Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1992 U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Jan M. Chaiken, Director Brian A. Reaves, Ph.D., and Pheny Z. Smith, Ph.D., BJS Statisticians July 1995, NCJ-148826 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#Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties Criminal Victimization (Note: This file does not contain data tables or figures. The full text with tables is available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics Clearinghouse, 800-732-3277, using the NCJ order number.) Brian A. Reaves and Pheny Z. Smith, BJS Statisticians, wrote this report. Thomas Hester and Yvonne Boston edited the report, which was produced by Ms. Boston under the supervision of Marilyn Marbrook. Data collection and processing were done by the staff of the Pretrial Services Resource Center under the supervision of Walt Smith. Carma Hogue of the U.S. Bureau of the Census assisted with sample design. Contents Highlights National Pretrial Reporting Program Arrest charges Demographic characteristics Criminal history Pretrial release and detention Adjudication Sentencing Methodology Highlights Arrest charges An estimated 55,513 felony cases were filed in the State courts of the Nation's 75 largest counties during May 1992. About a fourth of these felony defendants were charged with a violent offense, usually assault (12.7%) or robbery (8.5%). Murder (1.1%) and rape (1.4%) defendants accounted for a small percentage of defendants. About three-fourths of defendants were charged with a nonviolent felony. The most frequently charged nonviolent offenses were drug trafficking (16.4%), other drug offenses (13.7%), theft (12.7%), and burglary (12.0%). The percentage of felony defendants who were charged with a violent offense in 1992 (26.5%) was slightly higher than in 1988 (21.3%). The percentage of drug defendants decreased from 34.9% in 1988 to 30.0% in 1992. The 1992 percentages of property defendants (34.9%) and public-order defendants (8.5%) were similar to 1988. Demographic characteristics A majority (60%) of felony defendants charged as adults in the 75 largest counties were under age 30. A fifth were under age 21, including about a third of murder (35%) and robbery (31%) defendants. Defendants whose most serious arrest charge was a driving-related offense (21%) were the most likely to be age 40 or older. A large majority (85%) of felony defendants were male. About half were black males, including 57% of those ages 18 to 20, and 65% of those under age 18. Black males accounted for a majority of the defendants whose most serious arrest charge was robbery (71%), murder (66%), or a weapons offense (64%). White males (71%) comprised a majority among the defendants facing driving-related charges. Criminal history About 3 in 8 defendants had an active criminal justice status at the time of the current charged offense, including 17% who were on probation, 12% on pretrial release, and 8% on parole. Nearly half of robbery defendants had an active criminal justice status at the time of the current offense. About a third of robbery defendants were either on probation (19%) or parole (13%) at the time of the current charged offense. Two-thirds of all defendants had been arrested previously, with 36% having at least five prior arrest charges. A majority (55%) had a felony arrest record, and 38% had been previously convicted of at least one felony. Nearly half of burglary (47%) and robbery (43%) defendants had a felony conviction record. Twenty-two percent of robbery defendants had one or more prior convictions for a violent felony, compared to 13% of defendants overall. Pretrial release and detention Just over a third of all felony defendants were detained until their case reached final disposition. About two-thirds of defendants already on parole (68%) were detained during the current case. A majority of defendants on probation (56%), or with five or more prior convictions (57%) were also detained. About three-fourths of the defendants charged with murder were held until disposition, as were about half of defendants charged with rape, robbery, or burglary. Except for those charged with murder, a large majority of pretrial detainees had a bail amount set but failed to post the amount required to secure release. Among detained murder defendants, about the same percentage were held without bail as were held on bail. Among those defendants who were released prior to case disposition, a fourth failed to appear in court as scheduled. A third of those who failed to appear, representing 8% of all released defendants, were still fugitives at the end of the 1-year study period. About 1 in 7 released defendants were rearrested for a new offense allegedly committed while on pretrial release. Most of these new charges were for a felony. Overall, a third of released defendants committed one or more types of pretrial misconduct that involved a missed court appearance, a rearrest for a new offense, or some other violation that resulted in the revocation of their pretrial release. Adjudication Ninety percent of defendants had their cases adjudicated within 1 year of arrest. Two-thirds of the cases adjudicated during this period ended with a conviction. The highest conviction rates were for defendants charged with a driving-related offense (90%), drug trafficking (78%), burglary (75%), or murder (72%). Nearly two-thirds of defendants charged with robbery (64%) or rape (63%) were convicted. Defendants charged with assault were the least likely to be convicted (51%). Fifty-four percent of all defendants were convicted of a felony, and 14% were convicted of a misdemeanor. The highest felony conviction rates were for defendants charged with a driving-related felony (76%), murder (70%), burglary (64%), or drug trafficking (63%). The lowest felony conviction rate was found among assault defendants (36%). Ninety-two percent of convictions occurring within 1 year of arrest were obtained through a guilty plea. About 4 in 5 guilty pleas were to a felony. Murder defendants (27%) were the most likely to have their case adjudicated by trial. About 4 in 5 trials resulted in a guilty verdict, including three-fourths of murder trials. Sentencing Overall, 71% of the defendants whose most serious conviction charge was a felony were sentenced to incarceration. Nearly all of the remaining convicted defendants received a probation sentence. About a third of felony convictions resulted in a prison term, including a majority of convictions for murder (92%), robbery (67%), and rape (66%). Given prosecution, the chances of eventually being convicted and sentenced to prison were highest for murder defendants (66%), followed by those charged with a driving-related offense (43%), rape (42%), or robbery (42%). Nearly two-thirds of those with multiple prior felony convictions were sentenced to prison following a felony conviction in the current case. About half of those with a single prior felony conviction and about a fourth of those without prior felony convictions received such a sentence. Prison sentences were longest for those convicted of a violent felony,a median of 6 years and a mean of about 9 years. Within the violent offense category, median prison sentences ranged from 16 years for those convicted of murder to 6 years for rape and 5 years for robbery or assault. The median prison sentence for defendants convicted of a nonviolent felony was 3 years, ranging from 4 years for a drug trafficking conviction to about 2 years for a public-order conviction that did not involve a weapons offense. National Pretrial Reporting Program The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) initiated the biennial National Pretrial Reporting Program (NPRP) in February 1988 to collect demographic, criminal history, pretrial processing, adjudication, and sentencing information on felony defendants in State courts of the Nation's 75 most populous counties. The NPRP 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 1992 NPRP collected data for 13,206 felony cases filed during May 1992 in 40 of the Nation's largest counties. These cases, which were tracked for up to 1 year, were part of a 2-stage sample that was representative of the estimated 55,513 felony cases filed in the Nation's 75 most populous counties during that month. In 1992, the 75 largest counties accounted for 37% of the Nation's population and about half of all reported crimes, arrests, and felony convictions. Arrest charges For about two-thirds of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, the most serious arrest charge was a property offense (35%) or a drug offense (30%). (See Methodology for the specific crimes included in each offense category.) About a third of property cases involved a theft charge, and another third, a burglary charge. Slightly more than half of all drug cases involved drug trafficking charges. Overall, 16% of felony defendants were charged with drug trafficking. About a fourth of all defendants were charged with a violent offense. About half of these defendants were charged with aggravated assault, and about a third with robbery. Defendants charged with rape comprised about 5% of all defendants charged with a violent offense, and those charged with murder, 4%. About 1 in 12 felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were charged with a public-order offense. About a third of these defendants faced felony weapons charges, and about a seventh were charged with a driving-related felony. Compared with previous NPRP data collections based on cases filed in February 1988 and May 1990, the percentage of cases in 1992 involving property and public-order offenses was about the same. The percentage of cases in which a violent offense was the most serious arrest charge was slightly higher in 1992 (26.5%) than in 1988 (21.3%), while the percentage of drug cases was slightly lower in 1992 (30.0%) than in 1988 (34.9%). Nearly two-thirds of defendants whose most serious arrest charge was a violent offense were facing additional charges, including 44% who were charged with at least one additional felony. Defendants whose most serious arrest charge was rape (58%), robbery (55%), or murder (53%) were more likely to be facing an additional felony charge than defendants charged with aggravated assault (36%) or other violent offenses (39%). About half of property defendants (52%) and drug defendants (53%) were charged with more than one offense, with 38% charged with at least one additional felony. Among property defendants, burglary defendants (57%) were the most likely to be facing an additional arrest charge, with 43% charged with at least one additional felony. Among drug defendants, those charged with drug trafficking (49%) were twice as likely as other drug defendants (24%) to have been charged with an additional felony. Nearly half of public-order defendants were charged with multiple offenses, with 30% charged with more than one felony. Defendants facing weapons (52%) or driving-related (55%) charges were more likely to have been charged with more than one offense than other public-order defendants (41%). Demographic characteristics Eighty-five percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were male. By arrest offense, men comprised the largest percentages among defendants charged with rape (97%), weapons offenses (95%), robbery (92%), or burglary (91%). About 1 in 5 defendants charged with property offenses other than burglary, and with drug offenses not involving the sale of drugs were female. Overall, about 1 in 6 defendants charged with a nonviolent offense were female, compared to about 1 in 9 defendants charged with a violent offense. Without consideration of Hispanic origin, which was poorly reported in some jurisdictions (see Methodology), 60% of defendants were black, 39% were white, and 1% were members of other racial groups. About three-fourths of murder and robbery defendants were black, as were about two-thirds of weapons defendants. About 3 in 5 defendants charged with drug sales, aggravated assault, or burglary were black. A large majority of the defendants whose most serious arrest charge was a driving-related offense were white (82%). Whites (48%) and blacks (49%) comprised roughly equal percentages of rape defendants. Black males accounted for a majority of the defendants whose most serious arrest charge was robbery (71%), murder (66%), or a weapons offense (64%). White males (71%) comprised a majority among the defendants facing driving-related charges. Where reported, about a fourth of the felony defendants were Hispanic. The highest percentages of Hispanics were found among defendants charged with driving-related offenses (40%), drug trafficking (36%), and weapons offenses (34%). A majority of the defendants charged with robbery (65%) or murder (57%) were non-Hispanic blacks. Non-Hispanic whites comprised the largest percentage among defendants charged with a driving-related offense (45%). The average age of defendants was 29 years. By specific offense, the average age ranged from 25 years for robbery defendants to 32 for those charged with driving-related offenses. About 60% of the defendants within each of the four major offense categories were under age 30. Four percent of all defendants were under age 18, and 21% were under 21. Eleven percent of defendants were age 40 or older. Defendants charged with driving-related offenses (21%) were about twice as likely as defendants overall to be 40 or older. About half of murder defendants, robbery defendants, and weapons defendants were under age 25, compared to 40% of defendants overall. About a third of murder (35%) and robbery (31%) defendants were under age 21, compared to a fifth of defendants overall. Murder (11%) and robbery (10%) defendants were also more likely to be under age 18 than other defendants. A higher percentage of defendants under the age of 21 (91%) were male than other age groups. A majority of the defendants in each age group were black, ranging from nearly three-fourths of those under age 18 to just over half of those age 40 or older. Black males accounted for a majority of the defendants in the under 18 and 18-20 age categories. They comprised approximately half of other age groups. White males comprised about a fourth of defendants under age 18 and about a third of older age groups. Black and white females each comprised relatively small percentages of the defendants in each age group. Criminal history Criminal justice status at time of current offense About 3 in 8 felony defendants had an active criminal justice status at the time of the offense that resulted in the current felony charges. Nearly half of defendants charged with robbery (47%) had an active criminal justice status at the time the charged offense occurred, as did more than a third of defendants charged with a weapons offense (42%), burglary (41%), drug trafficking (41%), or theft (40%). When defendants' most serious criminal justice status is considered, nearly half of those with a criminal justice status were on probation at the time of the current charged offense. Overall, 17% of felony defendants were on probation, 12% were on pretrial release for a pending case, and 8% were on parole. Allowing for defendants with multiple criminal justice statuses, those charged with robbery (13%) were more likely to have been on parole at the time of the current charged offense than those charged with assault, rape, or a driving-related felony. The percentage of defendants on probation was about twice as high among those charged with a driving-related offense (26%) as among those charged with assault (14%) or rape (12%). The percentage of defendants on pretrial release ranged from 18% for those charged with robbery or drug trafficking to 8% for those charged with a driving-related offense. Prior arrests Two-thirds of all defendants had at least one prior arrest for either a misdemeanor or a felony. The percentage of defendants with at least one prior arrest was fairly consistent across offense categories: 63% of defendants charged with a violent offense, 66% of property defendants, 68% of drug defendants, and 67% of public-order defendants. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, those charged with robbery (70%) were the most likely to have a prior arrest record, and those charged with rape (53%) the least likely. Among defendants charged with a nonviolent offense, those charged with a driving-related offense (77%) or burglary (74%) were the most likely to have been arrested previously. A majority (55%) of the defendants with an arrest record had at least five prior arrests. Overall, 36% of defendants had five or more prior arrests. Burglary (46%) and robbery (43%) defendants were the most likely to have five or more prior arrests. About a fifth (21%) of all defendants had 10 or more prior arrests, including 29% of burglary defendants and 26% of robbery defendants. About three-fourths of the defendants under the age of 18 had no previous arrests. This proportion dropped to about half among defendants ages 18 to 20, a third among those in the 21 to 24 age group, and about a fourth among those ages 25 to 49. Among defendants ages 25 to 49, a larger percentage had 5 or more prior arrests than had no prior arrests. Among defendants with an arrest record, 5 in 6 had at least one previous arrest involving felony charges. Overall, 55% of all defendants had been previously arrested for a felony. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, a majority of those facing charges for robbery (62%) or murder (56%) had a felony arrest record. Twenty-nine percent of robbery defendants had 5 or more prior felony arrests, and 14% had at least 10. Twenty percent of murder and assault defendants had five or more prior felony arrests. Among property defendants, those charged with burglary (64%) were the most likely to have a felony arrest record. Thirty percent of burglary defendants had at least 5 prior felony arrests, and 14% had 10 or more. Among theft defendants, 23% had at least 5 prior felony arrests, and 11%, 10 or more such arrests. A majority of drug trafficking defendants (58%) and those charged with other drug offenses (56%) had at least one prior felony arrest. Drug defendants charged with trafficking (23%) were slightly more likely to have five or more prior felony arrests than were other drug defendants (19%). Among public-order defendants, those facing weapons charges (53%) were more likely to have a felony arrest record than those facing charges for a driving-related felony (44%), but less likely than those charged with some other type of public-order offense (60%). About 21% of weapons defendants had 5 or more prior felony arrests, including 11% with 10 or more. Prior convictions Fifty-five percent of felony defendants were known to have at least one prior conviction for a misdemeanor or a felony. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, robbery defendants (58%) were the most likely to have been convicted previously. Twenty-one percent of robbery defendants had at least five prior convictions. Half of assault defendants had at least one prior conviction, and 18% had five or more. Slightly less than half of murder (47%) and rape (44%) defendants had been previously convicted. About 1 in 7 murder defendants had five or more prior convictions, as did 1 in 10 rape defendants. Overall, 57% of property defendants had been convicted previously, including 65% of burglary defendants. About a fourth (27%) of burglary defendants had five or more prior convictions. A majority (56%) of theft defendants also had a conviction record, including 23% with at least 5 prior convictions. Slightly more than half (56%) of drug defendants had a prior conviction, and 18% had five or more. Defendants charged with a driving-related offense (74%) were the most likely of all defendants to have a prior conviction and, along with burglary defendants, were the most likely to have five or more (28%). About half of weapons defendants had been previously convicted, with 13% having at least five convictions. Overall, 59% of public-order defendants had a conviction record, and 19% had five or more prior convictions. About 38% of all defendants, including two-thirds of those with a conviction record, had at least one prior felony conviction. By the most serious current arrest charge, burglary (47%) and robbery (43%) defendants were the most likely to have a prior felony conviction, and rape defendants (26%) the least likely. Thirty-nine percent of theft defendants and drug trafficking defendants had a felony conviction record, as did about a third of defendants charged with murder, a driving-related offense, a weapons offense, or assault. Although 74% of defendants facing driving-related charges had a conviction record, only about half of these defendants, 35% of all defendants facing a driving-related charge, had a prior felony conviction. About a fourth (23%) of all defendants had multiple prior felony convictions, with burglary defendants (32%) the most likely to have more than one prior felony conviction and rape defendants (13%) the least likely. Six percent of all defendants had 5 or more prior felony convictions, and 1% had 10 or more. About a third of the defendants with a prior felony conviction, 13% of defendants overall, had been previously convicted of a violent felony. Compared to the overall average, a slightly higher percentage of defendants whose most serious current arrest charge was for a violent offense (18%) had a prior violent felony conviction, while a slightly lower percentage of drug defendants (9%) had a prior conviction for a violent felony. By specific arrest charge, the percentage of defendants previously convicted of a violent felony ranged from 22% for those charged with robbery to 5% among those facing driving-related charges. The most serious prior conviction was more likely to be a nonviolent felony for defendants charged with burglary (31%), drug trafficking (30%), or theft (27%) than for other defendants. Although the most serious conviction was a non-violent felony for 30% of defendants facing driving-related charges, the most serious prior conviction for such defendants was most likely to be for a misdemeanor (40%). A majority of defendants in the 21 to 49 age range had a prior conviction, including two-thirds of those ages 30 to 39. Nearly half of defendants in the 25 to 39 age range had a prior felony conviction, and nearly a third in that age range had two or more. The proportion of defendants with a prior conviction for a violent felony was also highest in the middle categories, with about a sixth of those ages 25 to 49 having at least one. Pretrial release and detention Rates of release and detention An estimated 63% of all defendants were released prior to the final disposition of their case. (See Methodology for definitions related to pretrial release.) Release rates varied slightly by general offense category, from 58% for defendants charged with a violent offense to 68% for drug defendants. Property (63%) and public-order (65%) defendants had release rates closest to the overall average. Release rates varied more by specific offense charge. Within the violent offense category, about a fourth of murder defendants (24%) were released pretrial, compared to about half of rape (48%) and robbery (50%) defendants and about two-thirds of defendants facing assault charges (68%). Among drug defendants, those charged with drug trafficking (66%) were slightly less likely to be released than those charged with other drug ofenses (71%). Among property defendants, those charged with theft (67%) were more likely to be released than those charged with burglary (51%). Public-order defendants charged with a weapons offense (71%) or a driving-related offense (73%) were more likely to be released than other public-order defendants (58%). About 3 in 8 felony defendants were released under nonfinancial conditions that did not require the posting of bail. Types of release included under this category are release on personal recognizance (24% of all defendants and 38% of released defendants), conditional release (8% and 13% respectively), and release on unsecured bond (4% and 6%). Another fourth secured release through financial terms that involved the posting of a financial bond in the form of money or property. Types of financial release included surety bond (13% of all defendants and 21% of released defendants), full cash bond (6% and 9% respectively), deposit bond (5% and 8%), and property bond (1% and 2%). About 2% of defendants (3% of released defendants) were released prior to case disposition as the result of an emergency release used to relieve jail crowding. These releases did not involve the use of any of the financial or nonfinancial types of release mentioned above. The remaining 37% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were detained in jail until the court disposed of their cases. Most pretrial detainees (83%) had a bail amount set but did not post the money required to secure release. The remainder, representing 17% of detained defendants and 6% of all defendants, were ordered held without bail. The percentage of defendants held without bail was considerably higher among those charged with murder (40%) than among other defendants. Roughly half of detained murder defendants were denied bail, and about half were held on bail. The vast majority of other detained defendants were held on bail. Court decisions about bail and pretrial release are primarily based on the judgment of whether a defendant will be 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 bail. Examples of such criteria are personal character and mental condition, employment and financial re-sources, family and community ties, offense seriousness, criminal justice status, prior criminal record, and prior court appearance record. The NPRP data illustrate how pretrial release rates vary with factors such as prior criminal record, criminal justice status, and court appearance history. For example, just half of the NPRP defendants with a criminal justice status at the time of the alleged offense were released, compared to nearly three-fourths of the defendants without such a status. A slight majority (56%) of defendants already on pretrial release were released again, while less than half of the defendants on parole (32%) or probation (44%) at the time of the current charged offense were released pretrial. Defendants with no prior arrests (81%) were much more likely to be released than those who had been previously arrested (55%). Among those defendants who had an arrest record, those who had never missed a court appearance (57%) had a slightly higher probability of pretrial release than those who had failed to appear at least once during a previous case (51%). Seventy-nine percent of defendants without a prior conviction were released, compared to 61% of those with a single prior conviction, 50% of those with two to four prior convictions, and 43% of those with five or more. Slightly less than half of defendants with a felony conviction record were released, compared to nearly two-thirds of those whose prior conviction record included only misdemeanors. Without controlling for their relation to legally relevant factors, release rates did vary somewhat by the demographic characteristics of sex, race, and age. For example, 3 in 4 female defendants were released, compared to about 3 in 5 male defendants. Also, defendants under age 21 (71%) were more likely to be released than other defendants, and white defendants (67%) had a slightly higher release rate than other defendants (63%). When Hispanic origin was considered (see Methodology), black non-Hispanic defendants (63%) had a higher release rate than Hispanic defendants (55%), but a lower release rate than white non-Hispanic defendants (73%). Bail amounts Among cases in which a bail amount was set, the median bail amount set for defendants charged with a violent offense ($10,000) was about twice that for other defendants. The mean bail amount was greater for defendants charged with a violent offense ($31,800) or drug offense ($37,500) than for public-order ($12,900) or property ($12,400) defendants. By specific arrest charge, murder defendants had the highest median ($75,000) and mean ($164,600) bail amounts. Rape and robbery defendants also had mean and median bail amounts that exceeded the overall averages. Defendants charged with rape had a median bail amount of $23,500 and a mean bail amount of $43,800. The mean bail amount for robbery defendants was $32,400, while the median was $10,000. Although the median bail amount set for drug-trafficking defendants ($5,000) was the same as the overall median, the mean bail amount for those charged with drug trafficking ($55,300) was higher than for any other offense except murder. Defendants who had a bail amount set and were able to secure pretrial release had lower median ($3,500) and mean ($7,800) bail amounts than detained defendants (a median of $10,000 and a mean of $39,800). Among released defendants, the highest median bail amounts set were for those charged with murder ($10,000) or rape ($10,000), while the highest mean bail amounts were for defendants charged with murder ($29,700), robbery ($22,600), or rape ($16,500). Among detained defendants, the highest median bail amount was for murder defendants ($100,000), followed by defendants charged with rape ($25,000) or robbery ($20,000). The highest mean bail amounts among detained defendants were found among those charged with murder ($213,400), drug trafficking ($102,100), or rape ($57,000). Time from arrest to release Overall, about half of all released defendants were released within 1 day of their arrest, and about three-fourths were released within 1 week. Generally, it took defendants released under financial terms 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. (See Pretrial Release of Felony Defendants, 1992, BJS Bulletin, NCJ-148818, November 1994.) By general offense category, defendants charged with violent offenses (46%) were less likely than other defendants to be released within 1 day of arrest. Released murder defendants (20%) were the least likely to have been released within a day of their arrest, followed by robbery defendants (35%). Defendants released after being charged with a property offense other than burglary (62%) or with a driving-related offense (60%) were the most likely to have been released within 1 day of arrest. Overall, 91% of pretrial releases occurred within 1 month of arrest; however, just 60% of released murder defendants were released within this time. The percentage of pretrial releases occurring within a month was 83% or more for all other offenses. Conduct of released defendants Among felony defendants who were released prior to case disposition, 75% made all scheduled court appearances, and bench warrants for failing to appear in court were issued for the remaining 25%. A higher percentage of released property defendants (29%) and drug defendants (27%) failed to appear in court than defendants charged with violent (17%) or public-order (18%) offenses. Within the violent offense category, released robbery defendants (26%) were about twice as likely to miss a scheduled court appearance as other released defendants. A third of the defendants who failed to appear in court, 8% of all defendants, were still fugitives at the end of the 1-year NPRP study. The other two-thirds were returned to the court (in some cases voluntarily) before the end of the study. Overall, 14% of released defendants were rearrested for a new offense allegedly committed while they awaited case disposition. About three-fourths of rearrested defendants were charged with a new felony, and a majority (60%) of these new felony arrests were for the same type of offense as the one that preceded the pretrial release. By original arrest offense category,released public-order defendants had a slightly lower rearrest rate (9%) than other released defendants. By specific original arrest offense, pretiral rearrest rates were considerably higher for robbery defendants (20%) and drug trafficking defendants (19%) than for murder defendants (3%) and defendants awaiting disposition of a driving-related charge (5%). Overall, 1 in 3 released felony defendants were charged with some type of misconduct prior to case disposition. This may have been in the form of a failure to appear in court, a new arrest, or some other violation that resulted in revocation of a defendant's pretrial release by the court. In some instances, a defendant committed more than one type of misconduct. The 33% misconduct rate was similar to that found in two previous NPRP studies based on filings in 1988 (35%) and 1990 (34%). About 3 in 8 released drug and property defendants were charged with some type of pretrial misconduct, as were 2 in 8 defendants released pending disposition on violent or public-order charges. By specific arrest charge, more than a third of the released defendants facing charges for drug trafficking (40%), robbery (38%), burglary (38%), or theft (37%) allegedly committed some type of pretrial misconduct. The lowest pretrial misconduct rates were found among defendants charged with murder (11%). Adjudication Time from arrest to adjudication For half of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, adjudication of their case occurred within 83 days of arrest, and 90% of all cases had been adjudicated by the end of the 1-year NPRP study period. The median elapsed time from arrest to adjudication was considerably longer for murder defendants (267 days) than for defendants charged with other offenses; the next longest medians were for robbery (112 days) and rape (105 days). Approximately 29% of murder defendants were still awaiting adjudication of their case after 1 year, compared to a maximum of 13% in any other offense category. Generally, adjudication of their case occurred more quickly for detained felony defendants than for those released pending case disposition. The median time from arrest to adjudication was more than a month longer for released defendants than for detained defendants in each offense category. The largest difference was among drug trafficking defendants: a median of 144 days from arrest to adjudication for those released, compared to 41 days for those detained. For detained defendants overall, the median time from arrest to adjudication ranged from about 40 days for those charged with burglary, theft, drug trafficking, or a driving-related offense to 267 days for murder defendants. Among released defendants, the median time ranged from 98 days for defendants charged with a weapons offense to 316 days for murder defendants. Adjudication outcome Of those cases that were adjudicated within 1 year, about two-thirds (68%) of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were convicted. About 4 in 5 convictions were for a felony, with 54% of felony defendants eventually convicted of a felony. By general offense category, defendants charged with a violent offense (58%) had a lower overall conviction rate than defendants charged with a property, drug, or public-order offense. The conviction rate was 71% for each of these three latter categories. By specific arrest offense, defendants charged with a driving-related offense (90%) had the highest overall conviction rate, and defendants charged with assault (51%) had the lowest. Felony conviction rates were highest for defendants whose most serious arrest charge was a driving-related offense (76%), murder (70%), drug trafficking (68%), or burglary (64%). The lowest felony conviction rate was for assault defendants (36%). Charges were dismissed by the prosecutor or the court for about a fourth of defendants. Defendants charged with assault (41%) were the most likely to have had their cases dismissed, while defendants facing driving-related charges (6%) were the least likely. Less common adjudication outcomes were diversion/deferred adjudication (5%) and acquittals (1%). Approximately half of all felony defendants eventually pleaded guilty to a felony, and another 13% pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor. About 7% of all cases adjudicated within 1 year went to a bench or jury trial. About a fifth of all trials ended with an acquittal, while the remainder ended with a guilty verdict. Murder defendants (27%) were the most likely to have their case go to trial, with about 3 in 4 such trials resulting in a guilty verdict. Among the approximately 48,000 NPRP cases adjudicated within 1 year in the 75 largest counties, about 30,000 were disposed by a guilty plea. A fourth of all pleas occurred within 1 month of arrest and just over half within 3 months. The next most common type of adjudication, dismissal of the charges against the defendant, occurred in about 12,000 cases. A third of dismissals occurred within the first month after arrest and two-thirds within 3 months. Trials occurred in about 3,200 cases. About 1 in 7 trials were completed within a month of arrest and about 3 in 7 within 3 months. Diversion or deferred adjudication were used in about 2,600 cases, with a fifth of such outcomes occurring within 1 month of arrest, and three-fifths within 3 months. In cases in which the defendant was convicted, the conviction was for the same felony offense as the original arrest charge in a majority of the cases. Among defendants arrested for murder and later convicted, 78% were convicted of murder. The corresponding percentages for other violent offenses were as follows: robbery (71%), rape (61%), and assault (58%). Among defendants who were charged with a nonviolent offense and later convicted, the percentages with the same conviction offense as arrest offense were as follows: driving-related offense (83%), burglary (74%), drug sales (74%), weapons offense (71%), and theft (65%). Except for weapons offenses and driving-related 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 24). The biggest drop was in the violent felony category, which accounted for 26.5% of all defendants by arrest charge, but just 15.8% of them by conviction charge. Much of this change can be accounted for by the fact that about 1 in 8 defendants were originally facing felony assault charges, but just 1 in 16 convictions were for such an offense. Overall, a fifth of convicted felony defendants were convicted at the misdemeanor level. Guilty pleas accounted for 92% of convictions occurring within 1 year of the May 1992 filing date. About 4 in 5 guilty pleas were to a felony. More than half of the nearly 24,000 felony pleas were obtained within 3 months of the filing date. About two-thirds of the more than 6,000 misdemeanor guilty pleas occurred within 3 months. Of the approximately 2,600 trial convictions obtained within 1 year, nearly all were for a felony. Overall, about 4 in 5 trials resulted in a conviction, with similar conviction rates for bench (83%) and jury trials (79%). About three-fourths of trials ended with a felony conviction, with a small percentage resulting in a misdemeanor conviction Percent of trials resulting in a conviction - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Type of trial Total Felony Misdemeanor - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Total 83% 74% 6% Jury 79 73 6 Bench 83 76 7 Sentencing Time from conviction to sentencing About 61% of convicted defendants were sentenced within 1 day of adjudication. Defendants convicted of a misdemeanor (83%) were more likely to be sentenced this quickly than those convicted of a felony (56%). Sentencing after a felony conviction was slightly more likely to occur within 1 day if the conviction was for a property offense (62%) than if it was for a violent (54%), public-order (53%), or drug offense (50%). Less than half of defendants convicted of rape (34%), murder (36%) or a weapons offense (38%) were sentenced within 1 day of their conviction. Eighty-nine percent of the defendants convicted of a misdemeanor and 77% of those convicted of a felony were sentenced within 30 days of the adjudication date. Nearly all (93%) convicted defendants were sentenced within 60 days, including 96% of those convicted of a misdemeanor and 93% of those convicted of a felony. Type and length of sentence Overall, 71% of convicted defendants were sentenced to incarceration in a State prison or local jail. About three-fourths of the defendants convicted of a felony were sentenced to incarceration, compared to just over half of the defendants convicted of a misdemeanor. A majority (56%) of the incarceration sentences following a felony conviction were to State prison, while nearly all (96%) of the incarceration sentences resulting from a misdemeanor conviction were jail sentences. Murder convictions (98%) were the most likely to result in a sentence to incarceration. Large percentages of the defendants convicted of rape (91%), robbery (87%), or driving-related felonies (86%) were also sentenced to incarceration. Defendants convicted on weapons charges (57%) were the least likely to receive a sentence to incarceration following a felony conviction. Overall, 41% of felony convictions resulted in a prison term, with defendants convicted of murder (92%) the most likely to be sent to prison. About two-thirds of rape (66%) and robbery (67%) convictions resulted in a prison sentence, as did 44% of convictions for burglary or a driving-related felony, 42% of drug trafficking convictions, and 40% of theft convictions. Defendants convicted of weapons-related offenses (29%) were the least likely among those convicted of a felony to receive a prison sentence. Twenty-seven percent of convicted defendants were sentenced to probation instead of incarceration, including 33% of those convicted of a misdemeanor and 25% of those convicted of a felony. Among defendants convicted of a felony but not sentenced to incarceration, 97% received a probation sentence. Among defendants convicted of a misdemeanor but not sentenced to incarceration, 76% were sentenced to probation. Defendants convicted of a weapons-related offense (41%) were the most likely to receive a probation sentence, and those convicted of murder (2%) the least likely. Once arrested and charged with a felony, the probability of being eventually convicted and sentenced to prison was highest for murder defendants (66%). The next highest probability of an eventual prison sentence was for defendants charged with rape (42%), robbery (42%), or a driving-related offense (43%). An eventual prison sentence was least likely to occur for felony defendants whose most serious arrest charge was assault (17%) or weapons-related (19%) . Chances of being convicted and sentenced to either prison or jail were highest for defendants charged with a driving-related offense (79%) and lowest for those charged with a weapons offense (38%) or assault (35%). Among defendants who were convicted of a felony and subsequently sentenced to prison, the mean sentence was 68 months, and the median was 42 months. By general conviction offense category, defendants convicted of a violent felony received the longest prison sentences (a mean of 105 months and a median of 72 months), and those convicted of a public-order felony the shortest (a mean of 41 months and a median of 24 months). About a sixth of the defendants sentenced to prison also received a probation term. By specific felony conviction offense, defendants convicted of murder received the longest prison sentences _ a mean of 223 months and a median of 192 months. After murder, defendants convicted of rape (107 months) or robbery (105 months) received the longest mean prison sentence. Defendants convicted of rape received the second longest median prison sentence (72 months), followed by robbery (64 months), assault (60 months), and other violent offenses (60 months). Sixty-nine percent of murder convictions resulted in a prison term of more than 10 years, as did 25% of robbery convictions and 18% of rape convictions. A sixth of all murder convictions resulted in a life sentence, as did very small percentages of convictions for rape (2%), robbery (1%), or drug trafficking (1%). Defendants who were convicted of a felony and subsequently sentenced to jail received a mean term of 7 months and a median term of 6 months. Excluding murder and rape convictions (for which there were few cases that resulted in a jail sentence), defendants sentenced to jail for robbery received the longest sentences (a mean of 13 months and a median of 11 months). Misdemeanor convictions resulted in a mean jail term of 4 months and a median of 2 months. About 6% of all jail sentences for a felony conviction were for a period greater than 1 year, including 12% of those following a conviction for robbery or assault. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of the jail sentences received by convicted defendants included a probation sentence to be served in addition to the jail time. Among convicted defendants who received a probation sentence instead of incarceration, the median sentence length was 24 months. The median probation sentence for a felony conviction was 36 months, compared to 12 months for a misdemeanor conviction. About 4% of defendants convicted of a felony and sentenced to probation were given a probation term of greater than 5 years. Overall, 17% of the defendants who received a probation sentence were required to make restitution, with such a condition most likely for defendants convicted of a felony property offense(32%) and least likely for those convicted of a drug-related felony (4%). Fourteen percent of the defendants sentenced to probation were required to perform community service, 6% were required to enter a drug treatment program (including 12% of those convicted of a drug-related felony), 3% were placed on intensive probation, and 1% were subject to electronic monitoring. 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 (88%). About 81% of defendants with one prior felony conviction and 76% of those with only prior misdemeanor convictions were sentenced to incar-ceration. Defendants with no prior conviction record (60%) were the least likely to be sentenced to incarceration for a felony conviction. Such defendants were more than 3 times as likely as defendants with multiple prior felony convictions to receive a probation sentence following a felony conviction (39% versus 11%). Nearly two-thirds (64%) of the defendants with multiple prior felony convictions were sentenced to prison after being convicted of a felony on their current charge. Fifty-three percent of those with a single prior felony conviction and 27% of those with no prior felony convictions received a prison term. Regardless of the type of current felony conviction, the most likely sentence for defendants with a prior felony conviction record was prison. For defendants with no prior felony convictions, jail was the most likely sentence if the current conviction was for a nonviolent felony, and prison was the most likely sentence if the current conviction was for a violent felony. Methodology The NPRP sample was designed and selected by the U.S. Bureau of the Census under BJS supervision. It is a 2-stage stratified sample, with 40 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 40 counties were divided into 4 first-stage strata based on court filing information obtained through a telephone survey. Fourteen 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 1992. 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 1992. Data from jurisdictions that were not required to provide a full month of filings were weighted to represent the full month. Data on 13,206 sample felony cases were collected from the 40 sampled jurisdictions. This sample represented 55,246 weighted cases filed during the month of May 1992 in the 75 most populous counties. Cases 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 supervised by the Pretrial Services Resource Center of Washington, D.C. This report is based on data collected from the following jurisdictions: Arizona (Maricopa); California (Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Clara); District of Columbia; Florida (Broward, Dade, Duval, Hillsborough, Palm Beach, Pinellas); Georgia (Fulton); Illinois (Cook); Maryland (Montgomery); Massachusetts (Essex, Suffolk); Michigan (Wayne); Missouri (St. Louis); New Jersey (Essex); New York (Bronx, Erie, Kings, Monroe, New York, Queens); Ohio (Hamilton); Pennsylvania (Allegheny, Montgomery, Philadelphia); Tennessee (Shelby); Texas (Dallas, Harris, Tarrant); Utah (Salt Lake); Virginia (Fairfax); 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 77%, compared to 91% 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--Includes forcible intercourse, sodomy, or penetration with a foreign object. Does not include statutory rape or nonforcible acts with a minor or someone unable to give legal consent, nonviolent sexual offenses, or commercialized sex offenses. Robbery--Includes the unlawful taking of anything of value by force or threat of force. 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 child, reckless endangerment, hit-and-run with bodily injury, intimidation, and extortion. Property offenses Burglary--Includes any type of entry into a residence, industry, or business with or without the use of force with the intent to commit a felony or theft, such as forcible entry and breaking and entering. 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 sales/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--Includes driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, driving with a suspended or revoked license, or 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 and 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 de-fendants 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. 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 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. Deposit bond--The defendant deposits a percentage (usually 10%) of the full bail amount with the court. The percentage of the bail is returned after the disposition of the case, but the court often retains a small portion for administrative costs. If the defendant fails to appear in court, he or she is liable to the court for the full amount of the bail. 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. Property bond--Also known as "collateral bond," this involves an agreement made by a defendant as a condition of pretrial release requiring that property valued at the full bail amount be posted as an assurance of his or her appearance in court. If the defendant fails to appear in court, the property is forfeited. Types of nonfinancial release 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. Release on recognizance--The court releases the defendant on the promise that he or she will appear in court as required. Citation release--Arrestees are released pending their first court appearance on a written order issued by law enforcement personnel. Citation release is included in the release on recognizance category in this report. Conditional release--Defendants are released under conditions and are usually supervised by a pretrial services agency. In some cases an unsecured bond is included. This type of release is also known as supervised release. Other type of release Emergency release--Defendants are released solely in response to a court order placing limits on a jail's population. (END OF FILE)