The Challenge of Incomplete Information in Research

During this summer semester I have been journeying to Thomasville Georgia in order to go through the different criminal records which details different criminal trials and proceedings that took place in Thomasville during the 1900s. The goal of my research is to determine whether racial disparities existed within the adjudication process of judges during this time period. I have been travelling to the Thomas County courthouse and recording information from the records on an excel spreadsheet. The data I have recorded encompasses: the defendant’s name, the defendant’s ethnicity, crime committed, the name of the prosecutor, the name of the defense attorney, the verdict, and if applicable the victims of the crime and their ethnicity. The goal is to record at least 30-40 cases on an excel spreadsheet.

One problem I have encountered is that some records have some erroneous information when it comes to the defendant’s name. Although this is not much of a recurring issue, there were names of the defendant that were misspelt in the evidence record case book. This makes it a bit more challenging to search for the outcome of the case in another book called the “minutes” record. Another challenge faced is that some information is missing from evidence case books in the 1950s. When going through the evidence records from the 1950s one crucial piece of information is missing and that is the ethnicity of the defendant. This makes it challenging to record data for that year. This also serves as a hurdle as I sought to record information on the 1950s on an excel spreadsheet.

One thing I could do to prevent this from hindering my project is to narrow down the years I am focusing on. I initially sought to research criminal cases that took place in Thomasville, Georgia from the 1900s to the late 1960s. However, seeing as though the ethnicity of the defendant is missing from the 1950s and 1960s case book, I would have to adjust the years I research on. Instead, I will focus on recording data from the 1920s to the late 1930s as the ethnicity of the defendant is listed.

One thing that has gone great thus far is the amount of data I was able to record from the evidence case books from the 1930s. My initial goal was to record 30-40 cases and I am very close to meeting this goal. After recording these cases I will then start to code on R/studio under the guidance of my research mentor.

Image of record content is included below.