FAQ Listing

The 2005 Civil Justice Survey of State Courts (CJSSC) shows that about 26,950 tort, contact, and real property cases were disposed of by bench or jury trial in state courts of general jurisdiction nationwide. This amounts to a trial rate of approximately 3% for all general civil cases filed in 2005. Of the almost 27,000 trials, 68% were jury trials while in the remaining 32%, litigants waived their rights to a jury trial and had their cases heard before a judge only. See Civil Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005.

The Prosecutors in State Courts statistical series began in 1990. The series focuses on the more than 2,300 state court prosecutors' offices in the nation that handle felony cases in state courts of general jurisdiction. Prosecutors across the nation, and individuals interested in acquiring a better understanding of state prosecutor operations extensively use the data on the number of staff, annual budget, criminal caseloads, and other office characteristics. See Prosecutors in State Courts, 2005, to read more about prosecutors in state courts in 2005.

In 2022, 85% of recruits completed basic training and 15% did not. Among the basic training outcomes measured, 5% of recruits did not complete basic training in 2022 because they voluntarily withdrew from their program, and 8% did not complete basic training for involuntary reasons (such as injury or illness, failure to qualify, or being withdrawn by their sponsoring agency). One percent did not complete for an unknown reason. Eighty-seven percent of male recruits completed basic training in 2022, compared to 81% of female recruits. 

Nonfatal firearm violence includes rape or sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated assault victimizations in which the offender had, showed, or used a firearm.

Staffing and budget increases experienced by state court prosecutors' offices in the 1990s generally leveled off by 2001. Resources available to state court prosecutors' offices in 2005 were similar to those in 2001. In 2005 state court prosecutors' offices employed approximately 78,000 attorneys, investigators and support staff, had a median annual budget of $355,000, and closed about 250 or more felony cases.

BJS began to collect mortality data from state prisons, local jails, and local and state law enforcement agencies in 2000 in response to the Congressional enactment of the Death in Custody Reporting Act (DICRA, P.L. 106-297). Through its Mortality in Institutional Corrections (MCI) collection, BJS obtained data on deaths that occurred in the custody of local jails from 2000 to 2019 and state prisons from 2001 to 2019. Deaths that occurred in the process of arrest by law enforcement agencies were collected from 2003 to 2009, and a redesigned methodology was tested in 2015 and 2016.

Federal agencies were not included in the 2000 DICRA law, but BJS collected summary statistics on persons who died in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) through 2014. After the reauthorization of DICRA in 2013 (P.L. 113-242), which included a requirement to collect data from federal agencies, BJS began obtaining individual-level death data from the BOP, as well as from other federal agencies with law enforcement responsibilities.

The 2013 DICRA reauthorization expanded the original 2000 law to include additional enforcement and compliance requirements for local and state law enforcement agencies, jails, and prisons. As a federal statistical agency and consistent with its authorizing legislation, BJS may only use the data it collects or maintains under its authority for statistical purposes, which excludes enforcement and compliance activities. Consequently, the Department of Justice (DOJ) determined that BJS's MCI collection did not meet the 2013 DICRA requirements. DOJ decided that it would be more appropriate for the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) to administer the program and collect mortality data for DOJ starting with quarter 1 (Q1) of fiscal year (FY) 2020 (October to December 2019). State departments of corrections (DOC), local jails, and law enforcement agencies will now report their death information on a quarterly basis to centralized state agencies, who will compile and submit this to BJA to comply with all applicable DICRA requirements. Federal agencies, including the BOP, will continue to report deaths that occur in their custody to BJS.

BJS created the Federal Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (FDCRP) to collect the data required of federal law enforcement agencies. Federal law enforcement agencies are surveyed on an annual basis about deaths that fall under the scope of DCRA. For more information on FDCRP, please see Federal Law Enforcement Agency Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (FDCRP).

In 2021, about 59% of campus law enforcement agencies serving 4-year institutions with 1,000 or more students reported that they employed full-time sworn officers. Of these agencies, 95% authorized the use of handguns by their full-time sworn officers. A higher percentage of agencies serving public institutions (98%) than private institutions (89%) authorizing use.

Most campus law enforcement agencies performed security functions such as monitoring central alarms and surveillance cameras, along with building lockup and access control. The majority of agencies also provided safety escort services and dispatched calls for service. In most agencies, campus law enforcement is also responsible for traffic direction and control, parking enforcement, and traffic accident investigation.

This is a question the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) frequently receives and unfortunately cannot completely answer. BJS publishes reports in the Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties series every two to three years, providing the number of persons charged with a felony in a sample of the nation’s 75 most populous counties. In 2009, about 56,000 defendants were charged with a felony in those counties. See Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2009.

In 2022, about 49.2 million persons age 16 or older had one or more contacts with police during the prior 12 months. An estimated 20.3 million experienced contact initiated by police, approximately 29.7 million initiated contact with police, and 6.7 million reported police contact as the result of a traffic accident. About 12.4 million persons reported being pulled over as the driver in a traffic stop, compared to about 15.6 million persons reporting a crime, disturbance, or suspicious activity to police. See Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2022.