U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1994: State Court Processing Statistics Brian A. Reaves. Ph.D. BJS Statistician January 1998, NCJ-164616 This report is one in a series. More recent editions may be available. To view a list of all in the series go to http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pubalp2.htm#fdluc Jan M. Chaiken, Ph.D. Director Brian A. Reaves, BJS Statistician, wrote this report. Timothy C. Hart verified the data. Tom Hester and Yvonne Boston edited the report. It was produced by Ms. Boston and Priscilla Middleton under the supervision of Marilyn Marbrook, assisted by Jayne Robinson. Data collection and processing were done by the staff of the Pretrial Services Resource Center under the supervision of Jolanta Juszkiewicz. Carma Hogue of the U.S. 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 ---------- Contents ---------- Highlights State Court Processing Statistics Arrest charges Demographic characteristics Criminal history Criminal justice status at time of arrest Prior arrests Prior convictions Pretrial release and detention Rates of release and detention Bail amounts Time from arrest to release Criminal history and probability of release Conduct of released defendants Adjudication Time from arrest to adjudication Adjudication outcomes Case processing statistics Sentencing Time from conviction to sentencing Type and length of sentence Prior record and sentencing Methodology Appendix ------------ Highlights ------------ As a part of its State Court Processing Statistics program, the Bureau of Justice Statistics tracked a sample of felony cases filed during May 1994 in the Nation's 75 largest counties. Compared to a similar study of cases filed in May 1992, the 1994 study found a slightly higher proportion of drug defendants, while the proportion of property defendants was down slightly. Defendants in 1992 and 1994 were similar in terms of demographic characteristics, criminal history, and pretrial misconduct rates. Court processing of cases was also similar in terms of pretrial detention rates, adjudication outcome, and sentencing. ---------------- Arrest charges ---------------- An estimated 53,099 felony cases were filed in the State courts of the Nation's 75 largest counties during May 1994. A fourth of the defendants in these cases were charged with a violent offense, usually assault (12%) or robbery (8%). A small percentage of defendants were charged with murder (1%) or rape (1%). About 2 in 3 defendants were charged with either a drug (35%) or property (31%) offense. Two-fifths of drug defendants, 15% of defendants overall, were charged with drug trafficking. A majority of property defendants were charged with theft (11% of all defendants) or burglary (9%). Nine percent of all defendants were charged with a public-order offense. Often these charges were weapons-related (4% of all defendants) or driving-related (2%). ----------------------------- Demographic characteristics ----------------------------- Eighty-five percent of defendants were male, with the largest percentages among those charged with rape (97%), a weapons offense (95%), robbery (93%) or a driving-related offense (93%). Women accounted for about a fourth of the defendants charged with a property offense other than burglary. Blacks comprised nearly three-fourths of the defendants charged with robbery or a weapons offense. Whites accounted for about three-fourths of those charged with a driving-related felony. A majority (57%) of defendants were under age 30. Twenty-one percent were under age 21, including about two-fifths of murder (42%) and robbery (38%) defendants. Five percent of defendants were under age 18, including 16% of murder defendants and 15% of robbery defendants. ------------------ Criminal history ------------------ At the time of arrest, about 3 in 8 defendants had an active criminal justice status such as probation (17%), release pending disposition of a prior case (15%), or parole (8%). Robbery defendants (49%) were the most likely to have a criminal justice status, and rape defendants (17%) the least likely. About two-thirds of all defendants had been arrested previously, with 39% having at least five prior arrest charges. Fifty-six percent of defendants had a felony arrest record, including 63% of burglary defendants. An estimated 38% of defendants had at least one prior conviction for a felony, including nearly half of burglary defendants. Thirteen percent of all defendants had a prior conviction for a violent felony, including a fifth of murder and robbery defendants. -------------------------------- Pretrial release and detention -------------------------------- An estimated 38% of all defendants were detained until the court disposed of their case, including 7% who were denied bail. A majority of defendants charged with murder (79%), robbery (57%), or burglary (53%) were detained. Forty-three percent of murder defendants were denied bail. Fifty-six percent of the defendants with an active criminal justice status were detained until case disposition, compared to 30% of those without such a status. Defendants on parole (76%) were the most likely to be detained, followed by those on probation (57%). Released defendants were most likely to be released on personal recognizance, which accounted for 41% of all releases. The next most common type of pretrial release was surety bond (25%), followed by conditional release (11%) and deposit bond (9%). About a third of released defendants committed one or more types of pretrial misconduct that resulted in the revocation of their release. Twenty-four percent failed to appear in court as scheduled, and 15% were rearrested for a new offense. -------------- Adjudication -------------- About a fourth of all defendants had their case adjudicated within 1 month of arrest, and about half within 3 months. At the end of the 1-year study period, 87% of all cases had been adjudicated. Nearly three-fourths of the cases adjudicated within 1 year resulted in a conviction. Conviction rates were highest for defendants charged with a driving-related offense (86%) or drug trafficking (81%) and lowest for defendants charged with assault (53%). Sixty-one percent of all defendants were convicted of a felony, and 11% of a misdemeanor. Felony conviction rates were highest for defendants originally charged with drug trafficking (73%), a driving-related offense (70%), murder (67%), burglary (67%), or a weapons offense (67%). Assault defendants (41%) had the lowest felony conviction rate. Ninety-two percent of convictions occurring during the 1-year study period were obtained through a guilty plea. About 5 in 6 guilty pleas were to a felony. Murder defendants (32%) were the most likely to have their case adjudicated by trial. About 4 in 5 trials resulted in a guilty verdict, including 7 in 8 murder trials. ------------ Sentencing ------------ A majority (62%) of convicted defendants were sentenced within 1 day of adjudication. About two-thirds of all sentences were either to a State prison (32%) or a local jail (34%). 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. Thirty-six percent of the defendants convicted of a felony were sentenced to prison, including all of those convicted of murder. A large majority of the defendants convicted of robbery (70%) or rape (69%) also received prison sentences. A majority of those with multiple prior felony convictions were sentenced to prison following a felony conviction in the current case, as were about half of those with a single prior felony conviction. About a fourth of those without prior felony convictions received a prison term. The mean prison sentence for defendants convicted of a violent felony was about 9 years, and the median was 6 years. Defendants convicted of murder (20 years) or rape (10 years) had the longest median prison sentences. About a fifth of convicted murderers received a life sentence. The median prison sentence for defendants convicted of a nonviolent felony was 3 years, ranging from 4 years for those convicted of drug trafficking to 11/2 years for those convicted of a driving-related offense. ---------------------------------- 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 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 1994 SCPS collected data for 14,691 felony cases filed during May 1994 in 39 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 53,099 felony cases filed in the Nation's 75 most populous counties during that month. In 1994, the 75 largest counties accounted for 36% of the U.S. population. According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports program for 1994, these jurisdictions accounted for 52% of all reported serious violent crimes in the United States, including 63% of all robberies. They accounted for 43% of all reported serious property crimes. According to the BJS National Judicial Reporting Program, about half of all felony convictions in 1994 occurred in the 75 largest counties. For national estimates on felony convictions, see the BJS report Felony Sentences in State Courts, 1994. ---------------- Arrest charges ---------------- About a fourth of the defendants charged with a felony in the 75 largest counties during May 1994 had been arrested for a violent offense (25.7%). Nearly half of those charged with a violent felony, 11.6% of defendants overall, faced charges for assault, and almost a third, 7.8% of defendants overall, were charged with robbery. Murder and rape defendants each comprised about 4% of the defendants charged with a violent felony, and 1% each of all felony defendants. (See Methodology for the specific crimes included in each offense category.) Table 1. Felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Felony defendants in Most serious the 75 largest counties arrest charge Number Percent All offenses 52610 100% Violent offenses 13512 25.7% Murder 521 1 Rape 543 1 Robbery 4081 7.8 Assault 6128 11.6 Other violent 2239 4.3 Property offenses 16346 31.1% Burglary 4629 8.8 Theft 5893 11.2 Other property 5824 11.1 Drug offenses 18182 34.6% Trafficking 7672 14.6 Other drug 10510 20.0 Public-order offenses 4570 8.7% Weapons 2021 3.8 Driving-related 1281 2.4 Other public-order 1267 2.4 Note: Data for the specific arrest charge were available for 99% of all cases. Detail may not add total because of rounding. For about a third of all defendants, the most serious arrest charge was a drug offense (34.6%). About 2 in 5 drug defendants were charged with drug trafficking. Overall, defendants were more likely to be charged with drug trafficking (14.6%) or other drug offenses (20%) than any other type of offense. Figure 1. The most frequently charged offenses of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1994 Nontrafficking drug offenses 20.0 Drug trafficking 14.6 Assault 11.6 Theft 11.2 Other property offenses 11.1 Burglary 8.8 Robbery 7.8 Approximately a third of all felony defendants were charged with a property offense (31.1%). Just over a third of property defendants, 11.2% of defendants overall, were charged with theft, and just over a fourth, 8.8% overall, were charged with burglary. Defendants charged with a public-order offense comprised 8.7% of all defendants. Nearly half of these defendants faced weapons charges, and nearly a third were charged with a driving-related felony. Compared with data collected for felony cases filed in May 1992 in the 75 largest counties, the percentage of defendants facing drug charges was up slightly and the percentage of property cases was down by about the same amount. The proportion charged with a violent or public-order felony was similar to 1992. Figure 2. Most serious arrest charge of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1998, 1990, 1992, and 1994 Violent Property Drug Public-order 1988 21.3 35.8 34.9 8.0 1990 25.8 33.8 32.8 7.6 1992 26.5 34.9 30.0 8.5 1994 25.7 31.1 34.6 8.7 More than half of all felony defendants (57%) faced at least one additional charge and 42% were charged with at least one additional felony. About two-thirds of defendants whose most serious arrest charge was rape (68%), driving-related (67%), robbery (65%), or assault (64%) were charged with one or more additional offenses. Table 2. Level of second most serious charge of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Most serious additional charge Most serious Number of No Total Misde- arrest charge defendant Total other charges Felony meanor All offenses 52363 100% 43% 57% 42% 15% Violent offense 13462 100% 37% 63% 46% 17% Murder 521 100 46 54 51 3 Rape 539 100 32 68 61 7 Robbery 4057 100 35 65 54 11 Assault 6120 100 36 64 40 25 Other violent 2224 100 42 58 47 11 Property offenses 16239 100% 45% 55% 42% 12% Burglary 4613 100 40 60 48 13 Theft 5845 100 53 47 35 11 Other property 5781 100 42 58 45 13 Drug offenses 18132 100% 45% 55% 40% 14% Trafficking 7649 100 40 60 47 13 Other drug 10483 100 50 50 35 15 Public-order offenses 4530 100% 47% 53% 35% 18% Weapons 2009 100 49 51 34 17 Driving-related 1261 100 33 67 48 19 Other public- order 1259 100 57 43 23 19 Note: Data for the most serious arrest charge and the next most serious arrest charge were available for 99.5% of all cases. About three-fifths of rape defendants (61%) were charged with at least one additional felony, as were about half of those charged with robbery (54%) or murder (51%). Less than two-fifths of defendants charged with theft (35%), drug offenses other than trafficking (35%), weapons offenses (34%), or other public-order offenses (23%) faced multiple felony charges. ----------------------------- Demographic characteristics ----------------------------- Overall, 85% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were male. Men comprised the largest percentages among defendants charged with rape (97%), weapons offenses (95%), murder (94%), robbery (93%), driving-related offenses (93%), or burglary (91%). Women accounted for 15% of defendants, including about a fourth of the defendants charged with property offenses other than burglary. Table 3.Sex and race of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charges,1994 Most serious arrest Number of Number of charge defendants Total Male Female defendants Total Black White Other All offenses 52,343 100% 85% 15% 44,987 100% 56% 42% 3% Violent offenses 13,417 100% 88% 12% 11,778 100% 59% 38% 3% Murder 521 100 94 6 476 100 64 32 4 Rape 532 100 97 3 497 100 54 46 1 Robbery 4,063 100 93 7 3,458 100 74 24 2 Assault 6,091 100 84 16 5,467 100 54 43 3 Other violent 2,209 100 90 10 1,881 100 44 53 3 Property offenses 16,259 100% 81% 19% 14,471 100% 48% 49% 3% Burglary 4,609 100 91 9 4,060 100 47 50 3 Theft 5,867 100 77 23 5,390 100 46 50 4 Other property 5,783 100 77 23 5,020 100 51 46 3 Drug offense 18,115 100% 85% 15% 15,039 100% 62% 37% 2% Traff- icking 7,642 100 87 13 6,470 100 62 36 3 Other drug 10,473 100 83 17 8,569 100 62 37 1 Public- order 4,552 100% 91% 9% 3,699 100% 52% 46% 2% Weapons 2,013 100 95 5 1,729 100 71 27 2 Driving- related 1,281 100 93 7 884 100 24 75 1 Other public- order 1,257 100 83 17 1,086 100 44 52 3 Note: Data on sex of defendants were available for 99% of all cases and data on race of defendants were available for 86% of all cases. Without consideration of Hispanic orgin, Bureau of the Census data for 1994 indicate that the racial distribution of the population of the largest counties was 75% white, 17% black, and 7% other races. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Without consideration of Hispanic origin, which was poorly reported in some jurisdictions (see Methodology), 56% of defendants were black, and 42% were white. Blacks comprised the largest percentages among defendants charged with robbery (74%), weapons offenses (71%), murder (64%), and drug offenses (62%). Whites accounted for three-fourths of the defendants facing driving-related charges and half of those charged with theft or burglary. Figure 3. Race of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Black White Robbery 74 24 Weapons 71 27 Murder 64 32 Drug trafficking 62 36 Assault 54 43 Rape 54 46 Burglary 47 50 Theft 46 50 Driving-releted 24 75 Where reported, 27% of defendants were Hispanic, including 40% of those charged with a driving-related offense and 37% of those charged with drug trafficking. Non-Hispanic whites also comprised about a fourth of all defendants, including 41% of those charged with a driving-related offense. Non-Hispanic blacks accounted for 43% of all defendants, including a majority of those charged with robbery (57%), weapons offenses (57%), or murder (53%). Table 4. Race and Hispanic origin of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Other Most serious Number of Black non- White non- non- Hispanic, arrest charge defendant Total Hispanic Hispanic Hispanic any race All offenses 39,169 100% 43% 26% 3% 27% Violent offenses 10,397 100% 47% 25% 3% 25% Murder 381 100 53 21 5 20 Rape 411 100 43 39 1 17 Robbery 3,157 100 57 13 3 27 Assault 4,820 100 45 29 4 23 Other violent 1,628 100 32 33 4 31 Property offenses 11,840 100% 38% 36% 4% 22% Burglary 3,333 100 36 35 4 26 Theft 4,147 100 38 39 5 18 Other property 4,359 100 40 34 3 23 Drug offenses 13,598 100% 46% 19% 2% 32% Trafficking 4,953 100 44 15 3 37 Other drug 8,645 100 48 21 1 30 Public-order offenses 3,335 100% 39% 29% 3% 30% Weapons 1,423 100 57 16 3 23 Driving-related 935 100 18 41 1 40 Other public-order 976 100 32 36 4 29 Note: Data on both race and Hispanic origin of defendants were available for 74% of all cases. According to the Bureau of the Census data for 1994, the overall percentage of the population of the 75 largest counties was 61% white non-Hispanic, 15% black non-Hispanic, 7% other race non-Hispanic, and 17% Hispanics of all races. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. The average age of defendants at the time of arrest was 29 years. By specific offense, the average age ranged from 25 years for murder and robbery defendants to 33 for those charged with a driving-related offense. Within each of the four major offense categories, a majority of the defendants were under age 30. Table 5. Age at arrest of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge,1994 Percent of felony defendants Most in the 75 largest counties serious Number Average arrest of Under 40 or age at charge defendants Total 18 18-20 21-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 older arrest All offenses 52,377 100% 5% 16% 18% 19% 17% 12% 14% 29 yrs. Violent offenses 13,403 100% 9% 17% 17% 18% 15% 11% 13% 28 yrs. Murder 521 100 16 26 24 9 9 6 10 25 Rape 535 100 5 11 11 15 17 23 17 32 Robbery 4,041 100 15 23 17 18 13 8 6 25 Assault 6,085 100 6 16 18 18 16 11 14 29 Other violent 2,220 100 4 11 15 19 18 12 21 32 Property offenses 16,267 100% 4% 16% 18% 19% 17% 13% 14% 29 yrs. Burglary 4,623 100 4 19 19 19 17 12 10 28 Theft 5,859 100 3 16 18 19 16 12 16 30 Other property 5,786 100 4 14 16 19 19 13 14 30 Drug offenses 18,146 100% 3% 15% 18% 18% 18% 14% 14% 29 yrs. Trafficking 7,663 100 2 17 21 19 16 12 12 29 Other drug 10,483 100 3 13 16 18 20 15 14 30 Public-order offenses 4,560 100% 4% 13% 18% 20% 16% 12% 16% 30 yrs. Weapons 2,021 100 6 20 23 19 12 10 9 27 Driving-related 1,281 100 -- 5 12 24 23 15 21 33 Other public-order 1,258 100 4 10 17 18 17 12 22 32 Note: Data on age of defendants were available for 99.5% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less tha 0.5%. Fourteen percent of defendants were age 40 or older, including 21% of those charged with a driving-related offense. Five percent of defendants were under age 18, including 16% of murder defendants and 15% of robbery defendants. In 37 States and the District of Columbia, persons under age 18 charged with a criminal offense are considered juveniles. In 10 States the upper age limit for original juvenile court jurisdiction is 16 and in 3 States, the upper limit is 15. In all States numerous exceptions to the age criterion permit prosecutors to proceed against a juvenile as an adult in criminal court. ***(Juveniles Prosecuted in State Criminal Courts, BJS Selected Findings, NCJ-164265, March 1997.)*** A majority of murder (66%) and robbery (55%) defendants were under age 25, compared to 38% of defendants overall. Defendants charged with rape (27%) or driving-related offenses (17%) were the least likely to be under age 25. Figure 4. Felony defendants under age 25 and age 21 in the 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Under 21 Under 25 All defendants 20.5 17.8 Murder 41.7 24.4 Rape 15.7 11.2 Robbery 38.3 17.0 Assault 21.5 18.2 Burglary 22.6 19.2 Theft 19.1 17.8 Drug trafficking 19.6 21.4 Weapons 26.4 23.5 Driving- 5.7 11.7 Other 0 0 Murder defendants (42%) were twice as likely as defendants overall (21%) to be under age 21. Robbery defendants (38%) were also much more likely to be under age 21 than other defendants. Defendants charged with a driving-related offense (6%) were the least likely to be this young. Males formed a higher percentage of defendants under age 21 (91%) than of other age groups. About two-thirds of the defendants under age 18 were black, compared to just over half in other age groups. Table 6. Sex and race of felony defendants, by age at arrest, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest Age at Number of Sex Number of Race arrest defendants Total Male Female defendant Total Black White Other All ages 52,211 100% 85% 15% 44,905 100% 56% 42% 3% Under 18 2,436 100% 92% 8% 2,044 100% 68% 30% 2% 18-20 8,275 100 91 9 7,096 100 57 40 4 21-24 9,276 100 87 13 7,859 100 55 42 2 25-29 9,703 100 84 16 8,197 100 55 42 3 30-34 8,953 100 81 19 7,728 100 55 42 2 35-39 6,478 100 81 19 5,742 100 57 41 2 40 or older 7,091 100 84 16 6,239 100 51 47 2 Note: Data on defendant age and sex were available for 99% of all cases. Data on defendant age and race were available for 85% of all case. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5% Black males comprised the largest proportion of defendants in each age group. This effect was most pronounced in the under 18 age category where black males (64%) accounted for more than twice the percentage accounted for by white males (27%). It was least pronounced in the over 40 age category, where black males (43%) accounted for a proportion of defendants similar to that accounted for by white males (40%). Figure 5. Race and sex of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by age at arrest 1994 Black male White male Black female White female Under 18 64 27 4 2 18-20 51 35 5 4 21-24 47 36 8 6 25-29 46 35 9 7 30-34 44 34 22 8 35-39 47 33 10 8 40 or older 43 40 8 7 Black females comprised a slightly higher percentage than white females in most of the age categories, but for no more than 11% of the defendants in any single age category. ---------------- Criminal history ----------------- ------------------------------------------- Criminal justice status at time of arrest ------------------------------------------- About 3 in 8 felony defendants had an active criminal justice status at the time of their arrest on the current felony charge. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, 35% had a criminal justice status, ranging from 49% of robbery defendants to 17% of rape defendants. Table 7. Criminal justice status of felony defendants at time of arrest, by most serious current arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendantsin the 75 large with an active criminal justice status Most serious at the time of arrest current Number of Pro- Pretrial In arrest defendants Total batio release Parole custody Escapee All offenses 41,903 38% 16% 12% 8% 1% -- Violent offenses 10,614 35% 13% 13% 7% 2% -- Murder 447 38 14 10 8 4 1 Rape 425 17 10 5 2 0 1 Robbery 3,043 49 15 19 13 1 -- Assault 4,888 31 12 12 5 2 -- Other violent 1,811 28 15 6 5 1 0 Property offenses 13,012 37% 17% 11% 7% 1% -- Burglary 3,758 41 21 9 10 1 0 Theft 4,941 34 19 7 6 1 -- Other property 4,313 37 13 17 6 2 -- Drug offenses 14,911 39% 18% 13% 8% -- -- Trafficking 6,447 37 19 11 6 -- 0 Other drug 8,463 41 17 15 8 1 -- Public-order offenses 3,366 45% 18% 13% 11% 2% 3% Weapons 1,532 42 17 13 11 1 0 Driving-related 866 39 20 11 8 -- 0 Other public-order 969 56 17 14 13 4 9 Note: Data on criminal justice status at time of arrest were available for 80% of all cases. Nine percent of 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. --Less than 0.5%. Thirty-seven percent of property defendants had a criminal justice status, rnging from 41% of burglary defendants to 34% of theft defendants. Among drug defendants, 39% had a criminal justice status overall. Those charged with drug trafficking (37%) were slightly less likely to have a criminal justice status than those charged with other drug offenses (41%). Nearly half of public-order defendants (45%) had an active criminal justice status at the time of the current arrest. This included 42% of those charged with a weapons offense, 39% of those charged with a driving-related offense, and 56% of those charged with other public-order offenses. About 1 in 10 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, 12% had been released pending disposition of a previous case, and 8% were on parole at the time of the current arrest. Allowing for defendants with multiple criminal justice statuses, 17% were on probation, 15% had been released on a prior case, and 8% were on parole. Defendants charged with robbery (13%), a weapons offense (11%), or burglary (10%) were about twice as likely as those charged with theft (6%), drug trafficking (6%), or assault (5%) to have been on parole at the time of their arrest for the current charged offense. Rape defendants (2%) were the least likely to have been a parolee at the time of arrest. Figure 6. Criminal justice status of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1994 Parole Probation Pretrial release Murder 9 14 15 Rape 2 11 6 Robbery 13 17 25 Assault 5 12 14 Burglary 10 22 12 Theft 6 19 11 Drug trafficking 6 20 13 Weapons 11 18 16 Driving-related 8 20 14 Defendants charged with burglary (22%), drug trafficking (20%), or a driving-related offense (20%) were more likely than other defendants to have been on probation at the time of arrest. Those charged with rape (11%), assault (12%), or murder (14%) were the least likely to have been on probation. An estimated 1 in 4 robbery defendants had been released pending disposition of a earlier case when they were arrested on the current felony charge. This was the case for 16% of weapons defendants and 15% of murder defendants. Six percent of rape defendants had such a status at the time of the current arrest. ------------------- Prior arrests ------------------- About two-thirds of all defendants had at least one prior arrest for either misdemeanor or a felony. By general offense category, the percentage of defendants with a prior arrest record ranged from 62% of those whose current charge was a violent offense to 72% of those charged with a drug offense or a public-order offense. Table 8. Number of prior arrest charges of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties With prior arrest Most serious Without Number of prior arrest charges current Number of prior 10 or arrest charge defendant Total arrest Total 1 2-4 5-9 more All offenses 49,637 100% 32% 68% 9% 19% 16% 23% Violent offenses 12,770 100% 38% 62% 9% 18% 14% 21% Murder 485 100 41 59 11 20 15 14 Rape 519 100 47 53 12 16 10 15 Robbery 3,886 100 33 67 8 17 16 26 Assault 5,789 100 40 60 8 19 13 21 Other violent 2,091 100 40 60 10 20 12 18 Property offenses 15,387 100% 34% 66% 8% 18% 15% 26% Burglary 4,388 100 25 75 7 20 19 29 Theft 5,556 100 34 66 9 17 13 27 Other property 5,444 100 40 60 8 17 13 22 Drug offenses 17,264 100% 28% 72% 10% 20% 17% 23% Trafficking 7,255 100 30 70 10 21 17 22 Other drug 10,009 100 27 73 10 20 18 24 Public-order offenses 4,217 100% 28% 72% 11% 21% 18% 22% Weapons 1,924 100 32 68 10 22 17 19 Driving-related 1,148 100 24 76 8 21 19 28 Other public- order 1,144 100 26 74 14 21 19 20 Note: Data on prior arrests were available for 94% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, those charged with robbery (67%) were the most likely to have a prior arrest record, and those charged with rape (53%) the least likely. Among property defendants, three-fourths of those charged with burglary (75%) had been arrested previously, compared to about two-thirds of theft defendants (66%), and three-fifths of those charged with other property offenses (60%). Among public-order defendants, about two-thirds of those charged with a weapons offense (68%) had been arrested previously, compared to about three-fourths of those charged with other public-order offenses. Among defendants with an arrest record, nearly all had been arrested more than once, and a majority had at least 5 prior arrest charges. Overall, 59% of defendants had two or moreprior arrest charges, and 39% had five or more. Defendants charged with burglary (48%) or a driving-related offense (46%) were the most likely to have five or more prior arrest charges. Twenty-three percent of all defendants had 10 or more prior arrest charges. This included 29% of burglary defendants, 28% of defendants charged with a driving-related offense, 27% of theft defendants, and 26% of robbery defendants. Three-fourths of the defendants under the age of 18 had no previous arrests. This proportion dropped to half among defendants age 18 to 20, a third among those in the 21-to-24 age group, and about a fourth among those age 25 to 49. Figure 7. Number of prior arrest charges of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by age at arrest, 1994 None One 2-4 5 or more Under 18 75 8 13 5 18-20 50 13 22 15 21-24 32 10 21 36 25-29 26 8 19 47 30-34 22 8 20 50 35-39 23 7 17 53 40-49 25 9 16 50 50 or older 34 9 15 42 A small proportion of defendants under the age of 21 had 5 or more prior arrests; however, this proportion rose to a third of defendants in the 21-to-24 age range, and about half in the 25-to-49 age range. In the latter age range, defendants were about twice as likely to have five or more prior arrests as no prior arrests. Among defendants with an arrest record, about 5 in 6 had been arrested at least once for a felony. Overall, a majority of defendants had a felony arrest record (56%). Nearly half had multiple prior felony arrest charges (44%), including 22% with five or more. Table 9. Number of prior felony arrest charges of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Most serious Without prior felony arrest With prior felony arrest current Non- No Number of prior felony arrest Number of felony prior 10 or charge defendants Total Total arrest arrest Total 1 2-4 5-9 more All offenses 50,266 100% 44% 12% 32% 56% 12% 21% 13% 9% Violent offenses 12,882 100% 49% 11% 38% 51% 12% 20% 11% 9% Murder 493 100 47 7 40 53 13 25 6 8 Rape 519 100 55 9 46 45 17 14 8 5 Robbery 3,904 100 42 9 33 58 11 21 15 12 Assault 5,851 100 51 11 40 49 12 20 10 8 Other violent 2,114 100 56 16 40 44 11 17 9 8 Property offenses 15,602 100% 45% 11% 34% 55% 11% 21% 14% 10% Burglar 4,447 100 37 12 25 63 10 24 17 12 Theft 5,635 100 45 11 34 55 12 20 13 10 Other property 5,521 100 51 11 40 49 10 19 12 9 Drug offenses 17,501 100% 41% 13% 28% 59% 13% 23% 14% 8% Trafficking 7,322 100 42 12 30 58 13 24 13 8 Other drug 10,179 100 40 13 27 60 13 23 15 8 Public-order offenses 4,281 100% 42% 14% 28% 58% 15% 23% 13% 7% Weapon 1,948 100 41 9 32 59 13 26 12 8 Driving-related 1,161 100 47 23 24 53 14 19 12 8 Other-public order 1,172 100 40 14 26 60 18 22 16 5 Note: Data on prior felony arrests were available for 96% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. About half of the defendants facing a current charge for a violent felony had been previously arrested for a felony, including a majority of those facing charges for robbery (58%) or murder (53%). Twenty-seven percent of robbery defendants had 5 or more prior felony arrest charges, including 12% with 10 or more. A majority of property defendants (55%) had one or more prior felony arrests. Those charged with burglary (63%) were the most likely to have a felony arrest record. Twenty-nine percent of burglary defendants had at least 5 prior felony arrest charges, and 12% had 10 or more. About three-fifths of drug defendants had at least 1 prior felony arrest, and about a fifth had five or more prior felony arrest charges. This distribution did not differ significantly between defendants whose most serious current charge was drug trafficking and those charged with types of drug offenses. About three-fifths of public-order defendants also had been previously arrested for a felony, and a fifth had five or more prior felony charges. Defendants whose current charge was for a driving-related felony (53%) were slightly less likely than other public-order defendants to have a felony arrest record. ---------------------- Prior convictions ----------------------- Fifty-five percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were known to have at least one prior conviction for a misdemeanor or a felony. About three-fourths of those with a conviction record, accounting for 42% of defendants overall, had more than one prior conviction. About a fifth of all defendants had five or more prior convictions. Table 10. Number of prior convictions of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest countie Most serious Without With prior conviction current Number of prior Number of prior convictions arrest defendant Total conviction Total 1 2-4 5-9 10 or more All offenses 49,497 100% 45% 55% 13% 21% 13% 8% Violent offenses 12,727 100% 50% 50% 13% 18% 12% 7% Murder 496 100 50 50 14 20 11 4 Rape 513 100 57 43 13 15 10 4 Robbery 3,919 100 44 56 14 19 13 9 Assault 5,748 100 52 48 12 17 11 7 Other violent 2,052 100 51 49 13 19 9 7 Property offenses 15,362 100% 45% 55% 10% 21% 14% 10% Burglary 4,389 100 37 63 11 25 16 11 Theft 5,525 100 44 56 11 19 15 11 Other property 5,448 100 52 48 10 21 10 8 Drug offenses 17,187 100% 43% 57% 16% 22% 13% 7% Trafficking 7,245 100 43 57 15 22 13 7 Other drug 9,943 100 42 58 16 22 12 8 Public-order 4,221 100% 39% 61% 16% 24% 14% 7% Weapons 1,938 100 42 58 17 24 11 5 Driving- related 1,145 100 34 66 11 27 17 10 Other public- order 1,137 100 37 63 19 21 15 8 Note: Data on number of prior convictions were available for 94% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, half had at least one prior conviction, with robbery defendants (56%) the most likely to have a conviction record, and rape defendants (43%) the least likely. Forty-one percent of robbery defendants had more than one prior conviction, and 22% had at least five. More than half of property defendants (55%) had been convicted previously, including nearly two-thirds of burglary defendants (63%). About half of burglary defendants (52%) had more than one prior conviction, and about a fourth (27%) had five or more. A majority of drug defendants (57%) also had at least one prior conviction. About two-fifths had two or more prior convictions, and one-fifth had five or more. These percentages did not vary significantly by type of drug offense. Among public-order defendants, 61% had a conviction record, and 21% had five or more. About two-thirds of defendants charged with a driving- related felony had at least one prior conviction of some type, and more than half had multiple prior convictions. About two-thirds of the defendants with a conviction record, an estimated 38% of defendants overall, had at least one prior conviction for a felony. Table 11. Number of prior felony convictions of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Without prior With prior felony conviction felony conviction Number of prior Most serious Non- No prior felony convictions current Number of felony con- 10 or arrest charge defendant Total Total only victions Total 1 2-4 5-9 more All offenses 50,437 100% 62% 17% 45% 38% 15% 17% 4% 1% Violent offenses 12,912 100% 66% 17% 50% 34% 14% 15% 4% 1% Murder 502 100 62 11 50 38 16 17 4 1 Rape 516 100 71 14 57 29 14 14 1 0 Robbery 3,950 100 61 16 44 39 14 18 5 2 Assault 5,850 100 68 16 52 32 13 13 4 1 Other violent 2,094 100 70 19 51 30 14 12 3 -- Property offenses 15,644 100% 61% 16% 45% 39% 13% 18% 6% 2% Burglary 4,458 100 53 16 37 47 16 21 7 2 Theft 5,634 100 60 16 44 40 12 19 7 2 Other property 5,552 100 69 16 52 31 12 15 3 1 Drug offenses 17,572 100% 61% 17% 43% 39% 17% 18% 4% 1% Trafficking 7,354 100 63 19 43 37 17 16 3 1 Other drug 10,218 100 59 17 42 41 17 19 4 1 Public-order offenses 4,309 100% 60% 21% 39% 40% 18% 17% 4% 1% Weapons 1,969 100 57 15 42 43 19 20 3 1 Driving-related 1,165 100 66 31 34 34 17 11 5 -- Other public-order 1,175 100 60 23 37 40 16 19 4 -- Note: Data on number of prior felony convictions were available for 96% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding About a third of defendants whose current charge was for a violent felony had previously been convicted of a felony. Robbery (39%) and murder (38%) defendants were more likely to a have a felony conviction record than assault (32%) or rape (29%) defendants. About two-fifths of defendants whose most serious current arrest charge was for a public-order (40%), property (39%), or drug (39%) offense had been previously convicted of a felony. Among property defendants, those charged with burglary (47%) were the most likely to have a felony conviction record. Among public- order defendants, those facing weapons charges (43%) were the most likely to have a prior felony conviction. A majority of the defendants with a felony conviction record, 22% of defendants overall, had multiple prior felony convictions. Five percent of all defendants had five or more prior felony convictions. Burglary (30%) and theft (28%) defendants were the most likely to have multiple prior felony convictions and 9% of these defendants had five or more. Defendants charged with a driving-related offense (16%) or rape (15%) were the least likely to have multiple prior felony convictions. Ninety percent of defendants under age 18 at the time of the current offense had no prior adult convictions, while 7% had been previously convicted of at least one felony and 3% of at least one misdemeanor but no felonies. In the 18-to-20 age range, 67% of defendants had no prior convictions, and 19% had at least one prior felony conviction. Figure 8. Most serious prior conviction of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by age at arrest, 1994 None Misdemeanor Felony Under 18 90 3 7 18-20 67 14 19 21-24 44 19 37 25-29 37 18 45 30-34 33 20 48 35-39 35 17 49 40-49 36 19 45 50 or older 45 21 34 A majority of the defendants age 21 or older had a conviction record, and defendants in the 25 to 49 age range were more likely to have a felony conviction record than no prior convictions at all. For about a third of the defendants with a prior felony conviction, 13% of defendants overall, their criminal history included at least one conviction for a violent felony. About a sixth of the defendants whose most serious current arrest charge was for a violent offense had a prior conviction for a violent felony. About 1 in 10 drug defendants had a prior conviction for a violent felony. Table 12. Most serious prior conviction of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Number Most serious prior conviction Most serious of Without current defen- prior Felony Non Misde- arrest charge dant Total conviction Total Total Violent violent meanor All offenses 50,222 100% 45% 55% 38% 13% 25% 17% Violent offenses 12,875 100% 50% 50% 34% 17% 17% 16% Murder 499 100 50 50 39 20 19 11 Rape 516 100 57 43 29 17 12 14 Robbery 3,950 100 44 56 39 20 19 16 Assault 5,821 100 52 48 32 17 16 16 Other violent 2,089 100 51 49 30 14 17 19 Property offenses 5,604 100% 45% 55% 39% 13% 26% 16% Burglary 4,451 100 37 63 47 16 31 16 Theft 5,618 100 44 56 40 14 26 16 Other property 5,536 100 52 48 32 10 22 16 Drug offenses 17,454 100% 43% 57% 40% 10% 30% 17% Traff- icking 7,319 100 43 57 38 9 29 19 Other drug 10,135 100 42 58 41 11 30 17 Public-order offenses 4,289 100 39% 61% 40% 15% 25% 21% Weapons 1,961 100 42 58 43 18 25 15 Driving- related 1,163 100 34 66 35 9 25 31 Other public- order 1,165 100 37 63 40 16 24 23 Note: Data on most serious prior conviction were available for 95% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. By specific arrest charge, the percentage of defendants previously convicted of a violent felony ranged from 20% of murder and robbery defendants to 9% of defendants charged with drug trafficking or a driving-related offense. Figure 9. Most serious prior conviction of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1994 Violent felony Nonviolent felony Misdemeanor Murder 20 19 11 Rape 17 12 13 Robbery 20 19 16 Assault 17 16 16 Burglary 16 31 17 Theft 14 26 16 Drug trafficking 9 29 19 Weapons 18 25 15 Driving-related 9 25 31 The most serious prior conviction was a nonviolent felony for about 3 in 10 defendants charged with burglary (31%) or drug trafficking (29%). This was also the case for about a fourth of defendants charged with theft (26%), a weapons offense (25%), or a driving-related offense (25%). Defendants charged with a driving-related offense were the only group whose most serious prior conviction was about as likely to be a misdemeanor (31%) as a felony (34%). These defendants were about twice as likely as other defendants to have a conviction record that consisted only of misdemeanors. ------------------------------- Pretrial release and detention Rates of release and detention ------------------------------- An estimated 62% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were released prior to the final disposition of their case. By general offense category, defendants charged with a violent offense (55%) were less likely to be released than those whose most serious arrest charge was a drug (66%), property (64%), or public-order (64%) offense. Table 13. Felony defendants released before or detained until case disposition, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Percent of defendants in the 75 largest counties Released Detained Most serious Number of before case until case arrest charge defendant Total disposition disposition All offenses 50241 100% 62% 38% Violent offenses 12897 100% 55% 45% Murder 500 100 21 79 Rape 525 100 53 47 Robbery 3842 100 43 57 Assault 5858 100 66 34 Other violent 2172 100 56 44 Property offenses 15574 100% 64% 36% Burglary 4417 100 47 53 Theft 5720 100 68 32 Other property 5436 100 74 26 Drug offenses 17491 100% 66% 34% Trafficking 7468 100 61 39 Other drug 10023 100 70 30 Public-order offenses 4279 100% 64% 36% Weapons 1967 100 64 36 Driving-related 1210 100 70 30 Other public- order 1101 100 56 44 Note: Data on detention/release outcome were available for 95% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Within the violent offense category, release rates varied greatly. Just 21% of murder defendants were released compared to 66% of those charged with assault. Fifty-three percent of rape defendants and 43% of robbery defendants were released before the court disposed of their case. Among defendants charged with a property offense, about half of those charged with burglary were released, compared to about two- thirds of theft defendants and about three-fourths of those charged with other property offenses. Among drug defendants, those charged with drug trafficking (61%) were less likely to be released than those charged with other drug offenses (70%). Among public-order defendants, those charged with a driving-related offense (70%) were the most likely to be released. Among the 38% of defendants who were detained in jail until case disposition, a large majority (82%) had a bail amount set but did not post the money required to secure release. Detained murder defendants were the exception to this rule, as a majority of them, 43% of all murder defendants overall, were ordered held without bail. Overall, 7% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were denied bail. Figure 10. Pretrial detention of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Held on bail Denied bail Murder 35 43 Rape 38 10 Robbery 46 10 Assault 28 7 Burglary 45 8 Theft 27 5 Drug trafficking 35 4 Weapons 30 6 Driving-related 26 3 A majority of the defendants released prior to case disposition, 36% of defendants overall, were released under nonfinancial conditions that did not require the posting of bail (see Methodology for definitions of terms related to pretrial release). Release on personal recognizance, granted to 26% of all defendants and 41% of released defendants, was the type of release used most often. Figure 11. Pretrial release of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1994 Recognizance 41.2 Surety bond 24.8 Conditional 10.6 Deposit bond 8.8 Unsecured bond 5.8 Full cash bond 4.6 Emergency 2.1 Property bond 2.0 Table 14. Type of pretrial release or detention of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Released before case disposition Detaine until Financial release Nonfinancial release case disposition Detained until Most serious Full Total Emer- Held arrest Total Surety Deposit cash Property non- Recog- Con- Un- gency on Denied charge financial bond bond bond bond financial nizance ditional secured release bail bail All offenses 25% 15% 6% 3% 1% 36% 26% 7% 4% 1% 31% 7% Violentoffenses 26% 17% 5% 3% 1% 29% 24% 4% 1% -- 36% 9% Murder 14 8 3 0 3 8 6 1 0 0 35 43 Rape 25 11 6 4 4 27 17 8 2 0 38 10 Robbery 17 11 3 2 1 26 23 2 1 -- 46 10 Assault 32 20 7 5 1 33 28 4 1 -- 28 7 Other violent 30 22 5 3 1 26 18 7 1 0 38 5 Property offenses 24% 14% 5% 3% 2% 40% 28% 7% 4% 1% 30% 6% Burglary 19 12 4 2 1 27 17 7 2 1 45 8 Theft 29 17 5 5 2 39 23 8 7 1 27 5 Other property 24 14 6 3 2 50 41 6 2 -- 20 6 Drug offenses 24% 15% 5% 2% 1% 39% 26% 8% 6% 3% 28% 6% Trafficking 30 20 5 3 1 30 18 7 4 1 35 4 Other drug 20 12 5 1 1 46 31 8 7 4 24 7 Public-order offenses 28% 15% 9% 4% 1% 35% 28% 6% -- 1% 28% 8% Weapons 33 17 11 3 2 29 23 6 1 2 30 6 Driving related 28 18 6 4 1 42 35 7 0 0 26 3 Other public-order 22 10 7 4 1 34 27 7 0 0 28 16 Note: Data on type of pretrial release or detention were available for 91% of all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Other nonfinancial types of release included conditional release (7% of all defendants and 10% of released defendants), and release on unsecured bond (4% and 6%). A fourth of all defendants secured release through financial terms that involved the posting of a financial bond in the form of money or property. The most common type of financial release was surety bond (15% of all defendants and 25% of released defendants), which involves the services of a commercial bail bond agent. Other types of financial release included deposit bond (6% of all defendants and 9% of released defendants), full cash bond (3% and 5%), and property bond (1% and 2%). These bonds are posted directly with the court without the use of a bail bond agent. About 1% of all defendants (2% of released 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 types of release mentioned above. -------------- Bail amounts -------------- Just over half of all 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 (36%), ordered held without bail (7%), or were part of an emergency release (1%). About half of those with a bail amount had it set at $10,000 or more, including 26% who had it set at $25,000 or more. Table 15. Bail amount set for felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties with a bail amount of: Most serious Number of Under $5,000- $10,000- $25,000 arrest charge defendants Total $5,000 $9,999 $24,999 or more All offenses 26691 100% 29% 21% 24% 26% Violent offenses 7632 100 21 18 21 40 Murder 239 100 9 1 19 71 Rape 321 100 11 13 23 53 Robbery 2266 100 13 12 23 52 Assault 3381 100 31 24 20 25 Other violent 1425 100 16 17 22 45 Property offenses 8046 100% 38% 20% 23% 20% Burglary 2715 100 27 20 25 28 Theft 3067 100 43 22 20 15 Other property 2264 100 44 19 23 15 Drug offenses 8784 100% 27% 24% 29% 20% Trafficking 4655 100 20 20 35 25 Other drug 4129 100 35 28 23 15 Public-order offenses 2229 100% 33% 22% 22% 23% Weapons 1110 100 30 22 25 23 Driving-related 592 100 35 18 21 26 Other public-order 527 100 38 24 18 20 Note: Data on bail amount were available for 98% 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. 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. Nearly three-fourths of murder defendants (71%) with a bail amount had it set at $25,000 or more, as did about half of rape (53%) and robbery (52%) defendants. Among property defendants with a bail amount set, those charged with burglary (28%) were about twice as likely to have their bail set at $25,000 or more as other property defendants (15%). Among drug defendants, 25% of those charged with drug trafficking had bail set at $25,000 or more, compared to 15% of other drug defendants. 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). The mean bail amount for detained defendants ($50,300) was about 5 times that of defendants who secured release ($9,400). Table 16. Median and mean bail amounts set for felony defendants, by pretrial release/detention outcome and most serious arrest charge, 1994 Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Most serious Median bail amount Mean bail amount arrest charge Total Released Detained Total Released Detained All offenses $10,000 $5,000 $15,000 $32,600 $9,400 $50,300 Violent offenses $13,000 $5,000 $25,000 $53,500 $12,400 $81,400 Murder 100,000 20,000 235,500 275,000 24,600 370,400 Rape 25,000 10,000 50,000 46,500 18,700 64,260 Robbery 25,000 10,000 25,000 48,200 19,600 56,300 Assault 7,500 5,000 20,000 39,800 8,600 74,300 Other violent 20,000 7,500 40,000 59,000 14,600 92,500 Property offenses $5,000 $3,000 $10,000 $21,900 $7,000 $33,500 Burglary 10,000 5,000 13,000 23,400 7,300 29,600 Theft 5,000 2,500 10,000 25,600 7,100 45,200 Other property 5,000 3,000 10,000 14,900 6,600 24,300 Drug offenses $7,500 $5,000 $10,000 $27,800 $10,000 $42,200 Trafficking 10,000 7,500 17,500 37,800 12,500 59,000 Other drug 5,000 5,000 7,500 16,700 7,200 24,000 Public-order offenses$5,500 $3,000 $15,000 $18,400 $6,600 $28,700 Weapons 7,500 5,000 15,000 16,400 6,400 25,900 Driving-relate 7,000 2,500 20,000 22,400 6,100 37,700 Other public-order 5,000 2,500 10,000 18,000 7,900 25,000 Note: Data on bail amount were available for 98% 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. Detained murder defendants had the highest median ($235,500) and mean ($370,400) bail amounts. Overall, the median bail amount for murder defendants was $100,000 and the mean was $275,000. Rape and robbery defendants each had an overall median bail amount of $25,000; and an overall mean bail amount of just under $50,000. Overall, less than half (43%) of defendants who had a bail amount set posted the amount of money or property required to secure release. About two-thirds of the defendants with a bail set at under $5,000 posted the amount needed for release, as did about half of those with a bail amount of $5,000 to $9,999. In contrast, just a 10th of those with bail set at $50,000 or more, and a 4th of those with a bail amount of at least $25,000 but less than $50,000 were able to meet the financial conditions required for release. Figure 12. Probability of release for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by bail amount set, 1994 Bail amount set $50,000 or more 10 $25,000 - $49,999 23 $10,000 - $24,999 39 $5,000 - $9,999 51 Under - $5,000 65 Among defendants given financial release, the average bail amount was highest for those released on property bond (a median of $10,000 and a mean of $13,100), and lowest for those released on full cash bond (a median of $1,000 and a mean of $4,400). Defendants released on surety and deposit bond both had a median bail amount of $5,000; however, the mean bail amount was higher for those released on deposit bond ($12,300 versus $9,000). Unlike those released on full cash bond, defendants released on surety or deposit bond generally posted 10% of the full bail amount to secure release. However, they remained liable to the bail bond agent or the court for the full bail amount if they violated the terms of release. Type of Bail amount release bond Median Mean Surety $5,000 $9,000 Deposit 5,000 12,300 Full cash 1,000 4,400 Property 10,000 13,100 Unsecured $10,000 $15,900 Defendants released on an unsecured bond had a median bail amount of $10,000 and a mean bail amount of $15,900. 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. ----------------------------- Time from arrest to release ----------------------------- Among defendants who were released prior to case disposition, about half were released within 1 day (51%), and about four-fifths were released within 1 week (79%). Nearly all releases during the 1-year study occurred within a month of arrest (92%). Table 17. Time from arrest to release for felony defendants released before case disposition, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Released felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Most serious Number of Percent who were released within arrest charge defendants 1 day 1 week 1 month All offenses 30616 51% 79% 92% Violent offenses 6924 47% 76% 90% Murder 102 11 38 53 Rape 269 46 75 93 Robbery 1585 36 71 86 Assault 3777 54 81 93 Other violent 1191 42 72 88 Property offenses 9756 58% 81 93 Burglary 1989 50 73 89 Theft 3808 62 83 94 Other property 3959 59 83 94 Drug offenses 11262 48% 79% 93% Trafficking 4500 45 75 92 Other drug 6761 50 83 94 Public-order offenses 2674 52% 80% 93% Weapons 1252 46 79 93 Driving-related 809 56 84 95 Other public-order 612 59 77 91 Note: Data on time from arrest to release were available for 98% of all cases. Release data were collected for 1 year. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. By general offense category, defendants charged with violent (47%) or drug offenses (48%) were the least likely to be released within 1 day of arrest, and those charged with a property offense (58%) were the most likely. More than half of the defendants released after being charged with assault, a property offense other than burglary, or a public-order offense that was not weapons-related were released within 1 day of their arrest. Defendants charged with murder typically waited the longest to be released. For example, while more than a third of the released defendants in each specific offense category other than murder were released within 1 day of arrest, just 1 in 9 releases of murder defendants occurred this quickly. After a month, about half of all murder defendant releases had occurred, compared to about 90% of the releases of other defendants. 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. --------------------------------------------------------------- Defendant criminal history and probability of pretrial 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 and bail. The SCPS data illustrate how release rates vary with some of these factors. For example, 70% of the defendants without an active criminal justice status at the time of their arrest for the current offense were released prior to case disposition, compared to 44% of those with such a status. Defendants on parole (24%) at the time of arrest were the least likely to be released. This compared with 43% of those on probation and 62% of those released pending disposition of a prior case. Table 18. Percent of felony defendants who were released prior to case disposition, by criminal history, 1994 Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Released prior to case disposition Non- Detained until Number Total Finan- finan- Emer- case disposition Criminal of rel- cial cial gency Held Denied history dants eased release release release Total On bail bail Criminal justice status Any type 15261 44% 18% 25% 1% 56% 43% 13% On parole 3041 24 10 14 1 76 57 19 On probation 6688 43 20 22 1 57 46 11 On pretrial release 4841 62 21 38 2 38 27 11 None 25329 70 32 35 2 30 27 3 Court appearance history With prior arrest(s) 27684 53% 22% 29% 1% 47% 39% 9% With prior failure to appear 16935 49 16 32 2 51 41 9 Made all prior appearances 10749 57 30 26 1 43 34 9 No prior arrests 15525 80 29 49 1 20 17 3 Number of prior convictions With prior conviction(s) 25910 50% 22% 27% 1% 50% 41% 9% 5 or more 9797 40 17 22 1 60 50 10 2-4 9811 52 23 27 1 48 38 10 1 6302 62 26 33 3 38 31 7 None 21575 78 29 47 2 22 18 4 Most serious prior conviction Any type felony 18342 45% 20% 23% 1% 55% 44% 12% Violent felony 6407 41 18 22 1 59 46 14 Nonviolent felony 11935 47 21 24 2 53 42 11 Misdemeanor 8281 62 26 34 1 38 35 4 Note: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Four-fifths of the defendants with no prior arrests were released, compared to about half of those who had been previously arrested. Among defendants who had an arrest record, thosewho had never missed a court appearance (57%) had a slightly higher probability of being released than those who had failed to appear at least once during a previous case (49%). Seventy-eight percent of defendants without a prior conviction were released prior to disposition of the current case, compared to 50% of those with a conviction record. Among those with a conviction record, release rates ranged from 62% for those with a single prior conviction to 40% for those with five or more. Less than half of the defendants with one or more prior felony convictions (45%) 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 (41%) were slightly less likely to be released than those whose most serious prior conviction was for a nonviolent felony (47%). ------------------------------- Conduct of released defendants ------------------------------- Among defendants who were released prior to case disposition, about a third were charged with committing some type of misconduct while in a release status. 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. Table 19. Released felony defendants charged with misconduct, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Released felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Percent charged Most serious with mis- arrest charge Number conduct All offenses 31391 32% Violent offenses 7111 23 Murder 106 19 Rape 277 19 Robbery 1661 30 Assault 3840 23 Other violent 1227 17 Property offenses 10001 32% Burglary 2070 33 Theft 3906 34 Other property 4026 30 Drug offenses 11559 39% Trafficking 4583 38 Other drug 6976 39 Public-order offenses 2720 26% Weapons 1256 26 Driving-related 852 29 Other public-order 612 23 Note: Types of misconduct included failure to appear in court, rearrest for a new of- fense, or a technical violation of release conditions that resulted in the revocation of pretrial release. Data were collected for up to 1 year. Misconduct occurring after the end of the 1-year study period is not included in the table. By original offense category, the proportion of defendants charged with pretrial misconduct ranged from about two-fifths among drug defendants (39%), to about a fourth of defendants charged with a public-order (26%) or violent offense (23%). About a third ofproperty defendants were charged with pretrial misconduct. The widest range of misconduct rates was found within the violent offense category, with robbery defendants (30%) having a higher pretrial misconduct rate than other defendants. ----------------------------- 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 felony defendants who failed to make a scheduled court appearance, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Percent of released felony defendants in the 75 largest counties who-- Number Made Failed to appear in court Most serious of de- all court Returned Remained arrest charge fendants appearances Total to court a fugitive All offenses 31154 76% 24% 17% 7% Violent offenses 7059 85% 15% 11% 4% Murder 106 92 8 8 0 Rape 277 90 10 9 2 Robbery 1661 81 19 14 5 Assault 3799 84 16 11 5 Other violent 1216 90 10 7 3 Property offenses 9911 75% 25% 18% 8% Burglary 2042 76 24 17 7 Theft 3873 73 27 19 8 Other property 3996 76 24 17 8 Drug offenses 11490 71% 29% 20% 9% Trafficking 4568 73 27 18 9 Other drug 6922 69 31 22 9 Public-order offenses 2693 82% 18% 13% 6% Weapons 1242 84 16 11 5 Driving-related 848 77 23 16 7 Other public-order 603 85 15 10 4 Note: Data on the court appearance record for the current case were available for 99% 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. A higher percentage of released drug defendants (29%) and property defendants (25%) failed to appear in court than defendants charged with violent (15%) or public-order (18%) offenses. Within the violent offense category, failure-to-appear rates were higher for defendants charged with robbery (19%) or assault (16%) than for other defendants. Among public-order defendants, those released after being charged with a driving-related offense (23%) were more likely to fail to appear in court than other defendants. Nearly a third of the defendants who failed to appear in court, 7% 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 (9%) or property (8%) offense were about twice as likely to be a fugitive after 1 year as defendants released after being charged with a violent offense. No released murder defendants were in a fugitive status at the end of the 1-year study period. --------------------------- Rearrest for a new offense --------------------------- Overall, 15% of released defendants were rearrested for a new offense allegedly committed while they awaited disposition of their original case. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of these defendants, 9% of all released defendants, were charged with a new felony. Sixty-two percent of the new felony arrests were for the same type of offensas the original charge. Table 21. Released felony defendants who were rearrested prior to disposition, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Percent of released felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Most serious Number of Not Rearrested Misde- arrest charge defendant Total rearrested Total Felony meanor All offenses 29,555 100% 85% 15% 9% 5% Violent offenses 6,835 100% 88% 12% 7% 5% Murder 98 100 92 8 8 0 Rape 273 100 91 9 8 1 Robbery 1,607 100 82 18 12 6 Assault 3,674 100 89 11 6 5 Other violent 1,182 100 90 10 5 5 Property offense 9,459 100% 86% 14% 9% 5% Burglary 1,971 100 86 14 9 6 Theft 3,669 100 86 14 9 5 Other property 3,819 100 88 12 8 4 Drug offenses 10,700 100% 82% 18% 11% 6% Trafficking 4,303 100 81 19 13 6 Other drug 6,397 100 83 17 10 6 Public-order offenses 2,562 100% 89% 11% 7% 4% Weapons 1,195 100 89 11 8 3 Driving-related 789 100 87 13 5 8 Other public-order 578 100 90 10 8 1 Note: Rearrest data were available for 94% 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 jurisdications other than the one granting the pretrial release was not always available. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. By original arrest offense category, released drug defendants (18%) had the highest rearrest rate. This included 19% of drug trafficking defendants and 17% awaiting disposition on other drug charges. Robbery defendants (18%) were the only other group with a rearrest rate higher than the overall average. By most serious original arrest charge, defendants released pending disposition of drug trafficking (13%) or robbery (12%) charges were more likely than other defendants to be rearrested for a new felony. Those released after being charged with assault (6%) or a driving-related offense (5%) were less likely. Figure 13. Misconduct prior to case disposition by released felony defendants n the 75 largest counties, 1994 Any misconduct Felony arrest Murder 19 8 Rape 19 8 Robbery 30 12 Assault 23 6 Burglary 33 9 Theft 34 9 Drug trafficking 38 13 Weapons 26 8 Driving-related 29 5 ------------- Adjudication ------------- --------------------------------- Time from arrest to adjudication --------------------------------- For about half of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, adjudication of their case occurred within 3 months of arrest, and 7 in 8 cases were adjudicated within 1 year of arrest. The median time from arrest to adjudication was considerably longer for murder defendants (313 days) than for defendants charged with other offenses. An estimated 42% of murder defendants were awaiting adjudication of their case after 1 year, compared to a maximum of 16% in any other offense category. Table 22. Time from arrest to adjudication for felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Median Cumulative percent of Most serious Number of number cases adjudicated within arrest charge defendant of days 1 week 1 month 3 months 6 months 1 year All offenses 50,552 89 days 6% 25% 51% 72% 87% Violent offenses 13,116 106 days 5% 22% 45% 68% 87% Murder 515 313 3 7 18 33 58 Rape 530 133 0 13 38 63 88 Robbery 4,028 108 7 24 46 68 88 Assault 5,870 99 5 22 47 70 87 Other violent 2,173 99 4 25 48 71 88 Property offenses 15,706 82 days 7% 27% 53% 76% 88% Burglary 4,479 73 6 27 57 77 90 Theft 5,650 91 5 26 50 73 86 Other property 5,577 82 9 27 53 77 89 Drug offenses 17,285 85 days 7% 26% 52% 72% 85% Trafficking 7,431 95 3 21 49 69 84 Other drug 9,854 77 9 29 55 74 86 Public-order offenses 4,445 82 days 8% 29% 53% 75% 88% Weapons 1,976 87 5 28 51 71 85 Driving-related 1,266 107 5 20 45 70 88 Other public- order 1,203 56 14 39 65 85 93 Note: Data on time from arrest to adjudication were available for 96% 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. After murder defendants, the longest median times from arrest to adjudication were for defendants whose most serious arrest charge was rape (133 days) or robbery (108 days). The shortest, 56 days, was for defendants whose most serious arrest charge was a public- order offense that was not weapons or driving-related. For all offenses except murder, the median time from arrest to adjudication was shorter for detained defendants than for those released pending case disposition. Among murder defendants, those detained until case disposition had a median time from arrest to adjudication of 331 days, compared to 244 days for those released. Figure 14. Median time from arrest to adjudication for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by pretrial detention- release outcome, 1994 Released Detained defendants defendants Murder 244 331 Rape 152 96 Robbery 140 92 Assault 122 74 Burglary 124 49 Theft 132 31 Drug trafficking 145 48 Weapons 133 36 Driving-related offense 147 45 The median time from arrest to adjudication was more than a month and a half longer for defendants released after being charged with rape, robbery, or assault than for those detained. Among those charged with a weapons offense, theft, drug trafficking, or a driving-related offense the median was more than 3 months longer for those released than for those detained. Excluding murder defendants, the longest median time from arrest to adjudication among released defendants was for those charged with rape (152 days), a driving-related offense (147 days), or drug trafficking (145 days). Detained theft defendants (31 days) had the shortest adjudication time. --------------------- Adjudication outcome --------------------- Nearly three-fourths (72%) of the defendants who had their cases adjudicated within 1 year of arrest were convicted. A large majority of these convictions were for a felony, with 61% of all defendants eventually convicted of a felony. Table 23. Adjudication outcome for felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties Number Total Convicted Not convicted Most serious of de- con- Felony Misdemeanor Dis- Ac- Other arrest charge fendants victed Total Plea Trial Total Plea Trial Total missed quitted outcome* All offenses 44,170 72% 61% 56% 4% 11% 11% -- 26% 25% 1% 2% Violent offenses 11,390 60% 49% 42% 7% 11% 10% 1% 38% 36% 2% 2% Murder 303 70 67 41 27 3 1 2 30 26 4 0 Rape 469 61 58 50 7 3 3 0 38 35 3 2 Robbery 3,540 64 57 51 6 7 6 -- 35 33 1 2 Assault 5,158 53 41 34 7 12 11 1 45 42 3 2 Other violent 1,921 69 53 48 5 16 15 1 30 27 2 1 Property offenses 13,994 76% 63% 59% 4% 14% 13% -- 22% 21% 1% 2% Burglary 4,020 78 67 62 5 11 10 -- 21 21 1 1 Theft 4,955 77 63 58 4 14 14 -- 21 21 1 2 Other property 5,019 75 60 57 3 15 15 -- 23 22 1 2 Drug offenses 14,854 76% 66% 63% 3% 9% 10% -- 22% 21% 1% 1% Trafficking 6,293 81 73 69 5 8 7 1 18 17 1 1 Other drug 8,561 73 62 59 2 11 11 -- 25 24 1 2 Public-order offenses 3,932 77% 65% 62% 3% 12% 12 -- 22% 21% 1% 1% Weapons 1,695 75 67 64 3 8 8 0 24 22 1 1 Driving- related 1,116 86 70 67 3 16 16 -- 14 14 -- -- Other public- order 1,122 72 57 55 2 15 14 -- 27 27 1 1 Note: Thirteen 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 96% 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. Three-fifths of defendants whose most serious arrest charge was a violent offense (60%) were eventually convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor, compared to about three-fourths of those originally charged with a property (76%), drug (76%), or public-order (77%) offense. Defendants whose most serious arrest charge was a driving-related felony (86%) had the highest conviction rate, and defendants charged with felony assault (53%) had the lowest. The probability of being convicted of a felony was highest for defendants whose most serious arrest charge was drug trafficking (73%), a driving-related offense (70%), murder (67%), burglary (67%) or a weapons offense (67%). The lowest felony conviction rate was for assault defendants (41%). In most cases where the defendant was not convicted, it was because the charges against the defendant were dismissed by the prosecutor or the court. Dismissal occurred in a fourth of all cases. Defendants charged with assault (42%) were the most likely to have their case dismissed, while those facing drug trafficking (17%) or driving- related (14%) charges were the least likely. About 2% of all cases had other outcomes such as diversion or deferred adjudication. No murder defendants had their cases handled in this manner, nor did more than 2% of the defendants in any other offense category. About four-fifths of the defendants who were detained until case disposition were eventually convicted of some offense, compared to about two-thirds of those who were released pending disposition. An estimated 71% of detained defendants were convicted of a felony, compared to 55% of released defendants. Table 24. Adjudication outcome for felony defendants, by detention- release outcome and most serious arrest charge, 1994 Most serious Number of Convicted arrest charge defendants Total Felony Released defendants All offenses 24,577 67% 55% Violent offenses 5,761 52% 40% Property offenses 7,990 72 57 Drug offenses 8,618 72 62 Public-order 2,208 75 61 Detained defendants All offenses 17,443 79% 71% Violent offenses 5,082 69% 62% Property offenses 5,276 83 72 Drug offenses 5,604 84 77 Public-order 1,481 81 71 Adjudication outcome was related to some extent to the number and type of the original arrest charges filed. Defendants who were originally charged with more than 1 felony (77%) were more likely to eventually be convicted of some offense than defendants with no additional felony charges (69%). Table 25. Adjudication outcome for felony defendants, by number and type of arrest charges, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the Addit- Number 75 largest counties ional of Total Convicted Not convicted charges defen- con- Felony Misdemeanor Dis- Acqu- Other filed dant victed Total Plea Trial Total Plea Trial Total missed itted outcome* Additional felony 17,189 77% 69% 64% 5% 8% 8% -- 22% 21% 1% 1% No addit- ional felony 26,760 69 56 52 4 13 13 -- 29 28 1 2 Misdemeanor(s) only 7,587 66 46 41 5 20 19 1 31 30 1 3 No additional charge 19,173 70 60 56 4 11 11 -- 29 27 1 1 Note: Thirteen percent of all cases were still pending adjudication at the end of the 1-year study period. Data on adjudication outcome were available for 96% of those cases that had been adjudicated. Sixty-nine percent of defendants whose original arrest charges included more than one felony were eventually convicted of a felony compared to 56% of those with no additional felony charges. Among the defendants who had no additional felony charges but were charged with one or more misdemeanors, 46% were convicted of a felony. Defendants in this latter group were about twice as likely as other defendants to eventually be convicted of a misdemeanor, usually by pleading guilty to such a charge instead of the original felony charge. Overall, about two-thirds of defendants entered a guilty plea at some point, with 56% pleading guilty to a felony, and 11% to a misdemeanor. About three-fourths of defendants charged with a nonviolent offense entered a guilty plea, and about three-fifths pleaded guilty to a felony. De-fendants charged with a driving-related offense (82%) were the most likely to enter a guilty plea. A majority of the defendants in each nonviolent offense category pleaded guilty to a felony, including 69% of those charged with a driving-related offense or drug trafficking. Figure 15. Plea rate for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Felonies All pleas Driving-related offense 68.8 13.5 Drug trafficking 69.4 6.3 Weapons 66.2 6.5 Burglary 63.2 9.3 Theft 60.2 11.7 Robbery 51.5 6.0 Rape 50.4 3.4 Assault 34.6 10.6 Murder 40.7 0.9 Plea rates were generally lower for defendants charged with a violent offense, with about half entering some type of guilty plea, and two-fifths pleading guilty to a felony. Defendants charged with robbery (51%) or rape (50%) were more likely to plead guilty to a felony than those charged with murder (41%) or assault (35%). An estimated 6% of the cases adjudicated within 1 year went to trial. These cases were evenly split between bench trials and jury trials. Four-fifths of all trials ended with a guilty verdict, and a fifth with an acquittal. Jury trials (77%) were slightly less likely to result in a conviction than bench trials (83%). Percent of trials Type resulting in a conviction of trial Total Felony Misdemeanor Total 80% 74% 6% Bench 83 75 8 Jury 77 77 4 About a third of defendants facing murder charges went to trial, a much larger proportion than for defendants charged with other offenses. About 1 in 10 defendants charged with assault or rape went to trial. Less than a 10th of other defendants had their case adjudicated by trial. Figure 16. Trial rates for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Most serious Percent of defendants arrest charge going to trial Murder 32 Assault 11 Rape 10 Robbery 7 Drug trafficking 6 Burglary 6 Theft 5 Driving-related 4 Weapons 4 Regardless of the method of adjudication, defendants who were convicted were usually convicted of the same felony offense as the original arrest charge. This was most likely to be the case when the original arrest charge was for a nonviolent offense. Among defendants arrested for murder and later convicted, 60% were convicted of murder. The corresponding percentages for other violent offenses were as follows: robbery (67%), rape (62%), and assault (61%). Table 26. Conviction offense of defendants arrested for a violent offense and subsequently convicted, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the Most Number 75 largest counties convicted of: serious of Violent felony Non- arrest defen- Total Total Rob- Ass- violent Misde- charge dant Total felony violent Murder Rape bery ault Other felony meanor Murder 212 100% 99% 90% 60% 0% 12% 13% 4% 9% 1% Rape 286 100 94 88 0 62 4 6 16 6 6 Robb 2237 100 90 73 0 -- 67 4 2 17 10 Assault 2722 100 78 66 -- 0 1 61 4 13 22 Note: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less Than 0.5%. Among defendants who were charged with a nonviolent offense and later convicted, the percentage whose conviction offense corresponded with their most serious arrest charge were as follows: weapons offense (87%), drug trafficking (78%), driving-related offense (77%), theft (74%), and burglary (73%). Table 27. Conviction offense of defendants arrested for a nonviolent offense and subsequently convicted, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties convicted of: Nonviolent felony Most Number Driv- serious of Total Drug ing- Vio- arrest defen- Total non- Bur- traff- Wea- rela- lent Misde- charge dants Total felony violent glary Theft icking pons ted Other felony meanor Burglary 3086 100% 88% 86% 73% 5% -- -- -- 7% 2% 12% Theft 3778 100 84 84 1 74 1 -- 1 7 -- 16 Drug traff- icking 5057 100 92 91 0 -- 78 -- -- 13 -- 8 Weapons 1276 100 91 91 0 -- 1 87 0 3 -- 9 Driving related 954 100 84 84 1 1 1 -- 77 4 0 16 Note: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less Than 0.5%. For most offenses a smaller percentage of defendants were in each felony 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 26% of all defendants by arrest charge, but just 16% of them by conviction charge. Table 28. Felony defendants, by conviction offense, 1994 Felony defendants in Most serious the 75 largest countie conviction offense Number Percent All offenses 31868 100.0 All felonies 27461 86.2 Violent offenses 4987 15.7 Murder 141 .4 Rape 195 .6 Robbery 1604 5.0 Assault 1850 5.8 Other violent 1198 3.8 Property offenses 9114 28.6 Burglary 2413 7.6 Theft 3199 10.0 Other property 3502 11.0 Drug offenses 9822 30.8 Trafficking 4909 15.4 Other drug 4913 15.4 Public-order offenses 3324 10.4 Weapons 1325 4.2 Driving-related 859 2.7 Other public-order 1140 3.6 Other felonies 213 .7 Misdemeanors 4407 13.8 Note: Data on conviction offense were avail- able for 100% of cases involving defendants who had been convicted. 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, 14% of convicted defendants were convicted at the misdemeanor level, including 22% of those originally charged with felony assault. Given arrest, nearly two-thirds of the defendants whose most serious arrest charge was for a weapons offense (66%), a driving-related offense (65%), or drug trafficking (62%) were eventually convicted of that same offense. A majority (56%) of defendants originally charged with burglary and theft were eventually convicted of those offenses as well. Figure 17. Conviction probabilities for felony defendants in th 75 largest counties, by most serious arrest charge, 1994 Original felony Any charge felony Total All defendants 51.7 9.1 11.4 Murder 42.2 25.0 2.9 Rape 37.7 19.9 3.4 Robbery 42.5 14.7 6.6 Assault 32.0 9.0 12.4 Burglary 55.7 11.2 10.8 Theft 56.2 6.5 13.8 Drug trafficking 62.4 10.8 7.7 Weapons 65.6 1.2 8.5 Driving-related 65.5 4.3 16.0 Among defendants whose most serious arrest charge was for a violent offense, less than half were eventually convicted of that same felony offense. About two-fifths of defendants originally charged with robbery (42%), murder (42%), or rape (38%) were eventually convicted of those offenses. About a third of defendants originally charged with felony assault were eventually convicted of that offense (32%). -------------------------- Case processing statistics -------------------------- Among the approximately 43,000 SCPS cases with a known adjudication outcome that occurred within 1 year of arrest, about 29,000 were disposed by a guilty plea. About a fourth of all pleas occurred within 1 month of arrest and nearly three-fifths within 3 months of arrest. Figure 18. Method of adjudication of felony cases filed in May 1994 and disposed within 1 year in the 75 largest counties Plea Dismissal Trial Other 1 8,134 4,293 268 97 12,307 6,508 473 133 3 17,178 7,484 805 148 20,443 8,400 1,104 165 5 23,035 9,084 1,394 183 24,850 9,561 1,710 198 7 26,331 10,125 1,897 214 27,205 10,377 2,063 230 9 28,313 10,641 2,245 250 28,951 10,879 2,393 264 29,502 10,994 2,557 272 The next most common type of adjudication, dismissal of the charges against the defendant, occurred in about 11,000 cases. About two- fifths of all dismissals occurred within the first month after arrest and two-thirds within 3 months. Trials occurred in about 2,600 cases. About 1 in 10 trials were completed within a month of arrest and about 1 in 3 within 3 months of arrest. Guilty pleas accounted for nearly all (92%) of the 31,000 convictions obtained within 1 year of arrest. This included about 24,000 felony pleas and about 5,000 misdemeanor pleas. About a fourth of the felony pleas occurred within 1 month of arrest, and more than half were obtained within 3 months of arrest. Two-fifths of the misdemeanor pleas were obtained with 1 month of arrest, and about two-thirds within 3 months. Figure 19. Method of conviction of felony cases filed in May 1994 and disposed within 1 year in the 75 largest counties Felony Felony Misdemeanor Misdemeanor plea trial plea trial 1 6,046 205 1,921 36 2 10,180 380 2,781 49 3 13,484 636 3,442 71 4 16,259 858 3,622 94 5 18,471 1,057 3,907 101 6 20,042 1,295 4,104 111 7 21,247 1,443 4,339 118 8 22,004 1,550 4,431 122 9 22,977 1,653 4,536 139 10 23,507 1,759 4,628 142 11 23,981 1,865 4,686 150 12 24,215 1,903 4,708 156 Of the approximately 2,000 trial convictions obtained within 1 year, nearly all were for a felony, with just 161 trials resulting in a misdemeanor conviction. A third of all trial convictions occurred within 3 months of arrest, and two-thirds within 6 months of arrest. ----------- Sentencing ----------- ------------------------------------ Time from conviction to sentencing ------------------------------------- About 3 in 5 convicted defendants were sentenced within 1 day of adjudication. Defendants convicted of a misdemeanor (84%) were more likely to be sentenced this quickly than those convicted of a felony (58%). Table 29. Time from conviction to sentencing for convicted defendants, by most serious conviction offense, 1994 Percent of convicted defendants in the 75 largest counties who were sentenced within - Most serious Number of 0-1 2-30 31-60 61 days conviction offense defendant Total day days days or more All offenses 30870 100 62 17 14 7 All felonies 26539 100 58 19 15 7 Violent offenses 4682 100 54 16 20 9 Murder 120 100 23 20 36 21 Rape 188 100 57 14 17 11 Robbery 1502 100 52 20 18 9 Assault 1751 100 63 13 18 6 Other violent 1122 100 46 16 26 12 Property offenses 8891 100 64 16 13 7 Burglary 2368 100 66 17 11 7 Theft 3126 100 65 16 11 8 Other property 3397 100 61 16 16 6 Drug offenses 9499 100 53 24 15 8 Trafficking 4703 100 50 25 17 8 Other drug 4796 100 56 23 14 7 Public-order offenses 3256 100 61 19 14 6 Weapons 1276 100 52 23 15 10 Driving-related 853 100 56 24 16 4 Other public-order 1126 100 75 10 11 4 Misdemeanors 4331 100 84 6 6 3 Note: Data on time from conviction to sentencing were available for 96% of cases that had reched sentencing. Total for all felonies includes cases which could not be classified into one of the 4 major offense categories. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Sentencing after a felony conviction was slightly more likely to occur within 1 day if the conviction was for a property (64%) or public-order (61%) offense than if it was for a violent (54%) or drug (53%) offense. Within the violent offense category, the percentage of convicted defendants sentenced within 1 day ranged from 23% of those convicted of murder to 63% of those convicted of felony assault. About 4 in 5 convicted defendants received their sentence within 30 days, including 77% of those convicted of a felony and 90% of those convicted of a misdemeanor. Nearly all convicted defendants were sentenced within 60 days, including 97% of those convicted of a misdemeanor and 93% of those convicted of a felony. ---------------------------- Type and length of sentence ---------------------------- About two-thirds of all convicted defendants were sentenced to incarceration in a State prison or local jail. Sixty-eight percent of the defendants convicted of a felony were sentenced to incarceration, compared to 57% of those convicted of a misdemeanor. Table 30. Most severe type of sentence received by convicted defendants, by most serious conviction offense, 1994 Percent of convicted defendants in the 75 largest counties sentenced to Most serious Number of Incarceration Nonincarceration conviction offense defendant Total Total Prison Jail Total Probation Fine All offenses 28835 100 67 32 34 33 32 2 All felonies 25316 100 68 36 32 32 31 1 Violent offenses 4582 100 76 51 25 24 23 1 Murder 124 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 Rape 184 100 81 69 12 19 19 0 Robbery 1492 100 89 70 19 11 11 0 Assault 1699 100 66 39 27 34 33 1 Other violent 1083 100 72 34 37 28 27 2 Property offenses 8381 100 63 33 30 37 36 1 Burglary 2297 100 71 45 26 29 29 0 Theft 3049 100 62 35 26 38 37 2 Other property 3035 100 58 22 36 42 41 1 Drug offenses 9272 100 68 34 34 32 31 1 Trafficking 4589 100 75 41 34 25 25 1 Other drug 4683 100 61 27 34 39 38 1 Public-order offense 2873 100 71 29 42 29 25 4 Weapons 1210 100 68 33 36 32 29 2 Driving-related 832 100 76 33 43 24 19 5 Other public-order 831 100 72 22 50 28 23 5 Misdemeanors 3519 100 57 5 52 43 37 6 Note: Data on type of sentence were available for 92% of cases involving defendants who had been convicted. Sixty-seven percent of jail sentences and 8% of prison sentences included a probation term. Sixteen percent sentences, 18% of jail sentences, and 21% of probation sentences included a fine. Fines may have included rstitution or community service. Total for all felonies includes cases that could not be classified into 1 of the 4 major offenses catagories. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less Than 0.5%. A majority of the incarceration sentences following a felony conviction, 36% of felony sentences overall, were to State prison. All murder convictions resulted in a prison sentence, as did a majority of the convictions for robbery (70%) and rape (69%). Defendants convicted of burglary (45%), drug trafficking (41%) or felony assault (39%) were also more likely to be sentenced to prison than to jail or probation. Nearly all of the incarceration sentences resulting from a misdemeanor conviction, 52% of all misdemeanor sentences, were to jail. Two-thirds of all jail sentences included a probation term to be served in addition to the jail time. This was more likely to be the case for defendants convicted of a felony (72%) than those convicted of a misdemeanor (45%). Among defendants who were convicted but not sentenced to incarceration, 96% of those convicted of a felony and 86% of those convicted of a misdemeanor received a probation term. Probation sentences may have ncluded a fine, payment of restitution, and completion of a community service requirement. Overall, about a third of convicted defendants received a sentence to probation (32%) without any incarceration. More than a third of defendants convicted of a felony property offense other than burglary, a felony drug offense other than trafficking, or a misdemeanor received a probation term without incarceration. An estimated 2% of all defendants, 1% of those convicted of a felony, were ordered to pay a fine but were not sentenced to a term of incarceration or probation. These fines may have been in addition to court-ordered restitution and/or community service. 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 (59%) (figure 20). The next highest probability of an eventual prison sentence was for defendants charged with robbery (41%) or rape (36%). About a third of defendants originally charged with drug trafficking (33%) or burglary (33%) were eventually convicted and sentenced to prison. Defendants originally charged with felony assault (22%) were the least likely to eventually be sentenced to prison. Figure 20. Probability of being convicted and sentence to incarceration for felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, 1994 Prison Jail Murder 59 8 Rape 36 10 Robbery 42 15 Assault 22 14 Burglary 33 24 Theft 26 22 Drug trafficking 33 28 Weapons 27 26 Driving-related 29 36 Defendants charged with a driving-related offense were the most likely to eventually receive a jail sentence (36%). These were the only defendants categorized by offense with a greater chance of eventually being sentenced to jail than to prison. Chances of being convicted and sentenced to either prison or jail were highest for defendants charged with murder (66%), a driving-related offense (65%), or drug trafficking (60%). A majority of defendants charged with robbery (56%), burglary (56%), or a weapons offense (53%) also were eventually convicted and sentenced to either prison or jail. Assault defendants (35%) were the least likely to be convicted and sentenced to some type of incarceration. Among defendants convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison, the mean sentence was 67 months and the median was 36 months. By general conviction offense category, defendants convicted of a violent felony received the longest prison sentences (a mean of 108 months and a median of 72 months), and those convicted of a public-order felony the shortest (a mean of 36 months and a median of 24 months). Table 31. Length of prison sentence received by defendants convicted of a felony, by most serious conviction offense, 1994 Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties convicted Most of a felony and sentenced to prison serious Percent receiving a maximum sentence felony length in months of: conviction Number of Number of months Over offense defendants Mean* Median Total 1-24 25-48 49-72 73-120 120* Life All offenses 9037 67 36 100 33 30 16 12 8 1 Violent offenses 2300 108 72 100 16 22 18 24 17 3 Murder 124 286 240 100 0 10 0 10 59 21 Rape 128 134 120 100 11 6 23 32 28 0 Robbery 1030 95 72 100 13 22 20 29 15 1 Assault 657 100 60 100 21 21 20 21 15 2 Other violent 361 83 48 100 23 34 14 15 11 2 Property offenses 2734 53 36 100 40 30 15 9 5 1 Burglary 1026 70 44 100 29 32 16 13 7 2 Theft 1046 39 24 100 51 25 14 8 3 0 Other property 662 49 36 100 41 34 14 5 6 1 Drug offenses 3127 56 36 100 33 37 16 8 5 1 Trafficking 1879 62 48 100 23 40 20 10 6 -- Other drug 1249 48 28 100 49 32 10 4 4 2 Public-order offenses 826 36 24 100 54 27 11 5 2 0 Weapons 374 36 30 100 46 33 15 6 0 0 Driving- related 272 29 18 100 67 25 2 4 1 0 Other public- order 181 45 24 100 52 21 17 4 7 0 Note: Data on length of prison sentence were available for 92% of all cases. Eight percent of prison sentences included a probation term and 16% 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. By specific felony conviction offense, murderers received the longest prison sentences--a mean of 286 months and a median of 240 months. After murder, defendants convicted of rape received the longest mean (134 months) and median (120 months) prison sentences. Other median sentences for felony convictions included 72 months for robbery, 60 months for assault, 48 months for drug trafficking, 44 months for burglary, 30 months for weapons offenses, 24 months for theft, and 18 months for driving-related offenses. Figure 21. Median prison sentence received by defendants convicted of a felony in the 75 largest counties, 1994 Most serious conviction charge Number of months Murder 240 Rape 120 Robbery 72 Assault 60 Drug trafficking 48 Burglary 44 Weapons 30 Theft 24 Driving-related offense 18 Twenty-one percent of all murder convictions resulted in a life sentence, compared to a maximum of 2% of the defendants convicted of any other offense. In addition to those receiving life sentences, 59% of the defendants convicted of murder were sentenced to 10 years or more in prison. About a fourth of rape convictions and nearly a sixth of robbery and felony assault convictions resulted in a prison term of 10 years or longer. For defendants who were convicted of a felony and subsequently sentenced to jail, both the mean and median jailterm was 6 months. Misdemeanor convictions resulted in a mean jail term of 3 months and a median of 2 months. Table 32. Length of jail sentence received by convicted defendants, by most serious conviction offense, 1994 Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties sentenced to jail Most Number serious of Percent receiving a maximum sentence in months of : conviction defen- Number of month 1 or Over offense dants Mean Median Total less 2-3 4-6 7-9 10-12 12 All offenses 9861 6 5 100 22 21 28 8 18 3 All felonies 8032 6 6 100 17 21 30 8 21 3 Violent offenses* 1163 8 6 100 11 16 24 12 32 6 Robbery 282 9 10 100 4 17 16 12 48 2 Assaul 456 9 8 100 10 14 23 13 30 11 Other violent 403 6 6 100 19 15 31 11 22 3 Property offenses 2480 6 6 100 20 20 27 8 21 4 Burglary 602 8 7 100 8 17 25 13 33 4 Theft 800 7 6 100 17 18 27 7 25 6 Other property 1078 5 3 100 28 24 28 5 13 2 Drug offenses 3117 6 6 100 15 22 37 8 17 2 Trafficking 1541 7 6 100 13 15 39 10 20 3 Other drug 1576 5 4 100 17 28 35 7 13 -- Public-order offenses 1207 5 4 100 23 21 27 7 21 1 Weapons 432 6 6 100 23 20 31 5 20 2 Driving- related 361 6 6 100 17 20 27 11 24 0 Other public- order 414 5 3 100 30 23 21 6 20 0 Misdemeanors 1828 3 2 100 44 23 20 4 8 2 Note: Data on length of jail sentence were available for 97% of all cases in which a defendant received a jail sentence. Sixty-seven percent of sentences to jail included a probation term and 18% 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 just 22 rape convictions resulted in a jail sentence. The total for violent offenses, however, does not include these cases. --Less than 0.5% 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 9 months and a median of 10 months). About 3% of all jail sentences for a felony conviction were for a period greater than 1 year, including 11% of those that followed a conviction for felony assault. The longest jail sentence recorded during the study was for 32 years. For the third of defendants sentenced to probation without incarceration, the median probation sentence for each felony conviction offense category was 36 months, compared to 18 months for misdemeanors. Three percent of defendants convicted of a felony were given a probation term of greater than 5 years. Table 33. Length of probation sentence received by convicted defendants, by most serious conviction offense, 1994 Most Felony defendants in the 75 largest serious counties sentenced to probation conviction Number of Median Percent receiving a sentence in months of: offense defendants months Total 1-12 13-24 25-36 37-48 49-60 Over 60 All offenses 9116 36 100 20 25 32 4 16 3 All felonies 7808 36 100 16 26 32 5 19 3 Violent offenses 1055 36 100 20 21 27 3 23 6 Property offenses 3040 36 100 17 25 32 5 18 4 Drug offenses 2918 36 100 12 29 31 6 18 3 Public-order offenses 705 36 100 17 21 40 2 19 0 Misdemeanors 1308 18 100 48 22 29 -- 1 0 Note: Data on length of probation sentence were available for 92% of allcases in which the most severe type of sentence a defendant received was probation. Total for felonies includes cases which 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%. An estimated 21% of defendants sentenced to probation were also required to pay a fine. Some probation sentences were also supplemented by one or more special conditions. For example, 19% of the defendants who received a probation sentence were required to perform a specified number of hours of community service work. Such a condition was most likely for defendants convicted of a felony property offense (25%). Table 34. Conditions of probation sentence received by convicted defendants, by most serious conviction offense, 1994 Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties sentenced to probation Percent whose sentence to probation included Most Inten- Elect- serious sive ronic conviction Number of Community Resti- Drug super- monit- offense defendants service tution treatment vision oring Other All offenses 9,116 19% 18% 8% 3% 1% -- All felonies 7,808 20% 20% 9% 3% 1% -- Violent offenses 1,055 16 15 6 5 2 -- Property offenses 3,040 25 34 6 3 1 -- Drug offenses 2,918 16 9 14 3 1 -- Public-order offenses 705 20 11 7 5 -- 0 Misdemeanors 1,308 10% 12% 2% 1% 1% 1% Note: Total for felonies includes cases which couldnot be classified into 1 of 4 felony offenses 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%. Eighteen percent of offenders sentenced to probation were required to pay restitution, and 8% were required to enter a drug treatment program. Defendants convicted of a drug-related felony (14%) were about twice as likely as those convicted of other felonies to be required to enter a drug treatment program. Small percentages of probation sentences included intensive supervision (3%) or electronic monitoring (1%). ------------------------------ Prior record and 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 (83%). Defendants with multiple prior felony convictions and whose current conviction was for a violent felony were the most likely of all defendants to be sentenced to incarceration (90%). Table 35. Most severe type of sentence received by defendants convicted of a felony, by prior conviction record, 1994 Percent of defendants in the 75 largest counties convicted of a felony and sentenced to: Prior conviction record and most serious current Number of Incarceration Nonincarceration felony conviction defendants Total Total Prison Jail Total Probation Fine All offenses 6,401 100% 83% 57% 26% 17% 16% 1% Violent offenses 956 100 90 64 26 10 10 -- Property offenses 2,389 100 83 56 26 17 17 -- Drug offenses 2,405 100 82 56 26 18 18 1 Public-order offenses 633 100 82 53 29 18 17 1 1 prior felony conviction All offenses 4,150 100% 77% 48% 29% 23% 22% 1% Violent offenses 670 100 85 61 24 15 15 1 Property offenses 1,248 100 75 46 29 25 25 1 Drug offenses 1,693 100 74 45 29 26 25 1 Public-order offenses 509 100 81 46 35 19 18 1 Prior misdemeanor convictions only All offenses 4,248 100% 69% 25% 44% 31% 30% 1% Violent offenses 741 100 80 45 35 20 20 -- Property offenses 1,335 100 63 23 39 37 36 1 Drug offenses 1,498 100 65 18 47 35 33 1 Public-order offenses 639 100 77 22 55 23 22 2 No prior convictions All offenses 9,153 100% 53% 22% 31% 47% 45% 2% Violent offenses 1,927 100 66 45 20 34 34 1 Property offenses 2,927 100 43 15 28 57 56 2 Drug offenses 3,279 100 55 19 36 45 44 1 Public-order offenses 919 100 58 9 48 42 35 7 Note: Data on prior conviction record and type of sentence were available for 88% of all cases. Sentences to incarceration may have also included a probation term. Sentences to prison, jail, or probation may have included a fine, restitution, or community service. Fines may have included restitution or community service. Detail may not add to total because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. About three-fourths of defendants with one prior felony conviction (77%), about two-thirds of those with only prior misdemeanor convictions (69%), and about half of those with no conviction record (53%) also were sentenced to incarceration following a felony conviction. Defendants with no prior convictions whose current felony conviction was for a property offense were the least likely overall to be sentenced to incarceration (43%). A majority of the defendants with more than one prior felony conviction (57%) were sentenced to prison for a new felony conviction, including nearly two-thirds of those whose current conviction was for a violent offense. About half of the defendants with a single prior felony conviction were sentenced to prison following a felony conviction in the current case, including 61% of those convicted of a violent felony. Overall, just under a fourth of defendants with no prior felony convictions received a prison sentence for a felony conviction in the current case. This included 45% of the defendants whose current conviction was for a violent felony. Defendants with a prior conviction record that consisted of only misdemeanors were more likely than other defendants to receive a jail sentence after being convicted of a felony (44%) on the current charge. This was most likely to be the case if the current conviction was for a public-order offense (55%). Defendants with no prior convictions of any kind were the most likely to receive a probation sentence (45%). A majority of those who were convicted of a property felony and who had no prior conviction (56%) received a probation sentence. The most probable sentence following a conviction for a violent felony in the 75 largest counties was to prison, regardless of the defendant's prior conviction record. Jail was the next most probable sentence for those convicted of a violent felony and with a prior conviction record. Those without prior convictions were more likely to be sentenced to probation than jail following a conviction for a violent felony. Figure 22. Type of sentence received for a felony conviction in the 75 largest counties, by prior conviction record, 1994 Defendants convicted of a violent felony Prison Jail Probation No prior conviction 45 20 35 Prior misdemeanor 44 36 19 Prior dinglt felony 61 24 15 Prior multiple felony 63 27 9 Defendants convicted of a nonviolent felony No prior conviction 15 34 49 Prior misdemeanor 21 45 33 Prior dinglt felony 45 30 24 Prior multiple felony 56 27 17 Among defendants convicted of a nonviolent felony, prison was the most likely sentence for those with one or more prior felony convictions. However, jail was the most probable sentence for a nonviolent felony if the defendants had a prior conviction record of only misdemeanors and probation if they had no conviction record at all. ------------- Methodology -------------- The SCPS sample was designed and selected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census under BJS supervision. It is a 2-stage stratified sample, with 39 of the 75 most populous counties selected at the first stage and a systematic sample of State court felony filings (defendants) within each county selected at the second stage. The 39 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. The second-stage sampling (filings) was designed to represent all defendants who had felony cases filed with the court during the month of May 1994. 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 1, 2, or 4 weeks' filings in May 1994. 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). Data on 14,691 sample felony cases were collected from the 39 sampled jurisdictions. This sample represented 53,099 weighted cases filed during the month of May 1994 in the 75 most populous counties. About 500 cases (weighted) that could not be classified into one of the four major crime categories (violent, property, drug, public-order) because of incomplete information were omitted from the analysis. Data collection was conducted by the Pretrial Services Resource Center of Washington, D.C., under the supervision of Jolanta Juszkiewicz. This report is based on data collected from the following counties and independent cities: Alabama (Jefferson); Arizona (Maricopa, Pima); California (Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Ventura); Florida (Broward, Dade, Hillsborough, Orange); Hawaii (Honolulu); Illinois (Cook, DuPage); Kentucky (Jefferson); Maryland (Baltimore (city); Massachusetts ( Middle-sex); Michigan (Wayne); Missouri (Jackson, St. Louis); New Jersey (Essex); 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. All differences discussed in this report were statistically significant at or above the 95-percent confidence level. -------------------------- Race and Hispanic 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 75%, compared to 85% 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 persons with a Hispanic origin were white, although the category includes all races. --------------------- Offense categories --------------------- Felony offenses were classified into 13 categories for this report. These categories were further divided into the four major crime categories of violent, property, drug, and public-order offenses. The following listings contain a representative summary of most of the crimes contained in each category; however, these lists are not meant to be exhaustive. All offenses, except for murder, include attempts and conspiracies to commit. ------------------ 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--ncludes 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. 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 nonforcible sexual assault, kidnaping, unlawful imprisonment, child or spouse abuse, cruelty to a child, reckless endangerment, hit-and-run with bodily injury, intimidation, and extortion. ------------------- Property offenses ------------------- Burglary--ncludes 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. Theft--Includes grand theft, grand larceny, motor vehicle theft, and any other felony theft. Does not include receiving or buying stolen property, fraud, forgery, or deceit. Other property offenses--Includes receiving or buying stolen property, forgery, fraud, embezzlement, arson, reckless burning, damage to property, criminal mischief, vandalism, bad checks, counterfeiting, criminal trespassing, possession of burglary tools, and unlawful entry. ---------------- Drug offenses ---------------- 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. Other drug offenses--includes possession of controlled substances, prescription violations, possession of drug paraphernalia, and other drug law violations. --------------------- Public-order offenses ---------------------- Weapons--Includes the unlawful sale, distribution, manufacture, alteration, transportation, possession, or use of a deadly weapon or accessory. Driving-related--ncludes 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. 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 the defendant to post collateral 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 c ourt, 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--nvolves 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," ------------------------------- 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 conditions and are usually supervised 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 solely in response to a court order placing limits on a jail's population. ------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix table A. Population, sampling weights, and number of cases, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1994 Population Sampling weights Number of cases County (State) in 1994 Filings County Total Unweighted Weighted Jefferson (AL) 657000 2 2.25 4.50 249 1121 Maricopa (AZ) 2347000 2 1.33 2.67 656 1749 Pima (AZ) 732000 1 3.30 3.30 328 1082 Alameda (CA) 1319000 2 2.25 4.50 336 1512 Los Angeles (CA) 9150000 4 1.00 4.00 1378 5512 Sacramento (CA) 1098000 2 1.33 2.67 417 1112 San Bernardino (CA) 1554000 2 1.33 2.67 420 1120 San Francisco (CA) 735000 2 2.25 4.50 375 1688 Santa Clara (CA) 1557000 2 1.33 2.67 459 1224 Ventura (CA) 703000 1 3.30 3.30 184 607 Broward (FL) 1383000 2 1.33 2.67 327 872 Dade (FL) 2025000 4 1.00 4.00 514 2056 Hillsborough (FL) 874000 2 1.33 2.67 347 925 Orange (FL) 738000 2 2.25 4.50 368 1656 Honolulu (HI) 874000 1 3.30 3.30 204 673 Cook (IL) 5141000 4 1.00 4.00 701 2804 DuPage (IL) 843000 1 3.30 3.30 197 650 Jefferson (KY) 672000 4 1.00 4.00 104 416 Baltimore (city) (M 712000 2 1.33 2.67 399 1064 MIddlesex (MA) 1403000 1 3.30 3.30 659 2175 Wayne (MI) 2065000 4 1.00 4.00 201 804 Jackson (MO) 635000 1 3.30 3.30 278 917 St. Louis (MO) 1005000 1 3.30 3.30 349 1152 Essex (NJ) 765000 2 1.33 2.67 378 1008 Bronx (NY) 1192000 4 1.00 4.00 477 1908 Erie (NY) 968000 2 2.25 4.50 120 540 Kings (NY) 2272000 4 1.00 4.00 578 2312 Monroe (NY) 727000 1 3.30 3.30 212 700 New York (NY) 1507000 4 1.00 4.00 564 2256 Queens (NY) 1965000 4 1.00 4.00 289 1156 Suffolk (NY) 1349000 1 3.30 3.30 272 898 Hamilton (OH) 868000 2 2.25 4.50 224 1008 Allegheny (PA) 1321000 2 1.33 2.67 103 275 Philadelphia (PA) 1524000 4 1.00 4.00 365 1460 Shelby (TN) 858000 2 2.25 4.50 350 1575 Dallas (TX) 1942000 4 1.00 4.00 233 932 Harris (TX) 3045000 4 1.00 4.00 361 1444 King (WA) 1588000 2 2.25 4.50 259 1166 Milwaukee (WI) 938000 1 3.30 3.30 328 1082 Note: In 14 of the 39 counties included in the 1994 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 screened out by the prosecutor are included in the SCPS dismissal category. These counties are Jefferson, AL; Marocopa, AZ; Pima, AZ, Hillsborough, FL; Jefferson, KY; Baltimore (city), MD; Middlesex, MA; Erie, NU; Monroe, NU; Suffolk, NY; Hamilton, OH; Allegheny, Pa; Shelby, TN; and Dallas, TX. In the othr 25 SCPS jurisdictions, 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. ---------------------------------------------------------- Appendix table B. Most serious arrest charge of felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1994 Percent of felony defendants within categories of most serious arrest charge Violent Property Drug Public-order County (State) Total offenses offenses offenses offenses Total 100 26 31 35 9 Jefferson (AL) 100 18 37 40 5 Maricopa (AZ) 100 21 34 34 11 Pima (AZ) 100 28 29 32 11 Alameda (CA) 100 18 27 47 8 Los Angeles (CA) 100 23 27 39 10 Sacramento (CA) 100 27 26 37 11 San Bernardino (CA) 100 20 38 32 10 San Francisco (CA) 100 16 31 42 10 Santa Clara (CA) 100 18 26 48 8 Ventura (CA) 100 19 18 53 10 Broward (FL) 100 24 27 42 6 Dade (FL) 100 32 31 32 5 Hillsborough (FL) 100 31 31 31 7 Orange (FL) 100 31 37 27 5 Honolulu (HI) 100 27 40 26 6 Cook (IL) 100 11 21 65 3 DuPage (IL) 100 14 54 18 13 Jefferson (KY) 100 30 42 22 6 Baltimore (city) (MD) 100 23 32 45 1 MIddlesex (MA) 100 42 41 15 2 Wayne (MI) 100 26 27 25 22 Jackson (MO) 100 26 43 18 14 St. Louis (MO) 100 15 52 15 18 Essex (NJ) 100 40 19 31 10 Bronx (NY) 100 24 29 48 9 Erie (NY) 100 27 47 20 7 Kings (NY) 100 39 19 27 15 Monroe (NY) 100 25 35 27 13 New York (NY) 100 28 26 38 8 Queens (NY) 100 32 32 24 12 Suffolk (NY) 100 19 43 14 24 Hamilton (OH) 100 17 40 35 8 Allegheny (PA) 100 36 37 25 2 Philadelphia (PA) 100 48 31 21 0 Shelby (TN) 100 21 39 37 3 Dallas (TX) 100 27 36 30 6 Harris (TX) 100 29 32 30 8 King (WA) 100 30 26 36 8 Milwaukee (WI) 100 24 34 30 12 Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. --------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix table C. Sex and age of felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1994 Percent of felony defendants Sex Age at arrest 40 or County (State) Total Male Female Total Under 21 21-29 30-39 older Total 100 85 15 100 21 36 30 14 Jefferson (AL) 100 82 18 100 18 37 30 14 Maricopa (AZ) 100 84 16 100 18 43 29 10 Pima (AZ) 100 84 16 100 15 39 30 15 Alameda (CA) 100 81 19 100 13 34 33 21 Los Angeles (CA) 100 87 13 100 15 37 32 16 Sacramento (CA) 100 86 14 100 12 38 35 15 San Bernardino (CA) 100 81 19 100 16 41 32 11 San Francisco (CA) 100 84 16 100 14 33 33 21 Santa Clara (CA) 100 83 17 100 18 46 27 8 Ventura (CA) 100 83 17 100 16 31 36 16 Broward (FL) 100 83 17 100 16 39 30 15 Dade (FL) 100 88 12 100 17 36 34 14 Hillsborough (FL) 100 82 18 100 23 32 27 18 Orange (FL) 100 84 16 100 19 37 30 14 Honolulu (HI) 100 84 16 100 13 38 33 16 Cook (IL) 100 85 15 100 23 35 31 11 DuPage (IL) 100 78 22 100 22 35 28 14 Jefferson (KY) 100 81 19 100 16 38 34 13 Baltimore (city) (MD) 100 86 14 100 23 38 29 10 MIddlesex (MA) 100 82 18 100 23 36 28 14 Wayne (MI) 100 88 12 100 14 40 25 20 Jackson (MO) 100 84 16 100 24 34 29 13 St. Louis (MO) 100 87 13 100 24 33 30 13 Essex (NJ) 100 88 12 100 22 41 29 8 Bronx (NY) 100 87 13 100 27 31 30 11 Erie (NY) 100 86 14 100 33 34 23 11 Kings (NY) 100 87 13 100 29 32 28 11 Monroe (NY) 100 84 16 100 35 29 29 7 New York (NY) 100 87 13 100 20 32 31 17 Queens (NY) 100 89 11 100 30 37 24 9 Suffolk (NY) 100 89 11 100 28 38 21 13 Hamilton (OH) 100 79 21 100 13 38 36 13 Allegheny (PA) 100 87 13 100 17 4 28 15 Philadelphia (PA) 100 88 12 100 27 43 22 9 Shelby (TN) 100 92 8 100 21 42 27 11 Dallas (TX) 100 82 18 100 25 30 26 18 Harris (TX) 100 84 16 100 32 34 22 12 King (WA) 100 84 16 100 19 32 32 17 Milwaukee (WI) 100 84 16 100 18 44 30 8 Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. ------------------------------------------------------- Appendix table D. Race and Hispanic origin of felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1994 Percent of felony defendants Race and Hispanic origin Black White Other non- non- non- His- Race His- His- His- panic, County (State) Total Black White Other Total panic panic panic any race Total 100 56 42 3 100 43 26 3 27 Jefferson (AL) 100 62 38 0 ... ... ... ... ... Maricopa (AZ) 100 14 83 3 100 11 53 2 34 Pima (AZ) 100 14 83 3 100 13 38 4 46 Alameda (CA) 100 66 30 4 ... ... ... ... ... Los Angeles (CA) ... ... ... ... 100 34 20 1 44 Sacramento (CA) 100 35 63 2 100 30 44 3 22 San Bernardino (CA 100 30 69 1 ... ... ... ... ... San Francisco (CA) 100 47 53 1 ... ... ... ... ... Santa Clara (CA) ... ... ... ... 100 10 25 11 53 Ventura (CA) 100 11 89 0 ... ... ... ... ... Broward (FL) 100 47 51 2 100 46 43 2 9 Dade (FL) 100 54 46 0 100 49 13 0 38 Hillsborough (FL) 100 48 52 1 100 47 43 1 9 Orange (FL) 100 46 52 1 100 46 48 1 5 Honolulu (HI) 100 9 23 68 ... ... ... ... ... Cook (IL) 100 85 15 0 100 78 11 0 11 DuPage (IL) 100 22 77 1 ... ... ... ... ... Jefferson (KY) 100 54 44 2 100 54 44 2 0 Baltimore (city) (MD) 100 90 9 -- ... ... ... ... ... MIddlesex (MA) 100 18 79 3 100 17 65 3 15 Wayne (MI) 100 93 7 0 ... ... ... ... ... Jackson (MO) 100 62 38 0 100 58 36 0 6 St. Louis (MO) 100 61 39 0 100 59 39 0 2 Essex (NJ) 100 78 21 1 100 75 9 1 15 Bronx (NY) ... ... ... ... 100 36 6 1 57 Erie (NY) 100 70 30 0 100 72 22 0 6 Kings (NY) 100 85 15 0 100 62 8 0 30 Monroe (NY) 100 84 16 1 100 78 12 1 9 New York (NY) 100 74 26 1 100 49 11 1 39 Queens (NY) 100 56 39 5 100 47 13 5 35 Suffolk (NY) ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Hamilton (OH) 100 69 31 -- 100 69 31 -- 0 Allegheny (PA) 100 58 41 1 ... ... ... ... ... Philadelphia (PA) 100 66 33 1 ... ... ... ... ... Shelby (TN) 100 76 24 0 ... ... ... ... ... Dallas (TX) 100 52 46 2 100 51 28 2 20 Harris (TX) 100 45 54 2 100 44 35 2 19 King (WA) 100 32 61 7 100 31 53 7 9 Milwaukee (WI) 100 72 27 1 ... ... ... ... ... Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. Less than 0.5%. ...Data were available for fewer than two-thirds of all cases. ---------------------------------------------------- Appendix table E. Felony defendants released before or detained until case disposition, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1994 Percent of felony defendants Released before case disposition Financial release Nonfinancial release Full Prop- Un- Emer- Detained until case dispostion County (State) Surety Deposit cash erty Recog- Condi- secured gency Held Denied Total bond bond bond bond nizance tional bond release Total on bail bail Total 62 15 6 3 1 26 7 4 1 38 31 7 Jefferson (AL) 78 32 0 -- 28 14 2 1 0 22 17 5 Maricopa (AZ) 71 7 5 3 -- 43 12 0 0 29 15 14 Pima (AZ) 61 7 0 4 -- 25 25 0 0 39 39 -- Alameda (CA) 48 10 0 -- 0 35 3 0 0 52 40 13 Los Angeles (CA) 3 10 0 0 0 20 -- 0 0 69 68 2 Sacramento (CA) 44 24 0 1 0 19 0 0 0 56 47 9 San Bernardino (CA) 47 18 -- 1 0 24 4 0 0 53 48 5 San Francisco (CA) 61 14 0 3 0 29 15 0 0 39 37 2 Santa Clara (CA) 59 13 0 1 1 26 18 0 0 41 38 3 Ventura (CA) 54 29 0 3 0 22 0 0 0 46 46 -- Broward (FL) 59 39 0 9 0 1 10 0 0 41 31 9 Dade (FL) 50 15 3 1 0 7 23 -- 0 50 40 11 Hillsborough (FL) 72 52 0 4 0 14 2 0 0 28 10 18 Orange (FL) 64 57 0 2 0 3 2 0 0 36 28 8 Honolulu (HI) 59 26 0 11 0 2 17 0 2 41 39 2 Cook (IL) 72 0 19 0 0 1 6 29 16 28 25 3 DuPage (IL) 77 0 67 0 0 7 1 0 1 23 19 5 Jefferson (KY) 74 0 10 0 1 54 4 0 4 26 25 2 Baltimore (city) (MD) 55 25 0 1 6 14 9 0 0 45 38 7 MIddlesex (MA) 80 3 -- 18 0 57 -- -- 0 20 17 4 Wayne (MI) 76 2 38 0 0 18 0 0 17 24 15 9 Jackson (MO) 64 17 16 3 0 9 14 4 0 36 35 -- St. Louis (MO) 65 8 14 11 13 20 0 0 0 35 17 18 Essex (NJ) 98 18 54 1 0 24 0 1 0 2 -- 2 Bronx (NY) 70 0 0 0 0 70 0 0 0 30 2 10 Erie (NY) 82 1 1 3 0 77 0 0 0 18 18 0 Kings (NY) 75 0 0 0 0 75 0 0 0 25 16 9 Monroe (NY) 81 1 7 4 0 47 21 0 0 19 16 3 New York (NY) 76 0 0 0 0 76 0 0 0 24 13 11 Queens (NY) 74 0 0 0 0 74 0 0 0 26 14 12 Suffolk (NY) 80 0 0 18 0 62 -- 0 0 20 20 0 Hamilton (OH) 67 3 25 -- 7 5 25 0 0 33 32 2 Allegheny (PA) 79 11 16 12 2 37 0 0 1 21 17 5 Philadelphia (PA) 76 12 11 0 0 2 1 49 1 24 14 10 Shelby (TN) 65 52 0 0 0 13 -- 0 0 35 34 1 Dallas (TX) 70 57 0 -- 0 0 12 -- 0 30 21 9 Harris (TX) 45 34 0 1 0 0 0 9 0 55 32 24 King (WA) 66 14 1 0 0 37 12 2 0 34 26 8 Milwaukee (WI) 60 0 -- 13 0 15 31 -- 0 40 39 2 Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. *Released on own recognizance. --Les than 0.5%. --------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix table F. Adjudication outcome for felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1994 Percent of felony defendants Adjudication outcome Convicted Not convicted Adjudi- cated within Misde- Dis- Acqu- Other County (State) 1 year Total Felony meanor Total missed itted outcome* Total 87% 72% 61% 11% 26% 25% 1% 2% Jefferson (AL) 63% 68% 59% 8% 31% 31% 1% 1% Maricopa (AZ) 84 87 71 16 12 12 -- -- Pima (AZ) 97 50 46 4 50 49 2 0 Alameda (CA) 90 80 67 13 20 20 0 0 Los Angeles (CA) 92 81 75 6 19 18 1 0 Sacramento (CA) 96 79 64 15 18 17 1 3 San Bernardino (CA) 96 82 64 18 16 16 0 2 San Francisco (CA) 78 80 62 19 17 17 1 2 Santa Clara (CA) 82% 90% 83% 7% 7% 7% 1% 2% Ventura (CA) 93 87 80 7 11 11 0 2 Broward (FL) 91 78 70 9 21 21 0 -- Dade (FL) 89 52 49 2 44 43 2 4 Hillsborough (FL) 90 73 61 12 27 25 2 0 Orange (FL) 96 69 63 6 28 28 1 3 Honolulu (HI) 87 88 86 2 12 7 5 0 Cook (IL) 84 62 58 3 38 35 3 -- DuPage (IL) 87% 94% 89% 5% 4% 3% 1% 2% Jefferson (KY) 85 63 17 45 38 38 0 0 Baltimore (city) (MD) 83 54 37 17 45 44 1 1 MIddlesex (MA) 84 52 49 2 48 47 1 0 Wayne (MI) 82 70 64 6 29 24 5 1 Jackson (MO) 91 70 63 7 30 30 1 0 St. Louis (MO) 88 98 94 4 2 2 0 0 Essex (NJ) 90 71 62 10 20 19 1 9 Bronx (NY) 85% 69% 46% 23% 31% 31% 0% 0% Erie (NY) 91 42 12 30 32 32 0 26 Kings (NY) 92 64 48 16 34 33 -- 3 Monroe (NY) 83 69 34 35 23 21 1 8 New York (NY) 88 59 47 12 40 39 -- 1 Queens (NY) 89 77 66 11 23 23 -- 0 Suffolk (NY) 64 74 41 33 19 19 0 7 Hamilton (OH) 92 77 50 26 23 21 2 0 Allegheny (PA) 76% 82% 65% 18% 11% 8% 4% 6% Philadelphia (PA) 72 48 47 2 49 43 6 2 Shelby (TN) 68 79 43 36 21 21 0 0 Dallas (TX) 92 71 66 4 29 27 2 0 Harris (TX) 89 73 63 11 26 24 2 -- King (WA) 98 90 80 10 10 8 2 -- Milwaukee (WI) 93 90 82 9 9 8 1 -- Note: Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. *Includes diversion and deferred adjudication. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix table G. Most severe type of sentence received by defendants convicted of a felony, by SCPS jurisdiction, 1994 Percent of felony defendants Incarceration Nonincarceration County (State) Total Prison Jail Total Probation Fine Total 68% 36% 32% 32% 31% 1% Jefferson (AL) 34% 34% 0% 66% 59% 7% Maricopa (AZ) 57 30 27 43 42 1 Pima (AZ) 73 59 14 27 27 0 Alameda (CA) 84 28 56 16 16 0 Los Angeles (CA) 84 41 43 16 16 0 Sacramento (CA) 90 42 48 10 10 -- San Bernardino (CA) 86 44 42 14 14 0 San Francisco (CA) 95 26 69 5 5 0 Santa Clara (CA) 91% 25% 66% 9% 9% 0% Ventura (CA) 98 37 61 2 2 0 Broward (FL) 38 22 16 62 62 0 Dade (FL) 63 13 50 37 30 7 Hillsborough (FL) 36 28 8 64 64 0 Orange (FL) 46 16 30 54 54 0 Honolulu (HI) 54 52 2 46 45 1 Cook (IL) 45 38 7 55 55 0 DuPage (IL) 55% 32% 23% 45% 45% 0% Jefferson (KY) 75 75 0 25 25 0 Baltimore (city) (MD 81 58 23 19 19 0 MIddlesex (MA) 44 1 43 56 54 1 Wayne (MI) 41 23 18 59 58 1 Jackson (MO) 42 39 4 58 57 1 St. Louis (MO) 41 34 7 59 56 3 Essex (NJ) 51 43 9 49 46 2 Bronx (NY) 73% 35% 38% 27% 24% 2% Erie (NY) 67 33 33 33 33 0 Kings (NY) 87 23 64 13 10 3 Monroe (NY) 69 47 22 31 31 0 New York (NY) 74 36 37 26 23 3 Queens (NY) 64 35 29 36 30 6 Suffolk (NY) 71 51 20 29 19 10 Hamilton (OH) 65 49 15 35 35 0 Allegheny (PA) 66% 34% 32% 34% 34% 0% Philadelphia (PA) 65 52 12 35 35 0 Shelby (TN) 82 81 1 18 14 3 Dallas (TX) 40 35 5 60 60 1 Harris (TX) 83 67 16 17 17 0 King (WA) 84 35 50 16 13 3 Milwaukee (WI) 71 44 27 29 27 2 Note: Sentences to incarceration may have also included a probation term. Sentences to prison, jail, and probation may have included a fine, restitution, or community service. Fines included restitution or community service in some instances. Detail may not add to 100% because of rounding. --Less than 0.5%. End of File