, automation of the various offices, etc. Census will test different methods of data collection: collection of computerized data, on-site compilation of data from court records, and mail canvass reporting.