Bojs Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties 1998
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U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics State Court Processing Statistics Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Arrest charges Demographic characteristics Criminal history Pretrial release and detention Adjudication Sentencing U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs 810 Seventh Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20531 John Ashcroft Attorney General Office of Justice Programs Deborah J. Daniels Assistant Attorney General World Wide Web site: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov Bureau of Justice Statistics Lawrence A. Greenfeld Acting Director World Wide Web site: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ For information contact: BJS Clearinghouse 1-800-732-3277 U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Brian A. Reaves, Ph.D. BJS Statistician November 2001, NCJ 187232 Contents U.S. Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics Brian A. Reaves, BJS statistician, prepared this report. Keonna Feaster provided statistical review. Tom Hester supervised final production for printing, assisted by Jayne Robinson. The data were collected and processed by the Pretrial Services Resource Center under the supervision of Jolanta Juszkiewicz. Carma Hogue of the Economic Statistical Methods and Procedures Division, Bureau of the Census, assisted with sample design. Data presented in this report may be obtained from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data at the University of Michigan, 1-800-999-0960. The report and data are available on the Internet at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs Highlights iii State Court Processing Statistics 1 Arrest charges 2 Demographic characteristics 4 Criminal history 8 Criminal justice status at time of arrest 8 Prior arrests 10 Prior convictions 12 Pretrial release and detention 16 Rates of release and detention Bail amounts Time from arrest to release Criminal history and probability of release Conduct of released defendants 16 18 19 20 21 Adjudication 23 Time from arrest to adjudication 23 Adjudication outcome 24 Case processing statistics 28 Sentencing 29 Time from conviction to sentencing 29 Type and length of sentence 30 Prior record and felony sentencing 35 Methodology 37 Appendix 40 ii Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Highlights State Court Processing Statistics Every 2 years, as part of its State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) program, the Bureau of Justice Statistics tracks a sample of felony cases filed during the month of May in 40 of the Nation’s 75 largest counties. The most recent SCPS study analyzed cases filed during May 1998. Trends in processing of felony defendants, 1990-98 Since 1990, the proportion of defendants charged with a violent offense has remained at about a fourth. From 1992 to 1998, the proportion of drug defendants increased from 30% to 37%. During this period, the percentage of defendants charged with a property crime decreased from 35% to 29%. The proportion of defendants charged with a public-order offense has remained at just under 1 in 10. In 1998, the percentage of defendants age 40 or older was 19%, nearly twice the 10% found in the 1990 study. During the same time, the percentage of defendants under age 25 decreased from 41% to 34%. The percentage of female defendants has increased from 14% in 1990 to 18% in 1998. In 1998, non-Hispanic blacks accounted for 45% of defendants, a slightly smaller percentage than in prior years. The percentage of non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics increased slightly, but still comprised roughly a fourth each. Since 1990, approximately 3 in 8 defendants have had an active criminal justice status at the time of arrest in each of the SCPS studies. In 1998, the percentage of defendants with a felony arrest record (60%) was the same as in 1996, but higher than in previous years when it averaged about 55%. The proportion of defendants with a felony conviction record, continuing a slightly upward trend, was 42% in 1998 up from 36% in 1990. Since 1990, the percentage of felony defendants released prior to case disposition has been fairly consistent, ranging from 62% to 65%, with 64% released in 1998. In 1998, for the first time, the proportion of releases accounted for by surety bond was greater than that accounted for by release on personal recognizance. From 1990 to 1998, the proportion of released defendants charged with misconduct such as failure to appear in court or rearrest has remained at just under a third. Failure-to-appear rates have held steady at about a fourth. After reaching a high of 61% in the 1994 study, the felony conviction rate fell to 55% in 1996, and 52% in 1998. This rate was similar to that found in 1992, and still slightly higher than the 50% felony conviction rate in the 1990 study. Sixty-eight percent of defendants were convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor in 1998, a lower percentage than in 1994 (72%), but higher than in 1990 (64%). For defendants convicted of a felony, sentences in 1998 (71%) were slightly more likely to involve incarceration than in 1996 (69%) and 1994 (68%). However, incarceration rates in the 1998 study were slightly lower than in 1990 (75%) or 1992 (74%). In 1998, a felony conviction was about as likely to result in a jail sentence as a sentence to prison. In 1990, a felony conviction was more likely to result in a sentence to prison (43%) than jail (32%). The use of probation as a sentence for felony convictions in 1998 occurred with about the same frequency as in 1996 and 1994, but more frequently than in 1990 or 1992. Age at arrest, felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1998 Percent of defendants 50% Age 25-39 40% Under age 25 30% 20% 10% Age 40 or older 0% 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 Most severe sentence received by defendants convicted of a felony in the 75 largest counties, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1998 Percent of defendants 50% 40% Prison Jail 30% 20% Probation 10% 0% 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 Felony defendants in large urban counties, 1998 property (29%) offense. Nearly half of drug defendants, 18% of defendants overall, were charged with drug trafficking. A majority of property defendants were charged with larceny/theft (9.9% of all defendants) or burglary (7.5%). About 1 in 10 defendants were charged with a public-order offense. Often these charges were driving-related (3.6%) or weapons-related (2.8%). Arrest charges Demographic characteristics An estimated 56,606 felony cases were filed in the State courts of the Nation's 75 largest counties during May 1998. About 1 in 4 defendants were charged with a violent offense, usually assault (12.2%) or robbery (6.1%). About 1 in 50 defendants were charged with murder (0.7%) or rape (1.3%). Eighty-two percent of defendants were male, including 90% or more of those charged with rape (100%), a weapons offense (96%), a driving-related offense (91%), robbery (91%), or burglary (90%). Women accounted for about half of the defendants charged with fraud (52%), and about a third of those charged with forgery (36%), or larceny/theft (31%). Two-thirds of defendants were charged with either a drug (37%) or Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 iii Non-Hispanic Blacks comprised a majority of the defendants charged with a weapons offense (55%), murder (54%), or robbery (53%). Non-Hispanic Whites accounted for 40% of those charged with a driving-related felony. Half of defendants were under age 30. Eighteen percent were under age 21, including 34% of those charged with robbery and 29% of those charged with murder. Three percent of defendants were under age 18, including 11% of robbery defendants and 9% of murder defendants. Criminal history At the time of arrest, more than a third of defendants had an active criminal justice status such as probation (16%), release pending disposition of a prior case (14%), or parole (5%). Murder (45%), robbery (44%), and drug trafficking (43%) defendants were the most likely to have had a criminal justice status when arrested. Seventy-one percent of all defendants had been arrested previously, with 43% having at least five prior arrest charges. Sixty percent of defendants had a felony arrest record. Sixty-one percent of defendants had at least one prior conviction, including 42% with one or more felony convictions. Pretrial release and detention Thirty-six percent of all defendants were detained until the court disposed of their case, including 7% who were denied bail. Half or more of defendants charged with murder (87%), robbery (62%), rape (53%), burglary (50%), or motor vehicle theft (50%) were detained until case disposition. Defendants with an active criminal justice status (58%) were twice as likely to be detained until case disposition as those without such a status (29%). Defendants on parole (82%) were the most likely to be detained. Defendants were most likely to be released on commercial surety bond (36% of all releases), followed by release on personal recognizance (30%). The next most common types of pretrial release were conditional release (13%) and deposit bond (8%). An estimated 31% of released defendants committed one or more types of pretrial misconduct while in a release status. Twenty-four percent failed to appear in court as scheduled. Sixteen percent were rearrested for a new offense, including 10% for a felony. Sentencing About 3 in 5 convicted defendants were sentenced within 1 day of adjudication. About two-thirds of all sentences were either to prison (30%) or jail (38%). Two-thirds of all jail sentences included a probation term. Nearly all convicted defendants who did not receive an incarceration sentence were placed on probation. Adjudication About 3 in 10 defendants had their case adjudicated within 1 month of arrest, and more than half (54%) within 3 months. At the end of the 1-year study period, 90% of all cases had been adjudicated. Sixty-eight percent of the cases adjudicated within 1 year resulted in a conviction. Fifty-two percent of all defendants were convicted of a felony, and 15% of a misdemeanor. Felony conviction rates were highest for defendants originally charged with murder (68%) or drug trafficking (66%). Assault defendants (34%) had the lowest felony conviction rate. Nearly all (96%) convictions obtained during the 1-year study period were the result of a guilty plea. Nearly 4 in 5 guilty pleas were to a felony. Seventyseven percent of trials resulted in a guilty verdict, including 83% of bench trials and 72% of jury trials. Thirty-six percent of the defendants convicted of a felony were sentenced to prison, including all of those convicted of murder. A majority of robbery (65%) and rape (60%) convictions also resulted in prison sentences. About three-fifths of those with multiple prior felony convictions (59%) were sentenced to prison following a felony conviction in the current case, compared to about a fifth of those with no prior felony convictions (21%). Excluding life sentences, the mean prison sentence for defendants convicted of a violent felony was about 9 years, and the median was 5 years. For those convicted of a nonviolent offense, the mean was about 4 years and the median, 2½ years. Murder (38 years) and rape (10 years) convictions carried the longest median prison sentences. About 1 in 7 convicted murderers received a life sentence. P ro b a b ility o f b e in g c o n vic te d a n d s e n te n c e d to in c a rc e ra tio n fo r fe lo n y d e fe n d a n ts in th e 7 5 la rg e s t c o u n tie s , 1 9 9 8 M o st seriou s arre st ch arge M u rd er R ap e R ob bery A ssau lt B urgla ry La rcen y/theft M o tor vehicle theft F orgery F raud D rug trafficking W ea pons D riving-re la ted P ris o n iv Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 0% 20 % J a il 40 % 60 % 80 % P erce nt o f de fend ants con victed a nd sen tenced to prison or ja il State Court Processing Statistics Since 1988, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has sponsored a biennial data collection on the processing of felony defendants in the State courts of the Nation's 75 most populous counties. Previously known as the National Pretrial Reporting Program, this data collection series was renamed the State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) program in 1994 to better reflect the wide range of data elements collected. The SCPS program collects data on the demographic characteristics, criminal history, pretrial processing, adjudication, and sentencing of felony defendants. The SCPS data do not include Federal defendants. The reader should refer to the annual BJS Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics for information on the processing of Federal defendants. The 1998 SCPS collected data for 15,909 felony cases filed during May 1998 in 40 large counties. These cases, which were tracked for up to 1 year, were part of a 2-stage sample that was representative of the estimated 56,606 felony cases filed in the Nation's 75 most populous counties during that month. A small number of cases (31 unweighted, 111 weighted) were omitted from the analysis because they could not be classified into one of the four major crime categories (violent, property, drug, public-order). In 1998, the 75 largest counties accounted for 37% of the U.S. population. According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports program for 1998, these jurisdictions accounted for 50% of all reported serious violent crimes in the United States, including 65% of all robberies. They accounted for 45% of all reported serious property crimes. According to the BJS National Judicial Reporting Program, 40% of all felony convictions in 1998 occurred in the 75 largest counties. For national estimates pertaining to felony convictions, see the BJS report Felony Sentences in State Courts, 1998. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 1 Arrest charges During May 1998, about a fourth of the felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were charged with a violent offense (24.0%) (table 1). About half of those charged with a violent felony, 12.2% of defendants overall, faced assault charges, and about a fourth, 6.1% of defendants overall, were charged with robbery. Murder defendants comprised 3.0% of the defendants charged with a violent felony, and 0.7% of all felony defendants. Rape defendants accounted for 5.0% of the defendants charged with a violent felony, and 1.3% of all felony defendants (See Methodology for the specific crimes included in each offense category.) About 3 in 10 felony defendants were charged with a property offense (29.3%). About a third of property defendants, 9.9% of defendants overall, were charged with larceny/theft offenses, and about a fourth, 7.5% overall, were charged with burglary. Defendants charged with a public-order offense comprised about a tenth (9.6%) of all defendants. Two-thirds of publicorder defendants faced a weapons (2.8%) or driving-related (3.6%) charge. The percentage of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties facing a drugrelated charge (37.1%) was about the same as in 1996 (36.8%), but significantly higher than the low of 30% in 1992 (figure 2). The percentage of property defendants in 1998 (29.3%) continued a trend of small decreases that have occurred since a high of 34.9% in 1992. The 1998 percentage of defendants (24%) charged with a violent offense was about the same as in 1996 (24.7%) and slightly lower than the maximum of 26.5% in 1992. The most frequently charged offenses of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1998 Most serious arrest charge For about 3 in 8 defendants, the most serious arrest charge was a drug offense (37.1%). Nearly half (48%) of drug defendants were charged with drug trafficking. Overall, defendants were more likely to be charged with drug trafficking (17.7%) or other drug offenses (19.4%) than any other type of offense (figure 1). Nontrafficking drug offenses Drug trafficking Assault Larceny/theft Burglary Robbery 0% Table 1. Felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge All offenses Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Number Percent 56,495 100.0% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 13,536 409 732 3,442 6,896 2,057 24.0% 0.7 1.3 6.1 12.2 3.6 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 16,545 4,224 5,575 1,582 1,669 1,348 2,147 29.3% 7.5 9.9 2.8 3.0 2.4 3.8 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 20,975 9,991 10,984 37.1% 17.7 19.4 5,439 1,583 2,060 1,795 9.6% 2.8 3.6 3.2 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data for the specific arrest charge were available for 99.8% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. 5% 10% 15% 20% Percent of defendants 25% See Methodology for specific crimes included in each offense category. Figure 1 Most serious arrest charge of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996, and 1998 Percent of defendants 40% Drug 30% Property Violent 20% 10% Public-order 0% 1990 Figure 2 2 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 1992 1994 1996 1998 More than half of all felony defendants (56%) faced at least one additional charge and 37% were charged with at least one additional felony (table 2). Defendants whose most serious charge was rape (73%) were the most likely to have been charged with one or more additional offenses. More than threefifths of defendants whose most serious arrest charge was robbery (65%), forgery (65%), drug trafficking (64%), burglary (63%), or fraud (63%) were also charged with one or more additional offenses. Two-thirds of rape defendants faced at least 1 additional felony charge. About half of defendants charged with fraud (55%), robbery (54%), murder (53%), forgery (50%), drug trafficking (49%), or burglary (47%) also faced 1 or more additional felony charges. Two fifths of assault defendants and about a third of those charged with a weapons-related offense (35%) or motor vehicle theft (31%) faced multiple felony charges. Table 2. Level of second most serious charge of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Most serious additional charge No Misdeother Total Felony meanor Total charges 56,474 100% 44% 56% 37% 19% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 13,536 409 732 3,442 6,896 2,057 100% 100 100 100 100 100 38% 44 27 35 40 40 62% 56 73 65 60 60 45% 53 67 54 40 41 17% 3 6 11 21 19 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 16,532 4,224 5,567 1,582 1,669 1,348 2,143 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 47% 37 62 52 35 37 43 53% 63 38 48 65 63 57 37% 47 26 31 50 55 31 16% 16 13 17 15 9 26 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 20,972 9,991 10,981 100% 100 100 45% 36 53 55% 64 47 34% 49 21 21% 15 26 5,433 1,581 2,060 1,793 100% 100 100 100 50% 45 50 55 50% 55 50 45 23% 35 22 15 26% 20 27 30 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data for the most serious arrest charge and the next most serious arrest charge were available for 99.8% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 3 Demographic characteristics Overall, 82% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were male (table 3). Men comprised the largest percentages among defendants charged with rape (100%), weapons offenses (96%), driving-related offenses (91%), robbery (91%), or burglary (90%). Women accounted for 18% of defendants, including about half of those charged with fraud (52%), and about a third of those charged with forgery (36%) or larceny/theft (31%). Without consideration of Hispanic origin, which was reported poorly in some jurisdictions (see Methodology), 57% of defendants were black, 41% were white, and 2% other races (table 3). Blacks comprised the largest percentages among defendants charged with weapons offenses (73%), robbery (70%), murder (68%), and drug trafficking (65%). Whites accounted for a majority of the defendants facing driving-related charges (58%) (figure 3). Race of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge Weapons Black White Robbery Murder Drug trafficking Assault Rape Larceny/theft Forgery Fraud Burglary Motor vehicle theft Driving-related 0% 20% 40% 60% Percent of defendants 80% 100% Figure 3 Table 3. Gender and race of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Total Male Female Number of defendants Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Total Black White Other 56,451 100% 82% 18% 48,700 100% 57% 41% 2% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 13,526 409 732 3,442 6,890 2,053 100% 100 100 100 100 100 86% 87 100 91 81 87 14% 13 0 9 19 13 11,695 348 664 2,938 5,999 1,746 100% 100 100 100 100 100 60% 68 56 70 59 47 36% 30 42 27 37 49 4% 2 1 3 4 4 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 16,531 4,218 5,567 1,582 1,669 1,348 2,147 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 76% 90 69 89 64 48 85 24% 10 31 11 36 52 15 14,581 3,590 5,087 1,315 1,478 1,126 1,986 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 53% 51 55 48 55 51 54 45% 47 43 48 43 45 43 2% 2 2 3 2 5 3 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 20,966 9,986 10,980 100% 100 100 82% 84 79 18% 16 21 17,706 8,469 9,237 100% 100 100 59% 65 54 39% 34 44 2% 2 2 5,429 1,583 2,053 1,792 100% 100 100 100 91% 96 91 86 9% 4 9 14 4,717 1,309 1,822 1,586 100% 100 100 100 52% 73 41 48 46% 26 58 48 2% 1 1 4 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on gender of defendants were available for 99.7% of all cases and data on race of defendants were available for 86% of all cases. Without consideration of Hispanic origin, Bureau of the Census data for 1998 indicate that the racial distribution of the population of the 75 largest counties was 76% white, 16% black, and 8% other races. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. 4 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 About a fourth of defendants were Hispanic (26%), including about a third of those charged with drug trafficking (32%) (table 4). Non-Hispanic whites comprised about a fourth of defendants (27%), including two-fifths of those charged with a driving-related offense. Non-Hispanic blacks comprised 45% of defendants, including a majority of those charged with a weapons offense (55%), murder (54%), or robbery (53%). The average age of defendants at the time of arrest was 31 years (table 5). By specific offense, the average age ranged from 26 years for robbery defendants to 34 for those charged with a driving-related offense. Just over half of defendants charged with a violent offense (55%) were under age 30, as were about half of property (52%), drug (48%), and public-order (47%) defendants. About a tenth of robbery (11%) and murder (9%) defendants were under age 18. An estimated 19% of defendants were 40 or older, including about a fourth of those charged with a driving-related offenses (26%), rape (25%), fraud (25%), or a non-trafficking drug offense (24%). Table 4. Race and Hispanic origin of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge Number of defendants Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Black non- White non- Other non- Hispanic, Total Hispanic Hispanic Hispanic any race 41,427 100% 45% 27% 2% 26% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 10,207 256 561 2,474 5,338 1,577 100% 100 100 100 100 100 48% 54 48 53 47 41 24% 24 26 17 25 31 3% 3 2 2 3 3 26% 20 25 27 25 25 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 11,569 3,133 3,524 1,312 1,194 888 1,518 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 42% 38 50 38 42 38 40 31% 31 29 32 30 34 36 2% 2 2 2 2 3 3 24% 30 19 28 26 25 21 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 15,726 7,582 8,144 100% 100 100 46% 49 43 25% 18 31 1% 1 1 28% 32 24 3,925 1,084 1,400 1,442 100% 100 100 100 43% 55 37 38 31% 16 40 34 2% -1 4 25% 29 22 25 All offenses Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on both race and Hispanic origin of defendants were available for 73% of all cases. According to the Bureau of the Census data for 1998, the overall percentage of the population of the 75 largest counties was 57% white non-Hispanic, 16% black non-Hispanic, 8% other race non-Hispanic, and 19% Hispanics of any race. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than .5%. Table 5. Age at arrest of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Most serious arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Total Under 18 18-20 21-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40 or older Average age at arrest 56,131 100% 3% 15% 15% 17% 16% 14% 19% 31 yrs. Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 13,481 409 732 3,431 6,858 2,050 100% 100 100 100 100 100 6% 9 5 11 4 3 17% 20 10 23 15 14 15% 17 10 20 14 12 17% 18 19 15 17 18 16% 13 17 15 16 17 12% 8 14 8 13 15 17% 14 25 9 19 21 30 yrs. 28 33 26 31 32 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 16,456 4,202 5,536 1,574 1,665 1,332 2,147 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 3% 4 2 3 2 1 5 16% 20 12 25 15 8 19 15% 15 15 18 16 14 16 18% 15 18 18 21 24 15 17% 17 18 16 15 15 14 14% 14 15 10 15 13 14 17% 16 20 10 16 25 16 30 yrs. 29 31 27 30 33 30 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 20,767 9,938 10,828 100% 100 100 2% 3 2 15% 18 12 15% 17 13 16% 16 16 16% 16 16 15% 13 17 21% 17 24 31 yrs. 30 32 5,427 1,579 2,060 1,787 100% 100 100 100 3% 6 -3 11% 19 5 8 15% 22 12 13 18% 18 19 16 16% 12 19 17 16% 9 19 20 21% 12 26 24 32 yrs. 27 34 33 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on age of defendants were available for 99.3% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than .5%. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 5 About half of robbery (53%), weapons (49%), and murder (47%) defendants were under age 25, compared to about a third of defendants overall (34%) (figure 4). Defendants charged with rape (25%), fraud (23%) or a drivingrelated offense (17%) were the least likely to be under age 25. Defendants charged with robbery (34%), murder (30%), motor vehicle theft (28%), or a weapons offense (28%) were more likely to be under age 21 than other defendants. Defendants charged with a driving-related offense (6%) or fraud (9%) were the least likely to be this young. Males formed a higher percentage of defendants under age 18 (90%) than of other age groups (table 6). The largest percentage of female defendants was in the 30 to 39 age group (22%). Sixty-six percent of the defendants under age 18 were black, compared to 61% or less in other age groups. Felony defendants under age 25 and age 21 in the 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 P ercent of defendants 60% 50% Under age 25 40% 30% Under age 21 20% 10% 0% All M urder R ape defendants R obbery Assault Burglary Larceny/ M otor F orgery F raud theft vehicle theft D rug W eapons D rivingtrafficking related M ost serious arrest charge Figure 4 Table 6. Gender and race of felony defendants, by age at arrest, 1998 Age at arrest Number of defendants Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Total Male Female Number of defendants Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Total Black White Other All ages 56,091 100% 82% 18% 48,754 100% 57% 41% 2% Under 18 18-20 21-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40 or older 1,926 8,588 8,470 9,512 9,008 7,935 10,652 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 90% 87 84 80 78 78 82 10% 13 16 20 22 22 18 1,723 7,157 6,992 8,003 7,837 7,113 9,750 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 66% 61 59 56 55 52 56 32% 37 38 40 43 45 43 3% 2 2 4 2 3 2 Note: Data on defendant age and gender were available for 99% of all cases. Data on defendant age and race were available for 86% all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. 6 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Black males comprised the largest proportion of defendants in each age group (figure 5). This effect was most pronounced in the under-age-18 category in which black males (62%) accounted for more than twice the percentage of white males (28%). It was least pronounced in the age 35 to 39 category, where black males (41%) accounted for a proportion of defendants much closer to that accounted for by white males (36%). Race and gender of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by age at arrest, 1998 Percent of defendants 60% Black male 40% Black females comprised a slightly higher percentage than white females in most of the age categories, but for no more than 13% of the defendants in any single age category. White male 20% Black female White female 0% Under 18 18-20 21-24 25-29 30-34 Age at arrest 35-39 40 or older Figure 5 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 7 Criminal history Criminal justice status at time of arrest Thirty-seven percent of felony defendants had an active criminal justice status at the time of their arrest on the current felony charge (table 7). Among defendants charged with a violent offense, about a third had an active criminal justice status, ranging from more than two-fifths of murder (45%) and robbery (44%) defendants to a fourth of rape defendants (25%). Thirty-six percent of property defendants had a criminal justice status, including about two-fifths of defendants charged with motor vehicle theft (41%) or burglary (39%). Among property defendants, those charged with fraud (26%) were the least likely to have had an active criminal justice status at the time of arrest. Among drug defendants, 40% had a criminal justice status overall. Those charged with drug trafficking (43%) were more likely to have a criminal justice status than those charged with other drug offenses (36%). Forty-two percent of public-order defendants had an active criminal justice status at the time of the current arrest. This included 40% of those charged with a weapons offense, 33% of those charged with a driving-related offense, and 53% of those charged with other public-order offenses. Table 7. Criminal justice status of felony defendants at time of arrest, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious current arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties with an active criminal justice status at the time of arrest Pretrial In Total Probation release* Parole custody Other 50,325 37% 16% 14% 5% 1% 1% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 12,257 360 669 3,046 6,289 1,893 34% 45 25 44 31 28 14% 23 10 15 13 13 14% 16 7 19 12 11 4% 2 7 7 3 2 2% 2 1 2 2 1 1% 1 0 1 1 1 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 15,087 3,861 5,166 1,451 1,475 1,224 1,909 36% 39 35 41 34 26 38 15% 17 16 21 11 14 10 13% 12 12 13 16 9 19 5% 7 5 6 4 1 6 2% 2 1 1 2 2 2 1% -1 1 1 0 1 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 18,068 8,662 9,406 40% 43 36 17% 16 19 16% 20 11 5% 6 5 ---- 1% 1 1 4,914 1,357 1,973 1,584 42% 40 33 53 16% 19 16 12 16% 11 13 22 5% 8 2 6 4% 1 1 9 2% 1 1 4 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on criminal justice status at time of arrest were available for 89% of all cases. Some defendants with a criminal justice status had more than 1 type of status. For those cases, the status indicated is the most serious. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. *Includes all defendants released prior to case disposition. --Less than 0.5%. Some defendants with a criminal justice status had more than one type of status. When just the most serious criminal justice status is considered, 16% of defendants were on probation, 14% had been released pending disposition of a previous case, and 5% were on parole at the time of the current arrest. Allowing for defendants with multiple types of criminal justice, 17% had been released on a prior case, 16% were on probation, and 5% were on parole. 8 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 The percent of defendants on parole at the time of their current felony arrest ranged from 7% of those charged with a weapons offense to 1% of those with charged with fraud (figure 6). Other offenses with at least 5% of the defendants on parole at the time of arrest included rape (6%), robbery (6%), burglary (6%), motor vehicle theft (6%), larceny/theft (5%), and drug trafficking (5%). The highest percentages of defendants on probation were among those charged with murder (21%), motor vehicle theft (20%), or a weapons offense (18%). Defendants charged with rape (10%), forgery (11%), assault (12%), or fraud (13%) were less likely to have been on probation at the time of arrest. Defendants charged with robbery (20%), drug trafficking (20%), or murder (18%) were the most likely to have been on release pending disposition of a prior case when they were arrested on the current felony charge. These defendants were about twice as likely as those charged with fraud (9%) or rape (8%) to have had such a status at the time of the current arrest. Criminal justice status of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1998 On parole at time of arrest Murder Rape Robbery Assault Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Drug trafficking Weapons Driving-related 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% Percent of defendants 25% On probation at time of arrest Murder Rape Robbery Assault Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Drug trafficking Weapons Driving-related 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% Percent of defendants 25% O n pretrial release* at tim e of arrest M urder Rape Robbery A ssault B urglary Larceny/theft M otor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Drug trafficking W eapons Driving-related 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% P ercent of defendants *Includes all defendants released prior to case disposition. Figure 6 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 9 Prior arrests Seventy-one percent of all defendants had at least one prior felony or misdemeanor arrest (table 8). Defendants whose most serious current arrest charge was for a public-order (79%) or drug (75%) offense were more likely to have been previously arrested than those charged with a property (68%) or violent (67%) offense. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, murder (81%) and robbery (73%) defendants were more likely to have an arrest record those charged with assault (66%) or rape (61%). Among property defendants, those charged with motor vehicle theft (78%) or burglary (77%) were the most likely to have been arrested previously, followed by those charged with larceny/theft (66%) or forgery (65%). Defendants charged with fraud (53%) were the least likely among property defendants to have one or more prior arrests. Among public-order defendants, defendants charged with a drivingrelated felony (83%) were more likely to have an arrest record than those facing weapon charges (72%). Among defendants with an arrest record, about 7 in 8 had more than one prior arrest charge, and a majority had at least five. Overall, 62% of defendants had two or more prior arrest charges, and 43% had five or more. Defendants charged with a drivingrelated offense (56%) or burglary (51%) were the most likely to have 5 or more prior arrest charges, and those charged with fraud (22%) the least likely. Twenty-five percent of all defendants had 10 or more prior arrest charges. This included 33% of defendants charged with a driving-related offense, 31% of burglary defendants, 29% of defendants charged with drug trafficking, 28% of murder defendants, and 27% of robbery defendants. Table 8. Number of prior arrest charges of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 1998 Most serious current arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Total Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Without With prior arrest prior Number of prior arrest charges arrest Total 1 2-4 5-9 10 or more 50,203 100% 29% 71% 9% 19% 18% 25% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 12,338 353 686 3,042 6,361 1,896 100% 100 100 100 100 100 33% 19 39 27 34 37 67% 81 61 73 66 63 10% 15 10 10 8 12 17% 17 17 16 18 16 17% 20 14 20 17 16 23% 28 20 27 22 19 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 14,970 3,816 5,112 1,419 1,500 1,231 1,893 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 32% 23 34 22 35 47 36 68% 77 66 78 65 53 64 10% 8 9 9 14 11 10 18% 18 17 21 19 20 16 16% 20 12 22 16 12 17 25% 31 27 26 16 10 20 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 18,079 8,734 9,345 100% 100 100 25% 24 27 75% 76 73 9% 8 9 21% 21 21 18% 18 18 27% 29 25 4,815 1,356 1,968 1,490 100% 100 100 100 21% 28 17 22 79% 72 83 78 9% 12 8 8 19% 21 20 18 21% 19 23 21 29% 20 33 31 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on prior arrests were available for 89% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. 10 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Two-thirds of defendants under age 18 had no previous arrests (figure 7). This proportion dropped to just under half among defendants age 18 to 20, just under a third among those in the 21-to-24 age group, a fourth in the 25-to-29 age group, and about a fifth among those age 30 to 49. About a third of those age 50 or older had no arrest record. Number of prior arrest charges of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by age of arrest, 1998 P ercent of defendants 80% 60% N o p rio r a rre s ts A fifth of the defendants age 18 to 20 had five or more prior arrests. This proportion rose to more than a third of defendants in the 21-to-24 age range, just under half in the 25-to-29 age range, and slightly more than half in the 30-to-49 age range. In the latter age range, defendants were more than twice as likely to have five or more prior arrests as no prior arrests. Among defendants with an arrest record, about 6 in 7 had been arrested at least once for a felony. Overall, three-fifths of defendants had a felony arrest record (table 9). Nearly half of all defendants had multiple prior felony arrest charges, including 25% with five or more. 5 o r m o re p rio r a rre s t c h a rg e s 40% 20% 2 -4 p rio r a rre s t c h a rg e s 1 p rio r a rre s t c h a rg e 0% U nder 18 18-20 21-24 25-29 30-34 A ge of defendants 35-39 4 0-49 50 or older Figure 7 Table 9. Number of prior felony arrest charges of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 1998 Most serious current arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Total Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Without prior felony arrest With prior felony arrest Non-felony No prior Number of prior felony charges arrests Total arrests Total 1 2-4 5-9 10 or more 50,203 100% 40% 11% 29% 60% 12% 22% 15% 10% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 12,338 353 686 3,042 6,361 1,896 100% 100 100 100 100 100 45% 33 53 37 47 53 12% 14 14 10 13 16 33% 19 39 27 34 37 55% 67 47 63 53 47 11% 11 8 13 11 10 20% 30 17 20 20 19 15% 15 15 18 14 12 9% 11 7 12 9 6 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 14,970 3,816 5,112 1,419 1,500 1,231 1,893 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 43% 34 46 33 46 60 46 11% 11 12 11 11 13 10 32% 23 34 22 35 47 36 57% 66 54 67 54 40 54 11% 10 12 10 14 11 14 20% 23 19 25 21 16 20 14% 18 13 19 12 10 11 11% 15 11 13 8 4 10 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 18,079 8,734 9,345 100% 100 100 36% 34 38 12% 10 11 25% 24 27 64% 66 62 12% 12 13 24% 25 24 17% 17 16 10% 11 9 4,815 1,356 1,968 1,490 100% 100 100 100 34% 34 36 33 14% 6 19 11 21% 28 17 22 66% 66 64 67 14% 16 13 13 26% 26 28 23 16% 15 15 20 10% 9 9 11 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on prior felony arrests were available for 89% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 11 More than half of the defendants facing a current charge for a violent felony had been previously arrested for a felony, including 67% of murder defendants and 63% of robbery defendants. Thirty percent of robbery defendants had 5 or more prior felony arrest charges, including 12% with 10 or more. Fifty-seven percent of property defendants had 1 or more prior felony arrests. About two-thirds of those currently charged with motor vehicle theft (67%) or burglary (66%) had a prior felony arrest record, and about a third of these defendants had at least five prior felony arrest charges. Fifteen percent of burglary defendants and 13% of motor vehicle theft defendants had 10 or more. Sixty-four percent of drug defendants had at least one prior felony arrest charge, and 27% had five or more. Sixty-six percent of public-order defendants had been previously arrested for a felony, including 26% with five or more prior felony charges. About half of robbery and murder defendants had more than one prior conviction, and about a fourth had 5 or more. Prior convictions Fifty-seven percent of property defendants had been convicted previously, including 67% of burglary defendants. Fifty-four percent of burglary defendants had multiple prior convictions, including 29% with five or more. Sixty-one percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were known to have at least one prior conviction for a misdemeanor or a felony (table 10). About three-fourths of those with a conviction record, accounting for 46% of defendants overall, had more than one prior conviction. Twenty-three percent of all defendants had five or more prior convictions. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, 57% had at least one prior conviction. Murder (70%), and robbery (63%) defendants were the most likely to have a conviction record, and rape defendants (51%) the least likely. Nearly two-thirds of drug defendants had at least one prior conviction (64%). About half (49%) had two or more, and about a fourth (24%) had at least five. These percentages did not vary significantly by type of drug offense. Among public-order defendants, 70% had a conviction record, and 27% had five or more. Three-fourths of the defendants facing driving-related charges had at least one prior conviction of some type, and three-fifths had multiple prior convictions. Table 10. Number of prior convictions of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 1998 Most serious current arrest charge Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Without With prior conviction prior Number of prior convictions conviction Total 1 2-4 5-9 10 or more Number of defendants Total 50,719 100% 39% 61% 15% 24% 15% 8% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 12,392 354 691 3,059 6,365 1,923 100% 100 100 100 100 100 43% 30 49 37 44 47 57% 70 51 63 56 53 14% 23 10 14 14 16 24% 22 25 27 23 20 13% 14 9 14 13 11 6% 11 6 8 5 7 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 15,149 3,850 5,139 1,471 1,498 1,234 1,957 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 43% 33 45 35 50 58 46 57% 67 55 65 50 42 54 14% 13 12 15 15 18 15 22% 25 21 28 19 15 21 14% 17 14 15 10 8 13 8% 12 9 7 6 2 5 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 18,266 8,849 9,418 100% 100 100 36% 35 37 64% 65 63 15% 16 14 25% 25 25 16% 16 16 8% 8 8 4,912 1,379 1,985 1,549 100% 100 100 100 30% 39 25 28 70% 61 75 72 16% 18 16 15 27% 25 28 29 17% 15 19 16 10% 3 13 11 All offenses Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on number of prior convictions were available for 90% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. 12 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 About two-thirds of the defendants with a conviction record, 42% of defendants overall, had at least one prior conviction for a felony (table 11). Thirty-seven percent of defendants whose current charge was for a violent felony had previously been convicted of a felony. Among these defendants, the percentage with a prior felony conviction ranged from 54% among those charged with murder to 34% of those charged with assault. Forty percent of property defendants had a felony conviction record, including nearly half of those charged with motor vehicle theft (48%) or burglary (47%). Defendants charged with fraud (28%) were the least likely to have a prior felony conviction. A majority of the defendants with a felony conviction record, 25% of defendants overall, had multiple prior felony convictions. Six percent of all defendants had five or more prior felony convictions. By specific offense, defendants charged with burglary (33%) or motor vehicle theft (30%) were the most likely to have multiple prior felony convictions. About 1 in 10 burglary defendants had five or more such convictions. Defendants charged with fraud (13%) were the least likely to have more than one prior conviction for a felony. Forty-four percent of the defendants whose most serious current arrest charge was for a drug offense had been previously convicted of a felony, There was no significant variation by type of drug offense. Table 11. Number of prior felony convictions of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 1998 Most serious current arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Total Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Without prior felony conviction With prior felony conviction Nonfelony No prior Number of prior felony convictions Total only convictions Total 1 2-4 5-9 10 or more 50,719 100% 58% 19% 39% 42% 17% 19% 5% 1% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 12,392 354 691 3,059 6,365 1,923 100% 100 100 100 100 100 63% 46 62 55 66 66 20% 16 14 18 22 20 43% 30 49 37 44 47 37% 54 38 45 34 34 16% 26 15 17 15 15 17% 20 17 22 15 14 4% 3 4 5 4 3 1% 4 1 1 -1 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 15,149 3,850 5,139 1,471 1,498 1,234 1,957 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 60% 53 62 52 66 72 62 17% 20 17 17 16 14 16 43% 33 45 35 50 58 46 40% 47 38 48 34 28 38 14% 14 14 18 13 15 16 19% 23 17 25 16 10 17 6% 8 7 5 4 2 4 1% 2 1 1 1 -1 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 18,266 8,849 9,418 100% 100 100 56% 55 56 20% 20 20 36% 35 37 44% 45 44 18% 19 17 20% 20 21 5% 5 6 1% 1 1 4,912 1,379 1,985 1,549 100% 100 100 100 51% 51 53 49 21% 11 29 21 30% 39 25 28 49% 49 47 51 22% 26 19 21 22% 19 21 24 5% 3 6 4 1% 1 -1 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on number of prior felony convictions were available for 90% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 13 Seventy-seven percent of defendants under age 18 at the time of the current arrest had no prior adult convictions (figure 8). Seventeen percent of these defendants had been previously convicted of at least one felony. Five percent had at least one prior conviction for a misdemeanor, but none for a felony. In the 18-to-20 age range, 62% of defendants had no prior convictions, while 23% had at least one prior felony conviction. Most serious prior conviction of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by age at arrest, 1998 Percent of defendants 80% None 60% Felony 40% A majority of the defendants age 21 or older had a conviction record, and defendants ages 25 to 49 were more likely to have a felony conviction record than no prior convictions at all. About half of defendants age 30 to 49 had a felony conviction record. For nearly a third of the defendants with a prior felony conviction, 12% of defendants overall, their criminal history included at least one conviction for a violent felony (table 12). Fifteen percent of the defendants currently charged with a violent offense had a prior conviction for a violent felony. 20% Misdemeanor 0% Under 18 18-20 21-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-49 Age at arrest 50 or older Figure 8 Table 12. Most serious prior conviction of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 1998 Most serious current arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Total Without prior conviction Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Most serious prior conviction Felony Total Total Violent Nonviolent Misdemeanor 52,616 100% 39% 61% 42% 12% 29% 19% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 12,808 389 716 3,172 6,534 1,998 100% 100 100 100 100 100 43% 30 49 37 44 47 57% 70 51 63 56 53 37% 54 38 45 34 34 15% 14 17 19 15 11 22% 40 20 25 19 23 20% 16 14 18 22 20 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 15,684 3,969 5,297 1,526 1,570 1,294 2,028 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 43% 33 45 35 50 58 46 57% 67 55 65 50 42 54 40% 47 38 48 34 28 38 11% 16 10 12 7 3 11 29% 31 28 36 27 25 26 17% 20 17 17 16 14 16 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 19,056 9,218 9,838 100% 100 100 36% 35 37 64% 65 63 44% 45 44 10% 10 11 34% 35 33 20% 20 20 5,068 1,453 2,009 1,606 100% 100 100 100 30% 39 25 28 70% 61 75 72 49% 49 47 51 17% 18 12 21 32% 31 34 30 21% 11 29 21 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on most serious prior conviction were available for 93% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. 14 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 By specific arrest charge, the percentage of defendants previously convicted of a violent felony was highest among those charged with robbery (19%), a weapons offense (18%), rape (17%), burglary (16%), assault (15%) or murder (14%) (figure 9). Defendants charged with fraud (3%) or forgery (7%) were the least likely to have a prior conviction for a violent felony. The most serious prior conviction was a nonviolent felony for 40% of murder defendants. This was also the case for about a third of defendants charged with motor vehicle theft (36%), drug trafficking (35%), a driving-related offense (34%), burglary (31%), or a weapons offense (31%). Defendants charged with a drivingrelated offense (28%) were more likely than other defendants to have a conviction record that consisted only of misdemeanors. Most serious prior conviction of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1998 Violent felony Murder Rape Robbery Assault Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Drug trafficking Weapons Driving-related 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Percent of defendants 40% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% Percent of defendants 5% 10% Nonviolent felony Murder Rape Robbery Assault Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Drug trafficking Weapons Driving-related 0% Misdemeanor Murder Rape Robbery Assault Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Drug trafficking Weapons Driving-related 0% 15% 20% 25% 30% Percent of defendants 35% 40% Figure 9 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 15 Pretrial release and detention Rates of release and detention An estimated 64% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were released prior to the final disposition of their case (table 13). By general offense category, defendants charged with a violent offense (54%) were less likely to be released than those whose most serious arrest charge was a public-order (69%), drug (68%), or property (66%) offense. Within the violent offense category, release rates varied greatly. Just 13% of murder defendants were released compared to 62% of those charged with assault. Forty-seven percent of rape defendants and 38% of robbery defendants were released before the court disposed of their case. Among defendants charged with a property offense, half of those charged with burglary or motor vehicle theft were released prior to case disposition. Higher proportions of those charged with fraud (84%), forgery (78%), or larceny/theft (73%) were released. Among drug defendants, those charged with drug trafficking (63%) were less likely to be released than those charged with other drug offenses (72%). Among public-order defendants, those charged with a driving-related offense (78%) were the most likely to be released. Table 13. Felony defendants released before or detained until case disposition, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge Number of defendants All offenses Percent of defendants in the 75 largest counties Released Detained before case until case Total disposition disposition 54,458 100% 64% 36% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 13,241 409 723 3,386 6,705 2,017 100% 100 100 100 100 100 54% 13 47 38 62 63 46% 87 53 62 38 37 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 15,860 4,116 5,316 1,551 1,556 1,312 2,010 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 66% 50 73 50 78 84 70 34% 50 27 50 22 16 30 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 20,346 9,751 10,595 100% 100 100 68% 63 72 32% 37 28 5,011 1,567 1,819 1,625 100% 100 100 100 69% 64 78 63 31% 36 22 37 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on detention/release outcome were available for 96% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Pretrial detention of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge Held on bail Denied bail Denied bail Murder Rape Among the 37% of defendants who were detained in jail until case disposition, about 4 in 5 had a bail amount set but did not post the money required to secure release. Detained murder defendants were the exception to this rule; a majority of them, 47% of murder defendants overall, were ordered held without bail (figure 10). Across all offense types, 7% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were denied bail. Robbery Assault Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Drug trafficking Weapons Driving-related 0% Figure 10 16 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Percent of defendants 70% 80% A majority of the defendants released prior to case disposition, 34% of defendants overall, were released under financial conditions that required the posting of bail (see Methodology for definitions related to pretrial release) (table 14). The most common type of financial release was surety bond (24% of all defendants and 36% of released defendants), which involves the services of a commercial bail bond agent (figure 11). A small number of defendants were released prior to case disposition as the result of an emergency release used to relieve jail crowding. Such releases did not involve the use of any of the release types mentioned above. Release on personal recognizance (18% of all defendants and 30% of released defendants), was the type of nonfinancial release used most. Other nonfinancial types of release included conditional release (8% of all defendants and 13% of released defendants), and release on unsecured bond (4% and 6%). Pretrial release of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1998 Type of pretrial release Other types of financial release were deposit bond (5% of all defendants and 8% of released defendants), full cash bond (3% and 5%), and property bond (2% and 3%). All of these types of bonds are posted directly with the court without the use of a bail bond agent. Surety bond Recognizance Conditional Deposit bond Unsecured bond Just under half of released defendants, 30% of defendants overall, were released under nonfinancial conditions not requiring the posting of bail. Full cash bond Property bond 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Percent of released defendants 50% Figure 11 Table 14. Type of pretrial release or detention of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge All offenses Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Released before case disposition Financial release Nonfinancial release Full Total Total Surety Deposit cash Property nonRecog- ConUnfinancial bond bond bond bond financial nizance ditional secured Emergency release Detained until case disposition Held on Denied bail bail 34% 24% 5% 3% 2% 30% 18% 8% 4% --% 29% 7% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 36% 11 30 27 41 41 24% 4 19 16 29 28 7% 4 3 7 8 6 3% 1 6 1 3 5 2% 2 3 3 1 2 18% 2 17 11 20 22 11% 2 10 7 13 13 5% 1 7 3 6 7 2% 0 0 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 36% 39 42 50 30 30 10% 47 12 11 8 7 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 33% 27 38 25 36 29 34 24% 20 28 20 26 21 22 4% 4 4 4 4 5 6 3% 2 4 1 5 2 2 2% 1 2 -1 1 4 33% 23 34 25 41 53 35 20% 14 21 13 23 41 17 8% 6 8 9 14 5 9 5% 2 5 3 4 7 9 --% ----1 1 28% 41 22 42 16 14 25 7% 9 6 8 7 2 5 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 33% 36 32 23% 27 21 5% 5 6 3% 3 2 2% 1 3 34% 27 40 21% 16 25 9% 8 10 4% 3 6 --% --- 27% 31 23 5% 6 5 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order 38% 36 45 32 26% 21 34 22 6% 10 5 3 6% 5 6 6 --% 1 -1 30% 27 33 31 17% 13 19 21 9% 7 11 8 4% 8 3 2 --% ---- 22% 29 17 22 9% 7 5 15 Note: Data on specific type of pretrial release or detention were available for 87% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 17 Bail amounts Overall, 64% of felony defendants had a bail amount set by the court, and were required to post all or part of that amount to secure release while their case was pending. The remainder were granted nonfinancial release (30%), ordered held without bail (7%), or were part of an emergency release (less than 0.5%). Just under half of those with a bail amount had it set at $10,000 or more, and a fourth had it set at $25,000 or more (table 15). Among defendants with a bail amount set, those charged with a violent offense (40%) were about twice as likely as other defendants to have it set at $25,000 or more. About 9 in 10 murder defendants (91%) with a bail amount had it set at $25,000 or more, as did about two-thirds of rape defendants (67%) and about half of robbery defendants (53%). Among property defendants with a bail amount set, those charged with burglary (25%) were the most likely to have bail set at $25,000 or more. Among drug defendants, those charged with drug trafficking (26%) were about twice as likely to have bail set at $25,000 or more as other drug defendants (14%). Among publicorder defendants, those charged with a weapons offense (24%) were more likely than those charged with a driving-related offense (14%) to have bail set this high. Overall, defendants who were detained until case disposition had a median bail amount 3 times that of defendants who secured release ($15,000 versus $5,000) (table 16). The mean bail amount for detained defendants ($56,900) was about 5 times that of defendants who secured release ($11,300). Detained murder defendants had the highest median ($250,000) and mean ($529,200) bail amounts. Overall, the median bail amount for murder defendants was $250,000 and the mean was $441,600. Table 15. Bail amount set for felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Total Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties with a bail amount of: Under $5,000$10,000$25,000 $5,000 $9,999 $24,999 or more 30,479 100% 34% 20% 22% 25% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 8,281 196 450 2,238 4,083 1,313 100% 100 100 100 100 100 22% 3 10 14 28 24 17% 2 7 13 20 20 20% 3 16 20 21 24 40% 91 67 53 31 32 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 8,705 2,552 2,963 1,010 668 519 993 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 42% 30 52 37 47 39 51 20% 21 19 21 19 20 20 21% 25 18 24 15 26 16 17% 25 12 18 19 14 13 10,819 5,508 5,311 100% 100 100 34% 24 44 22% 24 20 24% 27 22 20% 26 14 2,675 927 1,045 703 100% 100 100 100 43% 31 52 44 18% 19 19 17 19% 26 14 16 20% 24 14 23 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on bail amount were available for 95% of all defendants for whom a bail amount was set. Table excludes defendants given nonfinancial release. Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. Table 16. Median and mean bail amounts set for felony defendants, by pretrial release/detention outcome and most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge All offenses Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Median bail amount Mean bail amount Total Released Detained Total Released Detained $7,500 $5,000 $15,000 $33,000 $11,300 $56,900 $15,000 250,000 30,000 25,000 10,000 10,000 $7,500 50,000 17,500 8,000 5,000 5,000 $30,000 250,000 60,000 35,000 25,000 30,000 $55,800 441,600 85,500 57,100 39,700 36,200 $13,000 108,400 23,500 14,000 10,500 11,700 $92,800 529,200 126,600 75,900 73,400 68,900 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property $5,000 8,000 3,500 5,500 5,000 5,000 4,500 $2,500 5,000 2,000 2,500 2,500 5,000 2,500 $10,000 15,000 10,000 10,000 11,000 10,000 5,500 $19,900 29,100 13,000 15,600 14,500 13,000 28,900 $6,400 8,600 5,000 6,500 7,600 8,300 5,200 $35,100 42,000 27,000 21,200 29,300 23,100 56,100 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug $7,500 10,000 5,000 $5,000 5,500 2,500 $10,000 15,000 10,000 $29,100 40,300 17,500 $15,600 26,400 5,400 $45,100 55,100 33,400 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order $5,000 10,000 3,500 5,000 $2,500 5,000 2,000 2,500 $20,000 20,000 15,000 10,000 $21,200 31,100 14,200 18,500 $6,200 7,200 5,000 7,100 $45,100 60,100 39,200 31,300 Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent Note: Data on bail amount were available for 95% of all defendants for whom a bail amount was set. Bail amounts have been rounded to the nearest hundred dollars. Table excludes defendants given nonfinancial release. 18 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Overall, about half (52%) of defendants who were required to post bail to secure release did so. About threefourths of defendants with a bail set at under $5,000 (76%) posted the amount needed for release, as did about three-fifths of those with a bail amount of $5,000 to $9,999 (61%) (figure 12). In contrast, just 1 in 8 defendants with bail set at $50,000 or more (12%), and 1 in 4 defendants with a bail amount of $25,000 to $49,999 (27%) met the financial conditions required for release. Among defendants given financial release, the mean bail amount was higher for those released on surety ($13,300) or property ($12,800) bond, than for those released on full cash ($9,200) or deposit ($8,600) bond. The median bail amount was $5,000 for all types of financial release bonds except full cash ($2,500). Type of release bond Surety Deposit Full cash Property Unsecured Bail amount Median Mean $5,000 $13,300 5,000 8,600 2,500 9,200 5,000 12,800 $5,000 $7,700 Unlike those released on full cash bond, defendants released on deposit bond generally posted 10% of the full bail amount with the court to secure release. However, they remained liable to the court for the full bail amount if they violated the terms of release. Those released on surety bond paid a similar fee to a bail bond agent, who assumed liability to the court for the full bail amount if the defendant violated the terms of release. Defendants released on an unsecured bond had a median bail amount of $5,000 and a mean bail amount of $7,700. These defendants did not have to post any of this amount, but like those on financial release, they were liable for the full bail amount if they violated the terms of release. Probability of release for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by bail amount set, 1998 Bail amount set $50,000 or more $25,000-$49,999 $10,000-$24,999 $5,000-$9,999 Under $5,000 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% Percent of defendants released prior to case disposition Figure 12 Time from arrest to release Among defendants released prior to case disposition, 54% were released within 1 day of arrest, and 80% within 1 week (table 17). Nearly all releases during the 1-year study occurred within a month of arrest (94%). By general offense category, defendants charged with a violent offense (49%) were the least likely to be released within 1 day of arrest. Slightly more than half of those charged with a drug (53%), public-order (56%), or property (58%) offense were released this quickly. By specific offense, murder defendants typically waited the longest to be released. Just 7% of released murder defendants were released within 1 day of arrest, compared to 71% of those charged with fraud and 63% of those charged with charged with larceny/ theft. After 1 month, just 32% of murder defendant releases had occurred, compared to nearly all of the releases of other defendants. Table 17. Time from arrest to release for felony defendants released before case disposition, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge All offenses Released felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Number of Percent who were released within: defendants 1 day 1 week 1 month 33,878 54% 80% 94% 6,949 51 334 1,242 4,074 1,248 49% 7 31 39 53 55 75% 28 61 67 78 81 91% 32 83 84 93 94 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 10,183 2,000 3,798 771 1,173 1,084 1,356 58% 44 63 48 56 71 63 81% 75 83 69 83 83 86 94% 92 94 92 97 93 96 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 13,449 6,046 7,403 53% 50 55 82% 79 84 94% 92 96 3,298 978 1,354 966 56% 52 59 56 82% 78 84 83 95% 96 95 95 Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on time from arrest to release were available for 97% of all cases. Release data were collected for 1 year. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 19 When differences among types of offense are held constant, defendants released under financial terms generally took longer to secure their release than those who were released under nonfinancial conditions. Among defendants who were released under financial conditions, the amount of time from arrest to pretrial release tended to increase as the bail amount did. Criminal history and probability of release Court decisions about bail and pretrial release are primarily based on the judgment of whether a defendant will appear in court as scheduled and whether there is potential danger to the community from crimes that a defendant may commit if released. Many States have established specific criteria to be considered by the courts when setting release conditions. The SCPS data illustrate how release rates vary with some of these factors. For example, 71% of the defendants without an active criminal justice status when arrested for the current offense were released prior to case disposition, compared to 42% of those with such a status (table 18). Defendants on parole (18%) or with an open bench warrant (20%) at the time of arrest were the least likely to be released. This compared with 43% of those on probation and 55% of those released pending disposition of a prior case. Seventy-nine percent of the defendants with no prior arrests were released, compared to 54% of those who had been previously arrested. Among defendants with an arrest record, those who had never missed a court appearance (59%) had a higher probability of being released than those who had failed to appear at least once during a previous case (46%). About three-fourths of defendants without a prior conviction (77%) were released prior to disposition of the current case, compared to half of those with a conviction record. Among defendants with a conviction record, release rates ranged from 62% for those with a single prior conviction to 39% for those with five or more. Less than half of the defendants with one or more prior felony convictions (44%) were released prior to disposition of the current case, compared to about three-fifths of those whose prior convictions involved only misdemeanors (62%). Those with a prior conviction for a violent felony (39%) had a lower release rate than those whose most serious prior conviction was for a nonviolent felony (47%). Table 18. Percent of felony defendants who were released prior to case disposition, by criminal history, 1998 Criminal history Number of defendants Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Released prior to case disposition Detained until case disposition NonTotal Financial financial Held Denied released release release Total on bail bail Criminal justice status Any type On parole On probation Open failure to appear warrant On pretrial release* None 15,967 2,197 7,535 434 4,962 28,009 42% 18 43 20 55 71 23% 9 23 7 31 36 19% 9 20 14 24 34 58% 82 57 80 45 29 41% 60 40 65 33 26 18% 22 16 14 12 3 Court appearance history With prior arrest(s) With prior failure to appear Made all prior appearances No prior arrests 33,361 14,510 16,533 11,692 54% 46 59 79 28% 22 33 39 25% 24 26 39 46% 54 41 21 36% 42 33 18 10% 12 8 3 Number of prior convictions With prior conviction(s) 5 or more 2-4 1 None 28,376 10,114 10,365 6,237 17,536 50% 39 51 62 77 26% 22 27 31 39 24% 17 24 30 38 50% 61 49 38 23 39% 49 37 29 19 11% 12 11 10 4 Most serious prior conviction Any type of felony Violent felony Nonviolent felony Misdemeanor 19,634 5,786 13,874 8,743 44% 39 47 62 24% 22 25 31 20% 17 22 31 56% 61 53 38 43% 45 42 31 13% 16 11 6 Note: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. *Includes all defendants who were released prior to case disposition and did not have an open bench warrant for failure-to-appear. 20 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Conduct of released defendants Among defendants who were released prior to case disposition, 31% committed some type of misconduct while in a release status (table 19). This may have been in the form of a failure to appear in court, an arrest for a new offense, or some other violation of release conditions that resulted in the revocation of that release by the court. By original offense category, the proportion of defendants charged with pretrial misconduct was higher for drug defendants (38%) than for defendants charged with a property (29%), publicorder (27%), or violent (24%) offense. By specific arrest offense, rates of pretrial misconduct were highest among defendants charged with drug Table 19. Released felony defendants committing misconduct, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge All offenses Released felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Percent with misNumber conduct 34,753 31% 7,103 55 338 1,303 4,142 1,267 24% 16 20 38 21 20 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 10,404 2,049 3,855 779 1,208 1,105 1,408 29% 35 30 39 31 12 28 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 13,805 6,165 7,640 38% 40 36 3,441 1,004 1,419 1,018 27% 27 26 28 Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Types of misconduct included failure to appear in court, rearrest for a new offense, or a technical violation of release conditions that resulted in the revocation of pretrial release. Data were collected for up to 1 year. trafficking (40%), motor vehicle theft (39%), or robbery (38%). Defendants whose most serious original arrest charge was fraud (12%) had the lowest misconduct rate. Failure to appear in court About three-fourths of the defendants who were released prior to case disposition made all scheduled court appearances (76%). Bench warrants for failing to appear in court were issued for the remaining 24% (table 20). Released drug defendants (30%) had the highest failure-to-appear rate followed by property defendants (24%). Lower percentages of defendants charged with public-order (18%) or violent (14%) offenses failed to appear in court as scheduled. Within the violent offense category, failure-toappear rates were highest for defendants charged with robbery (21%). Nearly a fourth of the defendants who failed to appear in court, 5% of all defendants, were still fugitives at the end of the 1-year study period. The remainder were returned to the court (either voluntarily or not) before the end of the study. Defendants released after being charged with a drug offense (7%) were slightly more likely to be a fugitive after 1 year than defendants released after being charged with other offenses. No released murder defendants were in a fugitive status at the end of the 1-year study period. Table 20. Released felony defendants who failed to make a scheduled court appearance, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Percent of released felony defendants in the 75 largest counties who: Failed to appear in court Made all court Returned Remained appearances Total to court a fugitive 34,695 76% 24% 18% 5% 7,090 55 333 1,298 4,142 1,262 86% 100 90 79 87 90 14% 0 10 21 13 10 11% 0 9 17 11 8 3% 0 1 4 2 2 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 10,380 2,044 3,846 776 1,205 1,105 1,404 76% 74 76 67 75 88 80 24% 26 24 33 25 12 20 18% 21 19 28 19 8 15 5% 5 5 5 6 5 5 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 13,784 6,165 7,619 70% 73 68 30% 27 32 22% 20 24 7% 6 8 3,441 1,004 1,419 1,018 82% 84 80 81 18% 16 20 19 14% 13 15 15 4% 3 5 4 Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on the court appearance record for the current case were available for 99.8% of cases involving a defendant released prior to case disposition. All defendants who failed to appear in court and were not returned to the court during the 1-year study period are counted as fugitives. Some of these defendants may have been returned to the court at a later date. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 21 Rearrest for a new offense Overall, 16% of released defendants were rearrested for a new offense allegedly committed while they awaited disposition of their original case (table 21). Sixty-two percent of these defendants, 10% of all released defendants, were charged with a new felony. Sixtytwo percent of the new felony arrests were for the same category of offense as the original charge, and 44% were for the same specific type of offense. By original arrest charge, released drug trafficking (25%) and robbery (24%) defendants had the highest pretrial rearrest rate. Defendants originally charged with fraud (3%) had the lowest. Defendants released after originally being charged with robbery (15%), drug trafficking (15%), or motor vehicle theft (14%) were the most likely to be rearrested for a new felony while in a release status (figure 13). Table 21. Released felony defendants who were rearrested prior to case disposition, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge All offenses Number of defendants Percent of released felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Rearrested Not MisdeTotal rearrested Total Felony meanor 32,208 100% 84% 16% 10% 6% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 6,740 55 320 1,229 3,951 1,186 100% 100 100 100 100 100 87% 92 92 76 89 88 13% 8 8 24 11 12 8% 8 7 15 6 5 6% 0 1 9 5 7 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 9,677 1,902 3,651 701 1,088 1,024 1,311 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 86% 83 86 81 90 97 85 14% 17 14 19 10 3 15 8% 11 8 14 6 2 10 5% 6 6 4 5 1 5 12,546 5,664 6,882 100% 100 100 80% 75 84 20% 25 16 13% 15 10 7% 9 6 3,245 914 1,370 962 100% 100 100 100 86% 88 87 82 14% 12 13 18 9% 7 9 11 5% 5 4 7 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Rearrest data were available for 93% of released defendants. Rearrest data were collected for 1 year. Rearrests occurring after the end of this 1-year study period are not included in the table. Information on rearrests occurring in jurisdictions other than the one granting the pretrial release was not always available. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Misconduct prior to case disposition by released felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1998 Rearrested for a new felony Committing any type of misconduct Most serous arrest charge Most serious arrest charge Murder Murder Rape Rape Robbery Robbery Assault Assault Burglary Burglary Larceny/theft Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Forgery Fraud Fraud Drug trafficking Drug trafficking Weapons Weapons Driving-related Driving-related 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Percent of released defendants Figure 13 22 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 50% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% Percent of released defendants 50% Adjudication Time from arrest to adjudication For 54% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, adjudication of their case occurred within 3 months of arrest, and 75% of cases were adjudicated within 6 months of arrest (table 22). By the end of the 1-year study period, 90% of all cases had been adjudicated. While the overall median time from arrest to adjudication was 79 days, it was about twice this long for rape defendants (163 days), and was more than a year for murder defendants. Defendants charged with motor vehicle theft had the shortest median time from arrest to adjudication (49 days). At the end of the 1-year study period, 61% of murder defendants were awaiting adjudication of their case, compared to 20% of rape defendants, and no more than 12% of the defendants in any other offense category. For each offense other than murder (for which medians could not be calculated), and rape (where the times were about the same), the median time from arrest to adjudication was shorter for detained defendants than for those released pending case disposition (figure 14). The median time from arrest to adjudication was about 3 months longer for defendants released after being charged with motor vehicle theft, drug trafficking or a driving-related felony than for those detained. The difference was about 2½ months among those charged with forgery or larceny/theft, and about 2 months among those charged with burglary, assault, or fraud. Table 22. Time from arrest to adjudication for felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Median Cumulative percent of cases adjudicated within: time 1 week 1 month 3 months 6 months 1 year Number of defendants All offenses 55,988 79 days 10% 29% 54% 75% 90% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 13,490 409 725 3,429 6,873 2,054 92 days -163 89 81 95 8% 1 9 9 8 6 27% 5 16 28 30 21 50% 14 32 51 53 47 73% 20 57 74 77 71 89% 39 80 89 92 91 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 16,480 4,206 5,550 1,578 1,663 1,343 2,139 76 days 77 85 49 94 70 71 10% 8 10 8 11 11 14 29% 30 25 38 25 27 30 57% 56 55 65 49 59 56 79% 79 78 87 73 77 78 91% 91 91 96 88 89 89 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 20,596 9,903 10,693 75 days 79 69 11% 12 10 30% 29 31 56% 53 58 75% 73 76 89% 89 89 5,422 1,573 2,060 1,788 78 days 69 96 62 12% 6 14 16 30% 30 28 32 55% 56 47 61 77% 77 73 80 91% 92 88 93 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on time from arrest to adjudication were available for 99% of all cases. The median time from arrest to adjudication includes cases still pending at the end of the study. Knowing the exact times for these cases would not change the medians reported. --The median time from arrest to adjudication for murder defendants extended beyond the 1-year study period and could not be calculated. Median time from arrest to adjudication for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by pretrial detention-release outcome, 1998 M ost serious arrest charge R ape R e le a s e d R obbery D e ta in e d A ssault B urglary Larceny/theft M otor vehicle theft Forgery Excluding murder, the longest median time from arrest to adjudication among released defendants was for those charged with rape (163 days), followed by those charged with a driving-related offense (131 days), drug trafficking (128 days), or forgery (126 days). Detained defendants charged with motor vehicle theft (27 days) or fraud (28 days) had the shortest adjudication time. Fraud D rug trafficking W eapons D riving-related 0 40 80 120 160 200 N um ber of days N ote: M urder defend ants are excluded because their m edian tim e from arrest to adjudica tion exceeded the 1-year study period, and could not be calcu lated. Figure 14 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 23 Table 23. Adjudication outcome for felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge Number of defendants All offenses Total convicted Total Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Convicted Not convicted Felony Misdemeanor DisAcPlea Trial Total Plea Trial Total missed quitted Other outcome* 50,284 68% 52% 50% 2% 15% 15% 1% 28% 27% 1% 4% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 12,067 158 586 3,072 6,375 1,875 59% 68 66 66 54 61 42% 68 52 53 34 45 38% 42 48 47 32 42 4% 26 4 6 3 3 17% 0 14 12 20 16 16% 0 13 11 19 14 1% 0 1 1 1 2 38% 32 31 31 42 35 36% 30 29 30 41 33 1% 2 2 1 1 2 3% 0 3 3 4 4 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 14,949 3,821 5,049 1,511 1,469 1,195 1,904 69% 72 66 66 75 69 68 52% 58 50 53 53 48 41 49% 57 48 50 50 46 39 2% 2 2 2 2 2 2 18% 14 15 14 22 22 27 17% 14 15 13 22 22 27 --% --1 -0 0 26% 24 27 31 23 19 30 25% 24 26 31 22 18 28 1% 1 1 --1 1 5% 3 7 2 2 12 2 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 18,336 8,811 9,524 72% 77 67 61% 66 57 59% 64 55 2% 2 1 11% 12 11 11% 10 11 1% 1 -- 23% 20 26 22% 19 26 --% --- 5% 3 7 4,932 1,453 1,816 1,662 69% 69 73 65 49% 57 56 34 47% 55 53 32 2% 2 2 2 20% 12 18 31 20% 10 17 31 1% 1 1 -- 29% 28 24 34 28% 27 24 32 1% 2 -1 2% 3 2 1 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Ten percent of all cases were still pending adjudication at the end of the 1-year study period, and are excluded from the table. Data on adjudication outcome were available for 99% of those cases that had been adjudicated. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. *Includes diversion and deferred adjudication. Adjudication outcome Sixty-eight percent of the defendants whose cases were adjudicated within 1 year of arrest were convicted (table 23). A majority of these convictions were for a felony, with 52% of defendants eventually convicted of a felony. About 6 in 10 defendants charged with a violent offense (59%) were eventually convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor, compared to about 7 in 10 defendants originally charged with a drug (72%), property (69%), or publicorder (69%) offense. By specific type of arrest offense, the proportion of defendants convicted ranged from about three-fourths of those charged with drug trafficking (77%), forgery (75%), a driving-related offense (73%), or burglary (72%) to just over half of those charged with assault (54%). The probability of being convicted of a felony was highest for defendants whose most serious arrest charge was murder (68%) or drug trafficking (66%). The next highest felony conviction rates were for defendants charged with burglary (58%), a weapons offense (57%), or a driving-related offense (56%). The lowest felony conviction rate was for assault defendants (34%). In most cases where the defendant was not convicted, it was because the charges against the defendant were dismissed. An estimated 27% of all cases ended in this way, with about two-fifths of dismissals by the prosecutor and three-fifths by the court. Defendants charged with assault (41%) were the most likely to have their case dismissed, and those charged with fraud (18%) or drug trafficking (19%) the least likely. About 4% of cases had other outcomes such as diversion or deferred adjudication. Defendants charged with fraud (12%) were the most likely to have their case handled in this manner. Seventy-eight percent of the defendants who were detained until case 24 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 disposition were eventually convicted of some offense, compared to 63% of those released pending disposition (table 24). Approximately two-thirds of detained defendants (67%) were convicted of a felony, compared to under half of released defendants (46%). Table 24. Adjudication outcome for felony defendants, by detentionrelease outcome and most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge Number of deConvicted fendants Total Felony Released defendants All offenses 29,482 63% 46% Violent offenses 6,216 Property offenses 8,957 Drug offenses 11,298 Public-order offenses 3,011 50% 64 67 68 30% 45 56 45 Detained defendants All offenses 18,812 78% 67% Violent offenses Property offenses Drug offenses Public-order offenses 70% 80 83 80 58% 68 74 67 5,566 536 6,420 1,509 Adjudication outcome was related to some extent to the number and type of the original arrest charges filed. Seventy-two percent of defendants who were originally charged with more than 1 felony were eventually convicted of some offense, compared to 65% of the defendants who had no additional felony charges (table 25). Sixty percent of defendants whose original arrest charges included more than one felony were eventually convicted of a felony compared to 48% of those with no additional felony charges. Among the defendants who had no additional felony charges, those who were charged with one or more misdemeanors (36%), were less likely to be convicted of a felony than those who had no additional charges (53%). Overall, about two-thirds of defendants entered a guilty plea at some point, with 50% pleading guilty to a felony, and 15% to a misdemeanor. Two-thirds or more of defendants charged with drug trafficking (74%), forgery (72%), burglary (71%), a driving-related offense (70%), fraud (67%), or a weapons offense (66%) pleaded guilty to either a felony or a misdemeanor. Murder defendants (42%) had the lowest overall plea rate, with all of these pleas to a felony. Nearly two-thirds of defendants charged with drug trafficking (64%) pleaded guilty to a felony, as did a majority of those charged with burglary (57%), a weapons offense (55%), or a driving-related offense (53%). Assault defendants (32%) were the least likely to plead guilty to a felony charge. Plea rate for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 M ost serio us arrest cha rge F e lo n y To ta l D rug trafficking Forgery B urglary Defendants with only one felony charge, but one or more additional misdemeanor charges, were about twice as likely as other defendants to eventually be convicted of a misdemeanor (29%). This almost always was the result of their pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge instead of the original felony charge. D riving-related Fraud W eapons Larceny/theft M otor vehicle theft R ape R obbery A ssault M urder 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% P ercent of defendants entering guilty plea Figure 15 Table 25. Adjudication outcome for felony defendants, by number and type of arrest charges, 1998 Additional charges filed Number of Total defendants convicted Total Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Convicted Not convicted Felony Misdemeanor DisPlea Trial Total Plea Trial Total missed Acquitted Other outcome* Additional felony 18,486 72% 60% 57% 3% 12% 11% -- 25% 24% 1% 3% No additional felony Misdemeanor(s) only No additional charges 31,777 9,579 22,197 65 65 65 48 36 53 46 35 51 2 1 2 18 29 13 17 27 12 1 2 -- 30 30 30 29 29 29 1 1 1 5% 5 5 Note: Ten percent of all cases were still pending adjudication at the end of the 1-year study period. Data on adjudication outcome were available for 99% of those cases that had been adjudicated. --Less than 0.5%. *Includes diversion and deferred adjudication. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 25 An estimated 4% of the cases adjudicated within 1 year went to trial. These trials were divided evenly between bench trials, decided by a judge, and jury trials. An estimated 77% of all trials ended with a guilty verdict, and 23% with an acquittal. Bench trials (83%) were more likely to result in a conviction than jury trials (72%); however, 65% of jury trials resulted in a felony conviction compared to 57% of bench trials. Type of trial Total Bench Jury Regardless of adjudication method, a majority of convicted defendants were convicted of the same felony offense as the original arrest charge. Among defendants arrested for murder and Trial rates for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge Murder Robbery Rape Weapons Assault Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Drug trafficking Driving-related Forgery Burglary Fraud Percent of trials resulting in a conviction Total Felony Misdemeanor 77% 61% 17% 83 72 57 65 later convicted, 74% were convicted of murder (table 26). The corresponding percentages for other violent offenses were as follows: robbery (62%), rape (54%), and assault (51%). 26 8 Twenty-eight percent of defendants facing murder charges went to trial, compared to no more than 8% of defendants charged with other offenses (figure 16). 0% 10% 20% 30% Percent of defendants going to trial 40% Figure 16 Table 26. Conviction offense of defendants arrested for a violent offense and subsequently convicted, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious Number of arrest charge defendants Total Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties convicted of: NonViolent felony violent Total Total felony felony violent Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other Murder Rape Robbery Assault 100% 100 100 100 100% 79 81 63 108 388 2,016 3,490 88% 76 67 55 0% 54 0 -- 74% 0 0 0 3% 1 62 -- 2% 8 4 51 8% 13 1 4 12% 3 14 8 Misdemeanor 0% 21 19 37 Note: Data on conviction offense were available for 100% of cases involving defendants who had been convicted. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. Table 27. Conviction offense of defendants arrested for a nonviolent offense and subsequently convicted, by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Most serious arrest charge Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Drug trafficking Weapons Driving-related Number Total of defendants felony 2,764 3,309 1,005 1,103 825 6,787 1,005 1,326 80% 76 79 70 69 85 83 76 Total nonviolent 80% 76 79 70 69 85 81 72 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties convicted of: Nonviolent felony Drug Motor DrivingtrafLarceny/ vehicle Other Forgery Fraud ficking Weapons related Burglary theft theft 64% 1 -0 0 0 0 0 9% 69 3 4 6 0 0 0 1% 2 67 0 0 0 -0 1% -0 62 3 0 0 0 --% 1 -2 56 0 0 0 --% 0 1 0 0 74 0 0 --% -1 0 0 -78 0 Note: Data on conviction offense were available for 100% of cases involving defendants who had been convicted. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. 26 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 0% -4 --0 -72 5% 2 4 2 3 10 3 -- Violent Misdefelony meanor --% 0 0 0 0 -2 3 20% 24 21 30 31 15 17 24 Among defendants originally charged with a property offense and later convicted, the percentages whose conviction offense corresponded with their most serious arrest charge were as follows: larceny/theft (69%), motor vehicle theft (67%), burglary (64%), forgery (62%), and fraud (56%). About three-fourths of defendants convicted after being charged with a weapon offense (78%), drug trafficking (74%), or a driving-related offense (72%) (table 27) were convicted of that same offense. For most offenses a smaller percentage of defendants were in each felony All offenses Given arrest, slightly more than half of defendants whose most serious arrest charge was for drug trafficking (57%), a weapons offense (54%), or a drivingrelated offense (53%) were eventually convicted of that same offense (figure 17). Much of this change can be accounted for by the fact that about 12% of all defendants were originally facing felony assault charges, but just 6% of all convictions were for such an offense. Overall, 23% of convicted defendants were convicted at the misdemeanor level, including 37% of those convicted after being originally charged with felony assault. This was true for about half of murder defendants, and slightly less than half of the defendants originally charged with forgery (47%), burglary (46%), larceny/theft (45%), or motor vehicle theft (44%). Just 28% of defendants originally facing felony assault charges were eventually convicted of such an offense. Conviction probabilities for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties by most serious arrest charge, 1998 Table 28. Felony defendants, by conviction offense, 1998 Most serious conviction offense conviction offense category than were in the original distribution by arrest charge (tables 1 and 28). The biggest drop was in the violent felony category, which accounted for about 24% of all defendants by arrest charge, but just 13% of them by conviction charge. M ost serious arrest c harge Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Number Percent 33,991 100.0% 26,277 77.3% Any fe lo n y O rig in a l fe lo n y c h a rg e To ta l A ll defendants M urder All felonies R ape R obbery Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 4,469 84 221 1,261 1,938 965 13.1% 0.2 0.7 3.7 5.7 2.8 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 7,857 1,980 2,789 778 780 556 974 23.1% 5.8 8.2 2.3 2.3 1.6 2.9 11,051 5,159 5,892 32.5% 15.2 17.3 2,751 940 1,085 726 8.1% 2.8 3.2 2.1 150 0.4% 7,714 22.7% A ssault B urglary Larceny/theft M otor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Other felonies Misdemeanors D rug trafficking W eapons D riving-related 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% P ercent of defendants convicted Figure 17 Note: Data on conviction offense were available for 100% of cases involving defendants who had been convicted. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 27 Case processing statistics Among the approximately 50,000 cases with a known adjudication outcome that occurred within 1 year of arrest, about 32,500 were disposed by a guilty plea (figure 18). About 3 in 10 pleas occurred within 1 month of arrest and 6 in 10 within 3 months of arrest. The next most common type of adjudication, dismissal of the charges against the defendant, occurred in about 13,600 cases. Nearly half (46%) of all dismissals occurred within the first month after arrest and 70% within 3 months. Trials occurred in about 1,900 cases. About 1 in 12 trials were completed within a month of arrest and about 1 in 4 within 3 months of arrest. Guilty pleas accounted for 96% of the 34,000 convictions obtained within 1 year of arrest (figure 19). This included about 25,100 felony pleas and about 7,300 misdemeanor pleas. Twenty-six percent of the felony pleas occurred within 1 month of arrest, and 59% were obtained within 3 months of arrest. Thirty-six percent of the misdemeanor pleas were obtained with 1 month of arrest, and 66% within 3 months. Of the approximately 1,500 trial convictions obtained within 1 year, nearly all were for a felony, with about 300 trials resulting in a misdemeanor conviction. About a fourth of all trial convictions occurred within 3 months of arrest, and about two-thirds within 6 months of arrest. Method of adjudication of felony cases filed in May 1998 and disposed within 1 year in the 75 largest counties Cumulative number of cases adjudicated 35,000 Plea 30,000 25,000 20,000 Dismissal 15,000 10,000 5,000 Trial Other* 0 1 3 6 9 Time from arrest to adjudication in months 12 *Includes diversion and deferred adjudication. Figure 18 Method of conviction of felony cases filed in May 1998 and disposed within 1 year in the 75 largest counties Cumulative number of convictions 30,000 25,000 Felony plea 20,000 15,000 10,000 Misdemeanor plea 5,000 Felony trial 0 1 Figure 19 28 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 3 6 9 Time from arrest to conviction in months 12 Misdemeanor trial Sentencing Time from conviction to sentencing About 3 in 5 convicted defendants were sentenced within 1 day of adjudication (table 29). Defendants convicted of a misdemeanor (80%) were more likely to be sentenced this quickly than those convicted of a felony (57%). Table 29. Time from conviction to sentencing for convicted defendants, by most serious conviction offense, 1998 Most serious conviction offense All offenses 30,485 100% 61% 15% 13% 11% 25,026 100% 57% 18% 14% 11% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 4,276 73 207 1,204 1,867 924 100% 100 100 100 100 100 50% 33 50 49 52 49 17% 25 12 16 18 18 19% 21 19 19 19 21 13% 21 19 15 11 12 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 7,642 1,909 2,707 769 764 547 947 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 61% 62 65 62 57 57 54 17% 17 14 23 17 17 18 13% 14 12 8 17 17 15 9% 8 8 7 9 9 13 10,341 4,832 5,509 100% 100 100 56% 48 63 19% 20 17 13% 16 10 13% 16 10 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order 2,629 900 1,056 673 100% 100 100 100 60% 59 61 58 16% 17 16 16 15% 15 13 18 9% 9 11 8 Misdemeanors 5,459 100% 80% 5% 7% 8% All felonies Sentencing after a felony conviction was most likely to occur within 1 day if the conviction was for a property (61%) or public-order (60%) offense. Defendants convicted of a violent offense (50%) were the least likely to be sentenced this quickly. Within the violent offense category, the proportion of convicted defendants sentenced within 1 day ranged from about a third of those convicted of murder to about half of those convicted of other violent felonies. With the exception of drug traffickers (48%), a majority of the defendants in other offense categories were sentenced within a day of conviction. Seventy-five percent of defendants convicted of a felony received their sentence within 30 days, compared to 85% of those convicted of a misdemeanor. About 9 in 10 defendants were sentenced within 60 days, including 92% of those convicted of a misdemeanor and 89% of those convicted of a felony. Number of defendants Percent of convicted defendants in the 75 largest counties who were sentenced within: 0-1 2-30 31-60 61 days Total day days days or more Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug Note: Data on time from conviction to sentencing were available for 90% of convicted defendants. Total for all felonies includes cases that could not be classified into 1 of the 4 major offense categories. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 29 Type and length of sentence Sixty-eight percent of convicted defendants were sentenced to incarceration in a State prison or local jail (table 30). Seventy-one percent of defendants convicted of a felony were sentenced to incarceration, compared to 54% of those convicted of a misdemeanor. About half of incarceration sentences following a felony conviction, 36% of felony sentences overall, were to State prison. Fifteen percent of prison sentences included a probation term to be served after release. All murder convictions resulted in a prison sentence, as did a majority of robbery (65%) and rape (60%) convictions. Although less than half of defendants convicted of burglary (48%), drug trafficking (42%), felony assault (40%), or a weapons offense (36%) were sentenced to prison, a prison term was still more likely than a sentence to jail, probation, or fine. Nearly all incarceration sentences for misdemeanor convictions, 52% of all misdemeanor sentences, were to jail. Two-thirds of jail sentences included a probation term to be served in addition to the jail time. This was much more likely for defendants convicted of a felony (74%) than those convicted of a misdemeanor (42%). Among defendants who were convicted but not sentenced to incarceration, 98% of those convicted of a felony and 84% of those convicted of a misdemeanor received a probation term. Probation sentences may have included a fine, restitution, community service, treatment, or other conditions. Overall, 30% of convicted defendants received a sentence to probation without any incarceration. This included 29% of those convicted of a felony and 39% of those convicted of a misdemeanor. Defendants convicted of fraud (50%) were the most likely to be sentenced to probation. About two-fifths of defendants convicted of forgery (42%), and about a third of those convicted of a non-trafficking drug offense (35%), larceny/theft (34%), or a weapons offense (33%) received a probation term without incarceration. Two percent of defendants were fined but were not sentenced to a term of incarceration or probation. These fines may have been in addition to other court-ordered conditions. Table 30. Most severe type of sentence received by convicted defendants, by most serious conviction offense, 1998 Most serious conviction offense All offenses Number of defendants Total Percent of convicted defendants in the 75 largest counties sentenced to: Incarceration Nonincarceration Total Prison Jail Total Probation Fine 29,472 100% 68% 30% 38% 32% 30% 2% 24,066 100% 71% 36% 35% 29% 29% -- Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 4,089 73 206 1,117 1,792 900 100% 100 100 100 100 100 78% 100 78 86 74 74 47% 100 60 65 40 35 30% 0 18 22 34 40 22% 0 22 14 26 26 22% 0 22 14 26 25 -0 0 0 -1 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 7,463 1,847 2,652 758 761 533 911 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 66% 78 65 80 57 50 55 34% 48 30 37 27 19 28 33% 30 35 43 30 31 27 34% 22 35 20 43 50 45 33% 21 34 19 42 50 45 1% -1 1 1 1 -- Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 9,794 4,406 5,388 100% 100 100 71% 78 65 33% 42 25 38% 35 40 29% 22 35 29% 22 35 ---- Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order 2,582 886 1,049 648 100% 100 100 100 74% 67 81 72 36% 36 40 29 38% 31 41 42 26% 33 19 28 26% 33 18 27 1% -1 1 Misdemeanors 5,406 100% 54% 2% 52% 46% 39% 7% All felonies Note: Data on type of sentence were available for 87% of convicted defendants. Sixty-six percent of jail sentences and 15% of prison sentences included a probation term. Sentences to incarceration or probation may have included a fine, restitution, community service, treatment, or other court-ordered conditions. Total for all felonies includes cases that could not be classified into 1 of the 4 major offense categories. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. 30 Felony Defendants In Large Urban Counties, 1998 Among persons arrested and charged with a felony by the prosecutor, murder defendants had the highest probability of eventually being convicted and sentenced to prison (68%) (figure 20). The next highest probability of an eventual prison sentence was for defendants charged with robbery (39%) or drug trafficking (37%). About a third of defendants originally charged with rape (33%) or burglary (32%) were eventually convicted and sentenced to prison. Defendants originally charged with fraud (15%) were the least likely to eventually be sentenced to prison. Defendants originally charged with a driving-related offense (31%), or motor vehicle theft (30%) were the most likely to be eventually convicted and receive a jail sentence. No murder defendants were convicted and sentenced to jail. Probability of being convicted and sentenced to incarceration for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1998 Most serious arrest charge Murder Rape Robbery Assault Burglary Jail Prison Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Drug trafficking Weapons Driving-related 0% Figure 20 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% Percent of defendants 60% 70% . Half or more of defendants charged with murder (68%), drug trafficking (61%), robbery (57%), a driving-related offense (56%), burglary (55%) motor vehicle theft (53%), or rape (51%) were eventually convicted and sentenced to either prison or jail. Fraud (33%) defendants were the least likely to be eventually convicted and sentenced to some type of incarceration. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 31 Among defendants convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison, the mean sentence was 58 months and the median was 36 months (table 31). By general conviction offense category, defendants convicted of a violent felony received the longest prison sentences (a mean of 104 months and a median of 60 months), and those convicted of a public-order felony the shortest (a mean of 39 months and a median of 24 months). Median prison sentence received by defendants convicted of a felony in the 75 largest counties, 1998 Most serious conviction charge Murder Rape Robbery Assault Burglary Drug trafficking Weapons By specific conviction offense, murderers received the longest prison terms, a mean of 430 months and a median of 456 months. Next were defendants convicted of rape with a mean prison sentence of 188 months, and a median of 120 months. Forgery Fraud Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Driving-related 0 36 72 108 144 180 216 252 288 324 360 396 432 468 Median prison sentences for other felony convictions included 72 months for robbery, 45 months for assault, and 36 months for burglary, drug trafficking, weapons offenses, or forgery (figure 21). Number of months Figure 21 Table 31. Length of prison sentence received by defendants convicted of a felony, by most serious conviction offense, 1998 Most serious felony conviction offense All offenses Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison Number of Number of months Percent receiving a maximum sentence length in months of: defendants Mean Median Total 1-24 25-48 49-72 73-120 Over 120* Life 8,654 58 36 100% 42% 28% 12% 11% 7% 1% Violent offenses Murder Rape Robbery Assault Other violent 1,932 73 124 718 709 308 104 430 188 106 75 55 60 456 120 72 45 36 100% 100 100 100 100 100 23% 0 0 16 30 36 22% 6 6 19 28 27 17% 0 19 21 14 18 19% 12 36 24 14 13 17% 68 36 18 12 6 2% 14 4 2 2 0 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 2,527 889 798 277 205 102 255 47 60 39 36 41 37 50 28 36 24 24 36 28 24 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 49% 35 65 55 44 49 51 27% 31 19 32 34 32 25 10% 16 7 6 11 9 7 9% 13 7 5 10 11 6 4% 5 2 3 2 0 11 -1 0 0 0 0 0 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 3,222 1,853 1,369 45 51 37 32 36 24 100% 100 100 45% 31 64 31% 35 25 11% 17 3 8% 12 3 4% 5 4 -0 1 917 315 412 190 39 43 36 39 24 36 24 22 100% 100 100 100 51% 39 56 61 31% 45 26 19 11% 10 10 12 6% 3 7 6 -1 0 0 1% 1 1 1 Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Note: Data on length of prison sentence were available for 98% of all cases in which a defendant received a prison sentence. Fifteen percent of prison sentences included a probation term and 20% included a fine. Total for all offenses includes cases that could not be classified into 1 of the 4 major offense categories. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. *Excludes life sentences. 32 Felony Defendants In Large Urban Counties, 1998 Fourteen percent of all murder convictions resulted in a life sentence, compared to a maximum of 4% of the defendants convicted of any other offense. In addition to those receiving life sentences, 68% of the defendants convicted of murder were sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. About 1 in 3 rape convictions, 1 in 6 robbery convictions, and 1 in 8 felony assault convictions resulted in a prison term of more than 10 years. For defendants convicted of a felony and subsequently sentenced to jail, the mean jail term was 7 months and the median was 6 months (table 32). Misdemeanor convictions resulted in a mean jail term of 6 months and a median of 3 months. About two-thirds of all jail sentences were for a period of greater than 3 months. About 3 in 5 jail sentences following convictions for public-order felonies were for more than 3 months compared to about 3 in 4 sentences for other types of felonies. Excluding murder (for which all sentences were to prison), and rape (for which few cases resulted in a jail sentence), defendants sentenced to jail for robbery received the longest average sentence (a mean of 17 months and a median of 10 months). About 2% of all jail sentences for a felony conviction were for a period greater than 1 year, including 8% of those that followed a conviction for robbery. Table 32. Length of jail sentence received by convicted defendants, by most serious conviction offense, 1998 Most serious conviction offense All offenses Number of defendants Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties sentenced to jail Percent receiving a maximum sentence in months of : Number of months Mean Median Total 1 or less 2-3 4-6 7-9 10-12 Over 12 10,939 7 6 100% 14% 21% 29% 9% 25% 3% All felonies 8,160 6 5 100% 17% 23% 31% 8% 20% 2% Violent offenses Robbery Assault Other violent 1,210 227 594 353 9 17 7 7 6 10 6 6 100% 100 100 100 9% 0 8 17 17% 9 20 18 29% 33 30 24 9% 6 14 4 33% 43 28 34 3% 8 -3 Property offenses Burglary Larceny/theft Motor vehicle theft Forgery Fraud Other property 2,410 552 909 323 226 160 241 8 9 10 6 5 7 6 6 9 7 6 4 6 5 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 7% 2 4 6 19 6 19 20% 17 20 20 29 19 21 28% 23 25 44 31 42 23 11% 16 10 10 5 14 12 28% 37 33 18 11 15 23 5% 5 6 2 6 5 3 Drug offenses Trafficking Other drug 3,546 1,439 2,108 7 8 6 6 6 5 100% 100 100 9% 6 11 18% 11 23 37% 41 35 11% 15 9 22% 23 21 2% 3 1 971 270 427 274 6 6 6 5 6 6 6 4 100% 100 100 100 15% 16 18 9 25% 19 20 39 27% 32 24 27 6% 6 6 6 26% 25 32 19 1% 1 1 0 2,779 6 3 100% 28% 26% 18% 5% 21% 3% Public-order offenses Weapons Driving-related Other public-order Misdemeanors Note: Data on length of jail sentence were available for 98% of all cases in which a defendant received a jail sentence. Sixty-six percent of jail sentences included a probation term and 25% included a fine. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. *Murder and rape have been excluded from the detail because no murder convictions and few rape convictions resulted in a jail sentence. The total for violent offenses, however, does include these cases. --Less than 0.5%. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 33 An estimated 24% of defendants sentenced to probation were also required to pay a fine. Some probation sentences were also supplemented by one or more special court-ordered conditions. For example, 22% of the defendants who received a probation sentence were required to perform a specified number of hours of community service work (table 34). For defendants sentenced to probation without incarceration for a felony, the median sentence length was 36 months, compared to 24 months for a misdemeanor. Two percent of defendants convicted of a felony were given a probation term of greater than 5 years, including 5% of those sentenced for a violent felony. Nineteen percent of offenders sentenced to probation were required to pay restitution, including 32% of those convicted for a property-related felony. Ten percent of probation sentences included a requirement that the defendant enter a treatment program. Defendants convicted of a drug-related felony (17%) were the most likely to have this requirement. Table 33. Length of probation sentence received by convicted defendants, by most serious conviction offense, 1998 Most serious conviction offense All offenses Number of defendants 9,026 Median months 36 Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties sentenced to probation Percent receiving a sentence in months of : Total 1-12 13-24 25-36 37-48 49-60 100% 17% 26% 37% 3% 15% Over 60 2% All felonies Violent offenses Property offenses Drug offenses Public-order offenses 6,927 906 2,458 2,845 659 36 36 36 36 36 100% 100 100 100 100 12% 12 13 10 21 27% 22 27 30 26 36% 34 33 40 30 3% 5 4 3 2 19% 22 22 15 19 2% 5 2 1 2 Misdemeanors 2,099 24 100% 38% 23% 39% --% --% 0% Note: Data on length of probation sentence were available for 100% of all cases in which the most severe type of sentence a defendant received was probation. Twenty-four percent of probation sentences included a fine. Total for felonies includes cases that could not be classified into 1 of the 4 felony offense categories. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. Table 34. Conditions of probation sentence received most often by convicted defendants, by most serious conviction offense, 1998 Most serious conviction offense All offenses Number of defendants Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties sentenced to probation Percent whose sentence to probation included: Community service Restitution Treatment 9,026 22% 19% 10% All felonies Violent offenses Property offenses Drug offenses Public-order offenses 6,927 906 2,458 2,845 659 23% 21 21 27 21 20% 22 32 9 14 11% 10 6 17 10 Misdemeanors 2,099 18% 17% 7% Note: Total for felonies includes cases that could not be classified into 1 of the 4 felony offense categories. A defendant may have received more than one type of probation condition. Not all defendants sentenced to probation received probation conditions. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. 34 Felony Defendants In Large Urban Counties, 1998 Prior record and felony sentencing For defendants convicted of a felony on their current charge, the probability of receiving a sentence to incarceration was highest if they had multiple prior felony convictions (86%) (table 35). A large majority of defendants with just one prior felony conviction (83%), or with only prior misdemeanor convictions (74%), were also sentenced to incarceration following a felony conviction in the current case. Just over half of those with no prior convictions of any type (55%) received an incarceration sentence for a felony conviction. Defendants with no prior convictions and whose current conviction was for a public-order (45%) or property (44%) offense were the least likely of all defendants convicted of a felony to be sentenced to incarceration. A majority (59%) of the defendants with more than one prior felony conviction were sentenced to prison for a new felony conviction. This included 69% of those whose current conviction was for a violent offense. Forty-five percent of the defendants with a single prior felony conviction were sentenced to prison following a felony conviction in the current case, including 64% of those convicted of a violent felony. Overall, less than a fourth of defendants without a prior felony conviction received a prison sentence for a felony conviction in the current case. However, 37% of such defendants received a prison sentence when the current conviction was for a violent felony. Defendants with a prior conviction record consisting solely of misdemeanors who were convicted of a nonviolent felony in the current case were more likely than other defendants to receive a jail sentence (53%). Defendants with no prior convictions of any kind whose current conviction was for a property (54%) or publicorder (53%) offense were the most likely to receive a probation sentence. Table 35. Most severe type of sentence received by defendants convicted of a felony, by prior conviction record, 1998 Prior conviction record and most serious current felony conviction Number of defendants Total Percent of defendants in the 75 largest counties convicted of a felony and sentenced to: Incarceration Nonincarceration Total Prison Jail Total Probation Fine More than 1 prior felony conviction All offenses Violent offenses Property offenses Drug offenses Public-order offenses 6,365 803 2,111 2,626 790 100% 100 100 100 100 86% 87 84 85 91 59% 69 59 55 59 27% 18 25 30 32 14% 13 16 15 9 14% 12 16 15 8 ------ 1 prior felony conviction All offenses Violent offenses Property offenses Drug offenses Public-order offenses 3,833 560 1,077 1,589 593 100% 100 100 100 100 83% 86 81 82 83 45% 64 45 39 42 38% 22 36 43 41 17% 14 19 18 17 17% 14 19 18 17 --% -0 0 0 Prior misdemeanor convictions only All offenses Violent offenses Property offenses Drug offenses Public-order offenses 4,352 821 1,210 1,868 421 100% 100 100 100 100 74% 81 71 72 76 23% 38 20 19 24 51% 43 51 54 52 26% 19 29 28 24 26% 19 28 27 24 -0 1 1 0 No prior convictions All offenses Violent offenses Property offenses Drug offenses Public-order offenses 7,423 1,637 2,493 2,628 615 100% 100 100 100 100 55% 71 44 57 45 20% 37 13 18 10 35% 35 32 39 35 45% 29 56 43 55 44% 29 54 43 53 1% -2 -2 Note: Data on prior conviction record and type of sentence were available for 84% of all convicted defendants. Sentences to incarceration may have also included a probation term. Sentences to incarceration or probation, may have included a fine, restitution, community service, treatment, or other court-ordered conditions. Fines may have included restitution or community service. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 35 Defendants convicted of a violent felony were much more likely to be sentenced to prison than jail or probation if they had at least one prior felony conviction (figure 22). Those without a prior felony conviction were as likely to be sentenced to jail as prison. Among defendants convicted of a nonviolent felony, prison was the most likely sentence for those with multiple prior felony convictions. However, those with a single prior felony conviction were as likely to be sentenced to jail as prison. Jail was the most probable sentence for a nonviolent felony among defendants who had a prior conviction record that consisted of only misdemeanors. Probation was the most likely sentence if they had no conviction record at all. Type of sentence received for a felony conviction in the 75 largest counties, by prior conviction record, 1998 Defendants convicted of a violent felony 80% Prison 60% 40% Jail Probation 20% 0% No prior convictions Prior misdemeanor Prior single felony Prior multiple felonies Defendants convicted of a nonviolent felony 80% Prison 60% 40% Jail Probation 20% 0% Figure 22 36 Felony Defendants In Large Urban Counties, 1998 No prior convictions Prior misdemeanor Prior single felony Prior multiple felonies Methodology The SCPS sample was designed and selected by U.S. Census Bureau staff. It is a 2-stage stratified sample, with 40 of the 75 most populous counties selected at stage one and a systematic sample of State court felony filings (defendants) within each county selected at stage two. The 40 counties were divided into 4 first-stage strata based on court filing information obtained through a telephone survey. Twelve counties were included in the sample with certainty because of their large number of court filings. The remaining counties were allocated to the three noncertainty strata based on the variance of felony court dispositions. SCPS first-stage design Stratum One Two Three* Four Number of counties Sample Universe Weight 12 12 1.00 9 12 1.33 9 18 2.00 10 33 3.30 *Data collection problems caused Fulton County (GA), which had been selected for stratum three in the 1998 SCPS sample, to be dropped from the study. Because this occurred at a date too late to allow for a substitution, the number of counties in stratum three was reduced from nine (as specified in the original design) to eight. This changed the first-stage weight for stratum three counties from 2.00 to 2.25. The second-stage sampling (filings) was designed to represent all defendants who had felony cases filed with the court during the month of May 1998. The participating jurisdictions provided data for every felony case filed on selected days during that month. Depending on the first-stage stratum in which it had been placed, each jurisdiction provided data for 5, 10, or 20 randomly selected business days' filings in May 1998. Data from jurisdictions that were not required to provide a full month of filings were weighted to represent the full month (see Appendix table A). SCPS second-stage design Stratum One Two Three Four Number of days of filings provided 5 10 10 20 Weight 4.0 2.0 2.0 1.0 Data on 15,909 sample felony cases were collected from the 40 sampled jurisdictions. This sample represented 56,606 weighted cases filed during May 1998 in the 75 most populous counties. A small number of cases (31 unweighted, 111 weighted) were omitted from the analysis because they could not be classified into one of the four major crime categories (violent, property, drug, public-order). This report is based on data collected from the following counties and independent cities: Alabama (Jefferson); Arizona (Maricopa, Pima); California (Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Ventura); Florida (Broward, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Orange); Illinois (Cook, DuPage); Indiana (Marion); Kentucky (Jefferson); Maryland (Baltimore (city)), Montgomery); Michigan (Wayne); Missouri (Jackson, St. Louis); New York (Bronx, Erie, Kings, Monroe, New York, Queens, Suffolk); Ohio (Hamilton); Pennsylvania (Allegheny, Philadelphia); Tennessee (Shelby); Texas (Dallas, Harris); Washington (King); and Wisconsin (Milwaukee). Because the data came from a sample, a sampling error (standard error) is associated with each reported number. In general, if the difference between two numbers is greater than twice the standard error for that difference, we can say that we are 95% confident of a real difference and that the apparent difference is not simply the result of using a sample rather than the entire population. Race and Hispanic (Latino) origin Several jurisdictions did not provide complete reporting for defendants' Hispanic origin. As a result, the overall reporting level for race combined with Hispanic origin was 73%, compared to 86% for race alone. Because of this underreporting, the categories of race alone account for more defendants than the categories that include both race and Hispanic origin. A large preponderance of the defendants with a Hispanic origin were white, although the category includes all races. Offense categories Felony offenses were classified into 16 categories for this report. These were further classified into the four major crime categories of violent, property, drug, and public-order. The following listings are a representative summary of the crimes in each category; however, these lists are not meant to be exhaustive. All offenses, except for murder, include attempts and conspiracies to commit. Within the property offense category, the offense categories of motor vehicle theft, forgery, and fraud are new for 1998. Violent offenses Murder Includes homicide, nonnegligent manslaughter, and voluntary homicide. Does not include attempted murder (classified as felony assault), negligent homicide, involuntary homicide, or vehicular manslaughter, which are classified as other violent offenses. Rape Includes forcible intercourse, sodomy, or penetration with a foreign object. Does not include statutory rape or nonforcible acts with a minor or someone unable to give legal consent, nonviolent sexual offenses, or commercialized sex offenses. Robbery Includes the unlawful taking of anything of value by force or threat of force. Armed, unarmed, and aggravated robbery, car-jacking, armed burglary, and armed mugging are included. Assault Includes aggravated assault, aggravated battery, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, felony assault or battery on a law enforcement officer, and other felony assaults. Does not include extortion, coercion, or intimidation. Other violent offenses Includes vehicular manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, negligent or reckless homicide, nonviolent or non-forcible sexual assault, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, child or spouse abuse, cruelty to a child, reckless endangerment, hit-and-run with bodily injury, intimidation, and extortion. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 37 Property offenses Drug offenses Burglary Includes any type of entry into a residence, industry, or business with or without the use of force with the intent to commit a felony or theft. Does not include possession of burglary tools, trespassing, or unlawful entry for which the intent is not known. Drug trafficking Includes trafficking, sales, distribution, possession with intent to distribute or sell, manufacturing, and smuggling of controlled substances. Does not include possession of controlled substances. Larceny/theft Includes grand theft, grand larceny, and any other felony theft, including burglary from an automobile, theft of rental property, and mail theft. Does not include motor vehicle theft, receiving or buying stolen property, fraud, forgery, or deceit. Other drug offenses Includes possession of controlled substances, prescription violations, possession of drug paraphernalia, and other drug law violations. Motor vehicle theft Includes auto theft, conversion of an automobile, receiving and transferring an automobile, unauthorized use of a vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle, larceny or taking of an automobile. Forgery Includes forging of a driver’s license, forging official seals, notes, money orders, credit or access cards or names of such cards or any other documents with fraudulent intent, uttering a forged instrument, counterfeiting, forgery. Fraud Includes possession and passing of worthless checks or money orders, possession of false documents or identification, embezzlement, obtaining money by false pretenses, credit card fraud, welfare fraud, Medicare fraud, insurance claim fraud, fraud, swindling, stealing a thing of value by deceit, larceny by check. Other property offenses Includes receiving or buying stolen property, arson, reckless burning, damage to property, criminal mischief, vandalism, criminal trespassing, possession of burglary tools, and unlawful entry. Public-order offenses Weapons Includes the unlawful sale, distribution, manufacture, alteration, transportation, possession, or use of a deadly weapon or accessory. Driving-related Includes driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, driving with a suspended or revoked license, and any other felony in the motor vehicle code. Other public-order offenses Includes flight/escape, parole or probation violations, prison contraband, habitual offender, obstruction of justice, rioting, libel, slander, treason, perjury, prostitution/pandering, bribery, and tax law violations. Terms related to pretrial release Released defendant Includes any defendant who was released from custody prior to the disposition of his or her case by the court. Includes defendants who were detained for some period of time before being released and defendants who were returned to custody after being released because of a violation of the conditions of pretrial release. The terms "on pretrial release" and "released pending disposition" are both used in this report to refer to all released defendants. 38 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Detained defendant Includes any defendant who remained in custody from the time of arrest until the disposition of his or her case by the court. This report also refers to detained defendants as "not released." Failure to appear Occurs when a court issues a bench warrant for a defendant's arrest because he or she has missed a scheduled court appearance. Types of financial release Surety bond A bail bond company signs a promissory note to the court for the full bail amount and charges the defendant a fee for the service (usually 10% of the full bail amount). If the defendant fails to appear, the bond company is liable to the court for the full bail amount. Frequently the bond company requires collateral from the defendant in addition to the fee. Deposit bond The defendant deposits a percentage (usually 10%) of the full bail amount with the court. The percentage of the bail is returned after the disposition of the case, but the court often retains a small portion for administrative costs. If the defendant fails to appear in court, he or she is liable to the court for the full amount of the bail. Full cash bond The defendant posts the full bail amount in cash with the court. If the defendant makes all court appearances, the cash is returned. If the defendant fails to appear in court, the bond is forfeited. Property bond Involves an agreement made by a defendant as a condition of pretrial release requiring that property valued at the full bail amount be posted as an assurance of his or her appearance in court. If the defendant fails to appear in court, the property is forfeited. Also known as "collateral bond." Methodology Types of nonfinancial release Release on recognizance (ROR) The court releases the defendant on a signed agreement that he or she will appear in court as required. In this report, the ROR category includes citation releases in which arrestees are released pending their first court appearance on a written order issued by law enforcement or jail personnel. Unsecured bond The defendant pays no money to the court but is liable for the full amount of bail should he or she fail to appear in court. Conditional release Defendants are released under specified conditions. If monitoring or supervised is required, this usually done by a pretrial services agency. In some cases, such as those involving a third-party custodian or drug monitoring and treatment, another agency may be involved in the supervision of the defendant. Conditional release sometimes includes an unsecured bond. Other type of release Emergency release Defendants are released in response to a court order placing limits on a jail’s population. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 39 Appendix Appendix table A. Population, sampling weights, and number of cases, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1998 County (State) Population Filings Sampling weights County Total Total Number of cases Unweighted Weighted 15,878 56,495 Jefferson (AL) Maricopa (AZ) Pima (AZ) Alameda (CA) Los Angeles (CA) Orange (CA) Sacramento (CA) San Bernardino (CA) 662,000 2,614,000 779,000 1,356,000 9,056,000 2,606,000 1,116,000 1,589,000 2 2 1 2 4 2 2 2 2.25 1.33 3.30 2.25 1.00 1.33 1.33 1.33 4.50 2.67 3.30 4.50 4.00 2.67 2.67 2.67 317 855 512 248 1,229 434 448 512 1,427 2,274 1,690 1,116 4,916 1,154 1,192 1,362 San Francisco (CA) Santa Clara (CA) Ventura (CA) Broward (FL) Miami-Dade (FL) Hillsborough (FL) Orange (FL) Cook (IL) 735,000 1,594,000 711,000 1,440,000 2,106,000 893,000 763,000 5,190,000 2 2 1 2 4 2 2 4 2.25 1.33 3.30 1.33 1.00 1.33 2.25 1.00 4.50 2.67 3.30 2.67 4.00 2.67 4.50 4.00 359 505 226 400 551 420 564 541 1,616 1,343 746 1,064 2,204 1,117 2,538 2,164 DuPage (IL) Marion (IN) Jefferson (KY) Montgomery (MD) Baltimore (city) (MD) Wayne (MI) Jackson (MO) St. Louis (MO) 860,000 815,000 671,000 672,000 672,000 2,137,000 650,000 1,003,000 1 1 4 1 2 4 1 1 3.30 3.30 1.00 3.30 1.33 1.00 3.30 3.30 3.30 3.30 4.00 3.30 2.67 4.00 3.30 3.30 118 875 73 180 660 250 323 329 389 2,888 292 594 1,756 1,000 1,066 1,086 Bronx (NY) Erie (NY) Kings (NY) Monroe (NY) New York (NY) Queens (NY) Suffolk (NY) Hamilton (OH) 1,191,000 953,000 2,266,000 720,000 1,533,000 1,973,000 1,355,000 856,000 4 2 4 1 4 4 1 2 1.00 2.25 1.00 3.30 1.00 1.00 3.30 2.25 4.00 4.50 4.00 3.30 4.00 4.00 3.30 4.50 446 151 530 265 497 295 267 207 1,784 680 2,120 874 1,988 1,180 881 932 Allegheny (PA) Philadelphia (PA) Shelby (TN) Dallas (TX) Harris (TX) King (WA) Milwaukee (WI) 1,293,000 1,472,000 864,000 1,989,000 3,107,000 1,618,000 927,000 2 4 2 4 4 2 1 1.33 1.00 2.25 1.00 1.00 2.25 3.30 2.67 4.00 4.50 4.00 4.00 4.50 3.30 127 364 383 229 447 331 410 338 1,456 1,724 916 1,788 1,490 1,353 Note: In 12 of the 39 counties included in the 1998 SCPS study, prosecutors did not screen out any felony arrests before filing charges. In these counties, the SCPS sample cases are representative of all felony cases received by prosecutors, and any cases subsequently screened out by the prosecutor are included in the SCPS dismissal category. These counties are; Maricopa (AZ); Pima (AZ); Miami-Dade (FL); Hillsborough (FL); Orange (FL); Marion (IN); Jefferson (KY); Montgomery (MD); Baltimore (city) (MD); Monroe (NY); Hamilton (OH); and Philadelphia (PA). In Allegheny (PA) this was true for non-Pittsburgh cases only, and in Shelby (TN) for non-major offenses only. In the remaining 25 SCPS jurisdictions, all felony arrests were reviewed by prosecutors before the decision to file felony charges was made. In these jurisdictions, the SCPS sample cases do not include those in which a person was arrested for a felony but felony charges were not filed. Weights are rounded to second decimal place. 40 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Appendix table B. Most serious arrest charge of felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1996 County (State) Total Percent of felony defendants within categories of most serious arrest charge Violent Property Drug Public-order Total offenses offenses offenses offenses 100% 24% 29% 37% 10% Jefferson (AL) Maricopa (AZ) Pima (AZ) Alameda (CA) Los Angeles (CA) Orange (CA) Sacramento (CA) San Bernardino (CA) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 17% 17 25 16 23 22 38 30 32% 25 30 32 24 28 27 36 46% 47 32 44 47 42 28 29 4% 11 13 8 6 8 7 5 San Francisco (CA) Santa Clara (CA) Ventura (CA) Broward (FL) Miami-Dade (FL) Hillsborough (FL) Orange (FL) Cook (IL) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 15% 16 16 25 32 33 25 11 16% 18 32 33 35 23 38 19 65% 58 42 36 24 39 28 64 4% 8 9 7 9 5 9 6 DuPage (IL) Marion (IN) Jefferson (KY) Montgomery (MD) Baltimore (city) (MD) Wayne (MI) Jackson (MO) St. Louis (MO) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 14% 21 25 26 25 24 17 16 45% 35 41 61 29 30 34 53 23% 23 34 13 45 28 42 17 19% 21 0 0 1 18 7 14 Bronx (NY) Erie (NY) Kings (NY) Monroe (NY) New York (NY) Queens (NY) Suffolk (NY) Hamilton (OH) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 22% 34 33 16 27 34 15 34 16% 36 24 27 19 35 29 23 53% 19 30 32 45 23 17 34 9% 11 13 25 9 8 39 9 Allegheny (PA) Philadelphia (PA) Shelby (TN) Dallas (TX) Harris (TX) King (WA) Milwaukee (WI) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 37% 38 26 24 21 25 27 46% 29 36 29 42 23 27 9% 29 27 35 32 41 33 9% 4 11 11 5 11 13 Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 41 Appendix table C. Gender and age of felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1998 Percent of felony defendants Age at arrest Female Total Under 21 21-29 30-39 Total Gender Male 100% 82% 18% 100% 19% 32% 30% 19% Jefferson (AL) Maricopa (AZ) Pima (AZ) Alameda (CA) Los Angeles (CA) Orange (CA) Sacramento (CA) San Bernardino (CA) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 82% 83 83 74 85 78 83 79 18% 17 17 26 15 22 17 21 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 18% 18 23 10 14 13 11 17 36% 33 31 35 32 32 33 31 25% 32 26 29 33 35 33 33 21% 18 20 25 21 20 23 18 San Francisco (CA) Santa Clara (CA) Ventura (CA) Broward (FL) Miami-Dade (FL) Hillsborough (FL) Orange (FL) Cook (IL) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 81% 83 73 80 86 73 82 86 19% 17 27 20 14 27 18 14 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 15% 12 13 18 15 16 16 21 31% 34 33 30 33 29 35 31 31% 36 37 37 29 35 32 27 23% 18 16 16 23 21 18 21 DuPage (IL) Marion (IN) Jefferson (KY) Montgomery (MD) Baltimore (city) (MD) Wayne (MI) Jackson (MO) St. Louis (MO) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 77% 78 82 83 81 85 80 83 23% 22 18 17 19 15 20 17 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 19% 19 19 25 21 18 24 25 44% 37 26 37 30 32 29 26 21% 26 40 17 31 28 32 32 15% 18 15 20 18 22 16 17 Bronx (NY) Erie (NY) Kings (NY) Monroe (NY) New York (NY) Queens (NY) Suffolk (NY) Hamilton (OH) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 82% 83 84 82 84 87 86 81 18% 17 16 18 16 13 14 19 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 25% 24 26 22 16 27 21 19 28% 33 26 34 31 30 28 36 29% 25 30 29 31 27 30 29 18% 18 18 15 22 16 21 16 Allegheny (PA) Philadelphia (PA) Shelby (TN) Dallas (TX) Harris (TX) King (WA) Milwaukee (WI) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 79% 83 83 80 70 85 82 21% 17 17 20 30 15 18 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 20% 22 24 17 20 17 28 25% 31 36 31 32 31 36 34% 29 28 31 29 34 25 22% 18 13 21 19 18 11 County (State) Total Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. 42 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 40 older Appendix table D. Race and Hispanic origin of felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1998 County (State) Total Total Race Black White Percent of felony defendants Race and Hispanic origin Other, White, Black, nonnonnonOther Total Hispanic Hispanic Hispanic 100% 57% 41% 2% Jefferson (AL) Maricopa (AZ) Pima (AZ) Alameda (CA) Los Angeles (CA) Orange (CA) Sacramento (CA) San Bernardino (CA) 100% 100 ... 100 ... ... 100 ... 71% 22 ... 71 ... ... 34 ... 29% 73 ... 23 ... ... 50 ... San Francisco (CA) Santa Clara (CA) Ventura (CA) Broward (FL) Miami-Dade (FL) Hillsborough (FL) Orange (FL) Cook (IL) 100% ... ... 100 100 100 100 100 46% ... ... 60 55 45 46 76 DuPage (IL) Marion (IN) Jefferson (KY) Montgomery (MD) Baltimore (city) (MD) Wayne (MI) Jackson (MO) St. Louis (MO) 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 Bronx (NY) Erie (NY) Kings (NY) Monroe (NY) New York (NY) Queens (NY) Suffolk (NY) Hamilton (OH) Allegheny (PA) Philadelphia (PA) Shelby (TN) Dallas (TX) Harris (TX) King (WA) Milwaukee (WI) Hispanic, any race 100% 45% 27% 2% 26% 0% 5 ... 6 ... ... 16 ... ... 100 100 100 ... 100 100 100 ... 15 14 63 ... 8 31 21 ... 47 43 20 ... 43 47 30 ... 3 4 3 ... 4 4 -- ... 36 40 14 ... 45 18 49 50% ... ... 40 45 55 54 23 4% ... ... 1 -0 0 1 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 47 8 8 59 52 45 46 78 44 25 42 33 16 48 47 16 2 6 3 0 -0 -1 7 60 47 8 32 7 7 6 22% 58 50 60 86 71 59 57 78% 42 41 36 13 28 39 43 0% -9 4 --1 1 100 100 100 ... 100 ... 100 ... 20 99 50 ... 87 ... 58 ... 69 1 40 ... 12 ... 38 ... 0 -5 ... 1 ... 1 ... 11 0 5 ... 1 ... 2 ... 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 56% 71 67 75 57 57 35 69 43% 29 32 25 41 40 63 31 1 0 1 0 2 4 1 0 100 100 100 ... 100 100 100 100 42 69 59 ... 45 52 34 69 4 26 14 ... 14 16 50 30 1 0 1 ... 2 4 1 0 53 5 25 ... 39 28 14 -- 100% 100 100 100 100 100 100 56% 80 87 50 59 45 72 43% 19 13 50 39 48 27 1% 1 0 1 3 8 1 100% ... ... 100 ... 100 100 56% ... ... 46 ... 42 71 41% ... ... 37 ... 43 23 1% ... ... 1 ... 7 1 2% ... ... 16 ... 7 5 Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. ...Data were available for less than two-thirds of all cases. --Less than 0.5%. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 43 Appendix table E. Felony defendants released before or detained until case disposition, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1998 County (State) Total Total Total Surety financial bond Percent of felony defendants Released before case disposition Financial release Nonfinancial release UnFull Total Recog- Condi- secured Deposit cash Property nonfinancial nizance* tional bond bond bond bond 64% 34% 24% 5% 3% Jefferson (AL) Maricopa (AZ) Pima (AZ) Alameda (CA) Los Angeles (CA) Orange (CA) Sacramento (CA) San Bernardino (CA) 81% 64 72 47 37 31 47 36 69% 13 8 21 15 12 31 12 34% 5 6 17 15 11 30 12 0% 7 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 2 4 0 1 0 -- San Francisco (CA) Santa Clara (CA) Ventura (CA) Broward (FL) Miami-Dade (FL) Hillsborough (FL) Orange (FL) Cook (IL) 73% 56 63 56 56 75 68 75 23% 25 30 46 28 61 66 31 22% 23 29 40 26 59 61 -- 0% 0 0 1 0 0 0 29 DuPage (IL) Marion (IN) Jefferson (KY) Montgomery (MD) Baltimore (city) (MD) Wayne (MI) Jackson (MO) St. Louis (MO) 72% 75 78 79 61 74 84 78 70% 45 21 30 29 27 50 43 0% 37 1 10 27 1 39 7 Bronx (NY) Erie (NY) Kings (NY) Monroe (NY) New York (NY) Queens (NY) Suffolk (NY) Hamilton (OH) 72% 70 82 87 75 81 79 63 55% 17 65 13 55 68 42 40 Allegheny (PA) Philadelphia (PA) Shelby (TN) Dallas (TX) Harris (TX) King (WA) Milwaukee (WI) 71% 75 67 47 50 62 60 42% 38 53 42 48 16 20 Detained until case disposition Held on Denied bail bail Total 2% 30% 18% 8% 4% 36% 29% 7% 33% 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12% 51 64 26 22 19 16 24 0% 34 41 26 22 19 15 23 4% 16 23 0 0 --1 8% 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 19% 36 28 53 63 69 53 64 17% 13 27 26 61 67 22 60 2% 23 1 27 2 2 32 4 1% 1 1 5 0 3 5 1 0% 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 50% 31 33 10 28 13 1 44 44% 7 30 3 4 13 1 10 6% 24 3 5 23 -1 19 0% 0 0 1 0 0 0 16 27% 44 37 44 44 25 32 25 10% 41 37 25 32 11 29 24 17% 4 -19 12 14 3 1 0% 5 16 3 0 24 10 26 70% 2 3 2 0 2 1 4 0% -0 16 2 0 -5 2% 31 58 48 32 47 34 35 2% 24 52 31 19 0 1 1 0% 6 4 7 12 1 0 0 0% 0 1 10 0 46 32 35 28% 25 22 21 39 26 16 22 23% 12 21 15 32 20 16 19 5% 13 1 6 7 6 -3 na 4 na 0 na na na 6 na 1 na 2 na na na 28 na 11 na 10 na na na 1 na 1 na 0 na na na 4 18% 53 17 74 20 13 37 24 18% 51 17 58 20 13 37 22 0% 0 0 17 0 0 0 2 0% 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 28% 30 18 13 25 19 21 37 27% 29 18 7 24 18 21 32 1% 1 0 6 1 1 0 5 1% 0 50 38 46 15 0 20% 36 0 0 0 1 0 20% 2 3 4 2 1 20 1% 0 0 0 0 0 0 29% 37 14 5 2 46 41 26% 10 1 0 -26 20 3% 15 13 2 1 20 21 0% 12 0 3 -0 0 29% 25 33 53 50 38 40 28% 19 30 41 33 38 17 1% 6 3 12 17 0 22 Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. na - Data on specific type of financial release was not reported by these jurisdictions. 44 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 Appendix table F. Adjudication outcome for felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1998 Percent of felony defendants Adjudication outcome Convicted Not convicted MisdeFelony meanor Total Dismissed Acquitted Other outcome* Adjudicated within 1 year Total 90% 68% 52% 15% 28% 27% 1% 4% Jefferson (AL) Maricopa (AZ) Pima (AZ) Alameda (CA) Los Angeles (CA) Orange (CA) Sacramento (CA) San Bernardino (CA) 56% 94 97 91 95 94 94 95 70% 46 52 75 81 87 76 87 53% 41 49 58 76 77 53 73 17% 4 3 17 5 11 23 13 24% 54 47 13 12 11 22 11 22% 54 45 13 11 10 22 11 1% 0 2 0 1 -0 0 6% 1 1 12 7 2 2 2 San Francisco (CA) Santa Clara (CA) Ventura (CA) Broward (FL) Miami-Dade (FL) Hillsborough (FL) Orange (FL) Cook (IL) 82% 91 94 88 89 92 95 85 77% 82 87 68 47 68 56 57 49% 74 78 63 43 61 47 54 29% 8 9 5 5 7 10 2 23% 7 13 21 44 31 34 43 23% 7 13 19 43 30 32 42 0% -0 2 1 1 1 1 0% 11 0 11 9 2 10 -- DuPage (IL) Marion (IN) Jefferson (KY) Montgomery (MD) Baltimore (city) (MD) Wayne (MI) Jackson (MO) St. Louis (MO) 82% 89 71 89 91 90 83 93 95% 55 44 43 45 71 82 83 95% 43 21 26 28 65 74 73 0% 12 23 17 17 6 8 10 5% 45 52 49 37 23 17 17 3% 44 52 48 35 19 17 16 2% 2 0 1 2 4 0 1 0% -4 8 19 6 1 0 Bronx (NY) Erie (NY) Kings (NY) Monroe (NY) New York (NY) Queens (NY) Suffolk (NY) Hamilton (OH) 91% 95 96 95 91 93 84 99 73% 63 49 67 68 72 83 68 28% 17 16 36 35 25 37 54 44% 45 34 31 33 47 46 14 27% 38 50 32 32 28 14 31 27% 38 50 32 31 27 14 29 -0 --1 -0 2 0% 0 1 --0 3 1 Allegheny (PA) Philadelphia (PA) Shelby (TN) Dallas (TX) Harris (TX) King (WA) Milwaukee (WI) 83% 80 61 91 98 95 96 85% 50 71 87 66 90 85 60% 39 43 77 57 77 75 25% 11 29 10 9 13 10 8% 47 23 13 12 10 14 8% 44 23 12 11 9 14 1% 3 0 1 -1 1 7% 3 6 0 22 0 -- County (State) Total Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. *Includes diversion and deferred adjudication. Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 45 Appendix table G. Most severe type of sentence received by defendants convicted of a felony, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1998 County (State) Total Percent of felony defendants Incarceration Nonincarceration Total Prison Jail Total Probation Fine 68% 30% 38% 32% 30% 2% Jefferson (AL) Maricopa (AZ) Pima (AZ) Alameda (CA) Los Angeles (CA) Orange (CA) Sacramento (CA) San Bernardino (CA) 63% 60 50 83 84 88 88 83 56% 20 32 23 46 36 30 39 6% 40 18 60 38 52 57 45 37% 40 50 17 16 12 12 17 34% 38 49 17 16 12 12 17 3% 1 1 0 0 0 -0 San Francisco (CA) Santa Clara (CA) Ventura (CA) Broward (FL) Miami-Dade (FL) Hillsborough (FL) Orange (FL) Cook (IL) 54% 88 93 59 63 33 52 43 14% 21 32 26 10 18 8 42 41% 67 61 32 53 15 44 2 46% 12 7 41 37 67 48 57 45% 12 7 39 33 67 48 57 1% 0 0 3 4 0 -0 DuPage (IL) Marion (IN) Jefferson (KY) Montgomery (MD) Baltimore (city) (MD) Wayne (MI Jackson (MO) St. Louis (MO) 46% 99 30 89 97 31 23 35 28% 49 9 14 59 14 22 22 18% 51 22 75 38 17 1 13 54% 1 70 11 3 69 77 65 53% 1 61 6 3 69 76 63 1% 0 9 5 0 0 -2 Bronx (NY) Erie (NY) Kings (NY) Monroe (NY) New York (NY) Queens (NY) Suffolk (NY) Hamilton (OH) 44% 60 64 60 59 40 61 63 0% 15 0 28 0 0 12 41 44% 45 64 32 59 40 49 22 56% 40 36 40 41 60 39 37 43% 40 18 39 35 36 33 35 14% 0 17 1 5 24 5 2 Allegheny (PA) Philadelphia (PA) Shelby (TN) Dallas (TX) Harris (TX) King (WA) Milwaukee (WI) 38% 57 77 50 83 77 72 11% 49 51 24 31 30 33 27% 8 25 26 52 47 40 62% 43 23 50 17 23 28 62% 43 19 49 14 21 27 0% 0 4 1 3 2 1 Note: Sentences to incarceration may have also included a probation term. Sentences to incarceration or probation may have included a fine, restitution, community service, treatment or other court-ordered condition. Fines included restitution or community service in some instances. Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. 46 Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998