U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 1998 ---------------------------------------------------------- This file is text only without graphics and many of the tables. A Zip archive of the tables in this report in spreadsheet format (.wk1) and the full report including tables and graphics in .pdf format are available from: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/fdluc98.htm 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 ----------------------------------------------------------- November 2001, NCJ 187232 Brian A. Reaves, BJS statistician, prepared this report. Keonna Feaster provided statistical review. Tom Hester supervised final production for printing, assisted by Jayne Robinson. The data were collected and processed by the Pretrial Services Resource Center under the supervision of Jolanta Juszkiewicz. Carma Hogue of the Economic Statistical Methods and Procedures Division, Bureau of the Census, assisted with sample design. Data presented in this report may be obtained from the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data at the University of Michigan, 1-800-999-0960. The report and data are available on the Internet at: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs Highlights 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 outcome Case processing statistics Sentencing Time from conviction to sentencing Type and length of sentence Prior record and felony sentencing Methodology Appendix ------------------------------------------- Highlights State Court Processing Statistics Every 2 years, as part of its State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) program, the Bureau of Justice Statistics tracks a sample of felony cases filed during the month of May in 40 of the Nation's 75 largest counties. The most recent SCPS study analyzed cases filed during May 1998. Trends in processing of felony defendants, 1990-98 Since 1990, the proportion of defendants charged with a violent offense has remained at about a fourth. From 1992 to 1998, the proportion of drug defendants increased from 30% to 37%. During this period, the percentage of defendants charged with a property crime decreased from 35% to 29%. The proportion of defendants charged with a public-order offense has remained at just under 1 in 10. In 1998, the percentage of defendants age 40 or older was 19%, nearly twice the 10% found in the 1990 study. During the same time, the percentage of defendants under age 25 decreased from 41% to 34%. The percentage of female defendants has increased from 14% in 1990 to 18% in 1998. In 1998, non-Hispanic blacks accounted for 45% of defendants, a slightly smaller percentage than in prior years. The percentage of non-Hispanic whites and Hispanics increased slightly, but still comprised roughly a fourth each. Since 1990, approximately 3 in 8 defendants have had an active criminal justice status at the time of arrest in each of the SCPS studies. In 1998, the percentage of defendants with a felony arrest record (60%) was the same as in 1996, but higher than in previous years when it averaged about 55%. The proportion of defendants with a felony conviction record, continuing a slightly upward trend, was 42% in 1998 -- up from 36% in 1990. Since 1990, the percentage of felony defendants released prior to case disposition has been fairly consistent, ranging from 62% to 65%, with 64% released in 1998. In 1998, for the first time, the proportion of releases accounted for by surety bond was greater than that accounted for by release on personal recognizance. From 1990 to 1998, the proportion of released defendants charged with misconduct such as failure to appear in court or rearrest has remained at just under a third. Failure-to-appear rates have held steady at about a fourth. After reaching a high of 61% in the 1994 study, the felony conviction rate fell to 55% in 1996, and 52% in 1998. This rate was similar to that found in 1992, and still slightly higher than the 50% felony conviction rate in the 1990 study. Sixty- eight percent of defendants were convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor in 1998, a lower percentage than in 1994 (72%), but higher than in 1990 (64%). For defendants convicted of a felony, sentences in 1998 (71%) were slightly more likely to involve incarceration than in 1996 (69%) and 1994 (68%). However, incarceration rates in the 1998 study were slightly lower than in 1990 (75%) or 1992 (74%). In 1998, a felony conviction was about as likely to result in a jail sentence as a sentence to prison. In 1990, a felony conviction was more likely to result in a sentence to prison (43%) than jail (32%). The use of probation as a sentence for felony convictions in 1998 occurred with about the same frequency as in 1996 and 1994, but more frequently than in 1990 or 1992. Felony defendants in large urban counties, 1998 Arrest charges An estimated 56,606 felony cases were filed in the State courts of the Nation's 75 largest counties during May 1998. About 1 in 4 defendants were charged with a violent offense, usually assault (12.2%) or robbery (6.1%). About 1 in 50 defendants were charged with murder (0.7%) or rape (1.3%). Two-thirds of defendants were charged with either a drug (37%) or property (29%) offense. Nearly half of drug defendants, 18% of defendants overall, were charged with drug trafficking. A majority of property defendants were charged with larceny/theft (9.9% of all defendants) or burglary (7.5%). About 1 in 10 defendants were charged with a public-order offense. Often these charges were driving-related (3.6%) or weapons- related (2.8%). Demographic characteristics Eighty-two percent of defendants were male, including 90% or more of those charged with rape (100%), a weapons offense (96%), a driving-related offense (91%), robbery (91%), or burglary (90%). Women accounted for about half of the defendants charged with fraud (52%), and about a third of those charged with forgery (36%), or larceny/theft (31%). Non-Hispanic Blacks comprised a majority of the defendants charged with a weapons offense (55%), murder (54%), or robbery (53%). Non-Hispanic Whites accounted for 40% of those charged with a driving-related felony. Half of defendants were under age 30. Eighteen percent were under age 21, including 34% of those charged with robbery and 29% of those charged with murder. Three percent of defendants were under age 18, including 11% of robbery defendants and 9% of murder defendants. Criminal history At the time of arrest, more than a third of defendants had an active criminal justice status such as probation (16%), release pending disposition of a prior case (14%), or parole (5%). Murder (45%), robbery (44%), and drug trafficking (43%) defendants were the most likely to have had a criminal justice status when arrested. Seventy-one percent of all defendants had been arrested previously, with 43% having at least five prior arrest charges. Sixty percent of defendants had a felony arrest record. Sixty-one percent of defendants had at least one prior conviction, including 42% with one or more felony convictions. Pretrial release and detention Thirty-six percent of all defendants were detained until the court disposed of their case, including 7% who were denied bail. Half or more of defendants charged with murder (87%), robbery (62%), rape (53%), burglary (50%), or motor vehicle theft (50%) were detained until case disposition. Defendants with an active criminal justice status (58%) were twice as likely to be detained until case disposition as those without such a status (29%). Defendants on parole (82%) were the most likely to be detained. Defendants were most likely to be released on commercial surety bond (36% of all releases), followed by release on personal recognizance (30%). The next most common types of pretrial release were conditional release (13%) and deposit bond (8%). An estimated 31% of released defendants committed one or more types of pretrial misconduct while in a release status. Twenty-four percent failed to appear in court as scheduled. Sixteen percent were rearrested for a new offense, including 10% for a felony. Adjudication About 3 in 10 defendants had their case adjudicated within 1 month of arrest, and more than half (54%) within 3 months. At the end of the 1-year study period, 90% of all cases had been adjudicated. Sixty-eight percent of the cases adjudicated within 1 year resulted in a conviction. Fifty-two percent of all defendants were convicted of a felony, and 15% of a misdemeanor. Felony conviction rates were highest for defendants originally charged with murder (68%) or drug trafficking (66%). Assault defendants (34%) had the lowest felony conviction rate. Nearly all (96%) convictions obtained during the 1-year study period were the result of a guilty plea. Nearly 4 in 5 guilty pleas were to a felony. Seventy- seven percent of trials resulted in a guilty verdict, including 83% of bench trials and 72% of jury trials. Sentencing About 3 in 5 convicted defendants were sentenced within 1 day of adjudication. About two-thirds of all sentences were either to prison (30%) or jail (38%). Two-thirds of all jail sentences included a probation term. Nearly all convicted defendants who did not receive an incarceration sentence were placed on probation. Thirty-six percent of the defendants convicted of a felony were sentenced to prison, including all of those convicted of murder. A majority of robbery (65%) and rape (60%) convictions also resulted in prison sentences. About three-fifths of those with multiple prior felony convictions (59%) were sentenced to prison following a felony conviction in the current case, compared to about a fifth of those with no prior felony convictions (21%). Excluding life sentences, the mean prison sentence for defendants convicted of a violent felony was about 9 years, and the median was 5 years. For those convicted of a nonviolent offense, the mean was about 4 years and the median, 21/2 years. Murder (38 years) and rape (10 years) convictions carried the longest median prison sentences. About 1 in 7 convicted murderers received a life sentence. ------------------------------------------------- State Court Processing Statistics Since 1988, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) has sponsored a biennial data collection on the processing of felony defendants in the State courts of the Nation's 75 most populous counties. Previously known as the National Pretrial Reporting Program, this data collection series was renamed the State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) program in 1994 to better reflect the wide range of data elements collected. The SCPS program collects data on the demographic characteristics, criminal history, pretrial processing, adjudication, and sentencing of felony defendants. The SCPS data do not include Federal defendants. The reader should refer to the annual BJS Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics for information on the processing of Federal defendants. The 1998 SCPS collected data for 15,909 felony cases filed during May 1998 in 40 large counties. These cases, which were tracked for up to 1 year, were part of a 2-stage sample that was representative of the estimated 56,606 felony cases filed in the Nation's 75 most populous counties during that month. A small number of cases (31 unweighted, 111 weighted) were omitted from the analysis because they could not be classified into one of the four major crime categories (violent, property, drug, public-order). In 1998, the 75 largest counties accounted for 37% of the U.S. population. According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports program for 1998, these jurisdictions accounted for 50% of all reported serious violent crimes in the United States, including 65% of all robberies. They accounted for 45% of all reported serious property crimes. According to the BJS National Judicial Reporting Program, 40% of all felony convictions in 1998 occurred in the 75 largest counties. For national estimates pertaining to felony convictions, see the BJS report Felony Sentences in State Courts, 1998. Arrest charges During May 1998, about a fourth of the felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were charged with a violent offense (24.0%). About half of those charged with a violent felony, 12.2% of defendants overall, faced assault charges, and about a fourth, 6.1% of defendants overall, were charged with robbery. Murder defendants comprised 3.0% of the defendants charged with a violent felony, and 0.7% of all felony defendants. Rape defendants accounted for 5.0% of the defendants charged with a violent felony, and 1.3% of all felony defendants (See Methodology for the specific crimes included in each offense category.) For about 3 in 8 defendants, the most serious arrest charge was a drug offense (37.1%). Nearly half (48%) of drug defendants were charged with drug trafficking. Overall, defendants were more likely to be charged with drug trafficking (17.7%) or other drug offenses (19.4%) than any other type of offense. About 3 in 10 felony defendants were charged with a property offense (29.3%). About a third of property defendants, 9.9% of defendants overall, were charged with larceny/theft offenses, and about a fourth, 7.5% overall, were charged with burglary. Defendants charged with a public-order offense comprised about a tenth (9.6%) of all defendants. Two-thirds of public-order defendants faced a weapons (2.8%) or driving-related (3.6%) charge. The percentage of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties facing a drug-related charge (37.1%) was about the same as in 1996 (36.8%), but significantly higher than the low of 30% in 1992. The percentage of property defendants in 1998 (29.3%) continued a trend of small decreases that have occurred since a high of 34.9% in 1992. The 1998 percentage of defendants (24%) charged with a violent offense was about the same as in 1996 (24.7%) and slightly lower than the maximum of 26.5% in 1992. More than half of all felony defendants (56%) faced at least one additional charge and 37% were charged with at least one additional felony. Defendants whose most serious charge was rape (73%) were the most likely to have been charged with one or more additional offenses. More than three-fifths of defendants whose most serious arrest charge was robbery (65%), forgery (65%), drug trafficking (64%), burglary (63%), or fraud (63%) were also charged with one or more additional offenses. Two-thirds of rape defendants faced at least 1 additional felony charge. About half of defendants charged with fraud (55%), robbery (54%), murder (53%), forgery (50%), drug trafficking (49%), or burglary (47%) also faced 1 or more additional felony charges. Two fifths of assault defendants and about a third of those charged with a weapons-related offense (35%) or motor vehicle theft (31%) faced multiple felony charges. Demographic characteristics Overall, 82% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were male. Men comprised the largest percentages among defendants charged with rape (100%), weapons offenses (96%), driving-related offenses (91%), robbery (91%), or burglary (90%). Women accounted for 18% of defendants, including about half of those charged with fraud (52%), and about a third of those charged with forgery (36%) or larceny/theft (31%). Without consideration of Hispanic origin, which was reported poorly in some jurisdictions (see Methodology), 57% of defendants were black, 41% were white, and 2% other races. Blacks comprised the largest percentages among defendants charged with weapons offenses (73%), robbery (70%), murder (68%), and drug trafficking (65%). Whites accounted for a majority of the defendants facing driving-related charges (58%). About a fourth of defendants were Hispanic (26%), including about a third of those charged with drug trafficking (32%). Non- Hispanic whites comprised about a fourth of defendants (27%), including two-fifths of those charged with a driving-related offense. Non-Hispanic blacks comprised 45% of defendants, including a majority of those charged with a weapons offense (55%), murder (54%), or robbery (53%). The average age of defendants at the time of arrest was 31 years. By specific offense, the average age ranged from 26 years for robbery defendants to 34 for those charged with a driving-related offense. Just over half of defendants charged with a violent offense (55%) were under age 30, as were about half of property (52%), drug (48%), and public-order (47%) defendants. About a tenth of robbery (11%) and murder (9%) defendants were under age 18. An estimated 19% of defendants were 40 or older, including about a fourth of those charged with a driving-related offenses (26%), rape (25%), fraud (25%), or a non-trafficking drug offense (24%). About half of robbery (53%), weapons (49%), and murder (47%) defendants were under age 25, compared to about a third of defendants overall (34%). Defendants charged with rape (25%), fraud (23%) or a driving-related offense (17%) were the least likely to be under age 25. Defendants charged with robbery (34%), murder (30%), motor vehicle theft (28%), or a weapons offense (28%) were more likely to be under age 21 than other defendants. Defendants charged with a driving-related offense (6%) or fraud (9%) were the least likely to be this young. Males formed a higher percentage of defendants under age 18 (90%) than of other age groups. The largest percentage of female defendants was in the 30 to 39 age group (22%). Sixty-six percent of the defendants under age 18 were black, compared to 61% or less in other age groups. Black males comprised the largest proportion of defendants in each age group. This effect was most pronounced in the under-age-18 category in which black males (62%) accounted for more than twice the percentage of white males (28%). It was least pronounced in the age 35 to 39 category, where black males (41%) accounted for a proportion of defendants much closer to that accounted for by white males (36%). Black females comprised a slightly higher percentage than white females in most of the age categories, but for no more than 13% of the defendants in any single age category. Criminal history Criminal justice status at time of arrest Thirty-seven percent of felony defendants had an active criminal justice status at the time of their arrest on the current felony charge. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, about a third had an active criminal justice status, ranging from more than two-fifths of murder (45%) and robbery (44%) defendants to a fourth of rape defendants (25%). Thirty-six percent of property defendants had a criminal justice status, including about two-fifths of defendants charged with motor vehicle theft (41%) or burglary (39%). Among property defendants, those charged with fraud (26%) were the least likely to have had an active criminal justice status at the time of arrest. Among drug defendants, 40% had a criminal justice status overall. Those charged with drug trafficking (43%) were more likely to have a criminal justice status than those charged with other drug offenses (36%). Forty-two percent of public-order defendants had an active criminal justice status at the time of the current arrest. This included 40% of those charged with a weapons offense, 33% of those charged with a driving-related offense, and 53% of those charged with other public-order offenses. Some defendants with a criminal justice status had more than one type of status. When just the most serious criminal justice status is considered, 16% of defendants were on probation, 14% had been released pending disposition of a previous case, and 5% were on parole at the time of the current arrest. Allowing for defendants with multiple types of criminal justice, 17% had been released on a prior case, 16% were on probation, and 5% were on parole. The percent of defendants on parole at the time of their current felony arrest ranged from 7% of those charged with a weapons of- fense to 1% of those with charged with fraud. Other offenses with at least 5% of the defendants on parole at the time of arrest included rape (6%), robbery (6%), burglary (6%), motor vehicle theft (6%), larceny/theft (5%), and drug trafficking (5%). The highest percentages of defendants on probation were among those charged with murder (21%), motor vehicle theft (20%), or a weapons offense (18%). Defendants charged with rape (10%), forgery (11%), assault (12%), or fraud (13%) were less likely to have been on probation at the time of arrest. Defendants charged with robbery (20%), drug trafficking (20%), or murder (18%) were the most likely to have been on release pending disposition of a prior case when they were arrested on the current felony charge. These defendants were about twice as likely as those charged with fraud (9%) or rape (8%) to have had such a status at the time of the current arrest. Prior arrests Seventy-one percent of all defendants had at least one prior felony or misdemeanor arrest. Defendants whose most serious current arrest charge was for a public-order (79%) or drug (75%) offense were more likely to have been previously arrested than those charged with a property (68%) or violent (67%) offense. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, murder (81%) and robbery (73%) defendants were more likely to have an arrest record those charged with assault (66%) or rape (61%). Among property defendants, those charged with motor vehicle theft (78%) or burglary (77%) were the most likely to have been arrested previously, followed by those charged with larceny/theft (66%) or forgery (65%). Defendants charged with fraud (53%) were the least likely among property defendants to have one or more prior arrests. Among public-order defendants, defendants charged with a driving-related felony (83%) were more likely to have an arrest record than those facing weapon charges (72%). Among defendants with an arrest record, about 7 in 8 had more than one prior arrest charge, and a majority had at least five. Overall, 62% of defendants had two or more prior arrest charges, and 43% had five or more. Defendants charged with a driving- related offense (56%) or burglary (51%) were the most likely to have 5 or more prior arrest charges, and those charged with fraud (22%) the least likely. Twenty-five percent of all defendants had 10 or more prior arrest charges. This included 33% of defendants charged with a driving-related offense, 31% of burglary defendants, 29% of defendants charged with drug trafficking, 28% of murder defendants, and 27% of robbery defendants. Two-thirds of defendants under age 18 had no previous arrests. This proportion dropped to just under half among defendants age 18 to 20, just under a third among those in the 21-to-24 age group, a fourth in the 25-to-29 age group, and about a fifth among those age 30 to 49. About a third of those age 50 or older had no arrest record. A fifth of the defendants age 18 to 20 had five or more prior arrests. This proportion rose to more than a third of defendants in the 21-to-24 age range, just under half in the 25-to-29 age range, and slightly more than half in the 30-to-49 age range. In the latter age range, defendants were more than twice as likely to have five or more prior arrests as no prior arrests. Among defendants with an arrest record, about 6 in 7 had been arrested at least once for a felony. Overall, three-fifths of defendants had a felony arrest record. Nearly half of all defendants had multiple prior felony arrest charges, including 25% with five or more. More than half of the defendants facing a current charge for a violent felony had been previously arrested for a felony, including 67% of murder defendants and 63% of robbery defendants. Thirty percent of robbery defendants had 5 or more prior felony arrest charges, including 12% with 10 or more. Fifty-seven percent of property defendants had 1 or more prior felony arrests. About two-thirds of those currently charged with motor vehicle theft (67%) or burglary (66%) had a prior felony arrest record, and about a third of these defendants had at least five prior felony arrest charges. Fifteen percent of burglary defendants and 13% of motor vehicle theft defendants had 10 or more. Sixty-four percent of drug defendants had at least one prior felony arrest charge, and 27% had five or more. Sixty-six percent of public-order defendants had been previously arrested for a felony, including 26% with five or more prior felony charges. Prior convictions Sixty-one percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were known to have at least one prior conviction for a misdemeanor or a felony. About three-fourths of those with a conviction record, accounting for 46% of defendants overall, had more than one prior conviction. Twenty-three percent of all defendants had five or more prior convictions. Among defendants charged with a violent offense, 57% had at least one prior conviction. Murder (70%), and robbery (63%) defendants were the most likely to have a conviction record, and rape defendants (51%) the least likely. About half of robbery and murder defendants had more than one prior conviction, and about a fourth had 5 or more. Fifty-seven percent of property defendants had been convicted previously, including 67% of burglary defendants. Fifty-four percent of burglary defendants had multiple prior convictions, including 29% with five or more. Nearly two-thirds of drug defendants had at least one prior conviction (64%). About half (49%) had two or more, and about a fourth (24%) had at least five. These percentages did not vary significantly by type of drug offense. Among public-order defendants, 70% had a conviction record, and 27% had five or more. Three-fourths of the defendants facing driving-related charges had at least one prior conviction of some type, and three- fifths had multiple prior convictions. About two-thirds of the defendants with a conviction record, 42% of defendants overall, had at least one prior conviction for a felony. Thirty-seven percent of defendants whose current charge was for a violent felony had previously been convicted of a felony. Among these defendants, the percentage with a prior felony conviction ranged from 54% among those charged with murder to 34% of those charged with assault. Forty percent of property defendants had a felony conviction record, including nearly half of those charged with motor vehicle theft (48%) or burglary (47%). Defendants charged with fraud (28%) were the least likely to have a prior felony conviction. Forty-four percent of the defendants whose most serious current arrest charge was for a drug offense had been previously convicted of a felony, There was no significant variation by type of drug offense. A majority of the defendants with a felony conviction record, 25% of defendants overall, had multiple prior felony convictions. Six percent of all defendants had five or more prior felony convictions. By specific offense, defendants charged with burglary (33%) or motor vehicle theft (30%) were the most likely to have multiple prior felony convictions. About 1 in 10 burglary defendants had five or more such convictions. Defendants charged with fraud (13%) were the least likely to have more than one prior conviction for a felony. Seventy-seven percent of defendants under age 18 at the time of the current arrest had no prior adult convictions. Seventeen percent of these defendants had been previously convicted of at least one felony. Five percent had at least one prior convic- tion for a misdemeanor, but none for a felony. In the 18-to-20 age range, 62% of defendants had no prior convictions, while 23% had at least one prior felony conviction. A majority of the defendants age 21 or older had a conviction record, and defendants ages 25 to 49 were more likely to have a felony conviction record than no prior convictions at all. About half of defendants age 30 to 49 had a felony conviction record. For nearly a third of the defendants with a prior felony conviction, 12% of defendants overall, their criminal history included at least one conviction for a violent felony. Fifteen percent of the defendants currently charged with a violent offense had a prior conviction for a violent felony. By specific arrest charge, the percentage of defendants previously convicted of a violent felony was highest among those charged with robbery (19%), a weapons offense (18%), rape (17%), burglary (16%), assault (15%) or murder (14%) (figure 9). Defendants charged with fraud (3%) or forgery (7%) were the least likely to have a prior conviction for a violent felony. The most serious prior conviction was a nonviolent felony for 40% of murder defendants. This was also the case for about a third of defendants charged with motor vehicle theft (36%), drug trafficking (35%), a driving-related offense (34%), burglary (31%), or a weapons offense (31%). Defendants charged with a driving-related offense (28%) were more likely than other defendants to have a conviction record that consisted only of misdemeanors. Pretrial release and detention Rates of release and detention An estimated 64% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were released prior to the final disposition of their case. By general offense category, defendants charged with a violent offense (54%) were less likely to be released than those whose most serious arrest charge was a public-order (69%), drug (68%), or property (66%) offense. Within the violent offense category, release rates varied greatly. Just 13% of murder defendants were released compared to 62% of those charged with assault. Forty-seven percent of rape defendants and 38% of robbery defendants were released before the court disposed of their case. Among defendants charged with a property offense, half of those charged with burglary or motor vehicle theft were released prior to case disposition. Higher proportions of those charged with fraud (84%), forgery (78%), or larceny/ theft (73%) were released. Among drug defendants, those charged with drug trafficking (63%) were less likely to be released than those charged with other drug offenses (72%). Among public-order defendants, those charged with a driving-related offense (78%) were the most likely to be released. Among the 37% of defendants who were detained in jail until case disposition, about 4 in 5 had a bail amount set but did not post the money required to secure release. Detained murder defendants were the exception to this rule; a majority of them, 47% of murder defendants overall, were ordered held without bail. Across all offense types, 7% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties were denied bail. A majority of the defendants released prior to case disposition, 34% of defendants overall, were released under financial conditions that required the posting of bail (see Methodology for definitions related to pretrial release). The most common type of financial release was surety bond (24% of all defendants and 36% of released defendants), which involves the services of a commercial bail bond agent. Other types of financial release were deposit bond (5% of all defendants and 8% of released defendants), full cash bond (3% and 5%), and property bond (2% and 3%). All of these types of bonds are posted directly with the court without the use of a bail bond agent. Just under half of released defendants, 30% of defendants overall, were released under nonfinancial conditions not requiring the posting of bail. Release on personal recognizance (18% of all defendants and 30% of released defendants), was the type of nonfinancial release used most. Other nonfinancial types of release included conditional release (8% of all defendants and 13% of released defendants), and release on unsecured bond (4% and 6%). A small number of defendants were released prior to case disposition as the result of an emergency release used to relieve jail crowding. Such releases did not involve the use of any of the release types mentioned above. Bail amounts Overall, 64% of felony defendants had a bail amount set by the court, and were required to post all or part of that amount to secure release while their case was pending. The remainder were granted nonfinancial release (30%), ordered held without bail (7%), or were part of an emergency release (less than 0.5%). Just under half of those with a bail amount had it set at $10,000 or more, and a fourth had it set at $25,000 or more. Among defendants with a bail amount set, those charged with a violent offense (40%) were about twice as likely as other defendants to have it set at $25,000 or more. About 9 in 10 murder defendants (91%) with a bail amount had it set at $25,000 or more, as did about two-thirds of rape defendants (67%) and about half of robbery defendants (53%). Among property defendants with a bail amount set, those charged with burglary (25%) were the most likely to have bail set at $25,000 or more. Among drug defendants, those charged with drug trafficking (26%) were about twice as likely to have bail set at $25,000 or more as other drug defendants (14%). Among public-order defendants, those charged with a weapons offense (24%) were more likely than those charged with a driving-related offense (14%) to have bail set this high. Overall, defendants who were detained until case disposition had a median bail amount 3 times that of defendants who secured release ($15,000 versus $5,000). The mean bail amount for detained defend- ants ($56,900) was about 5 times that of defendants who secured release ($11,300). Detained murder defendants had the highest median ($250,000) and mean ($529,200) bail amounts. Overall, the median bail amount for murder defendants was $250,000 and the mean was $441,600. Overall, about half (52%) of defendants who were required to post bail to secure release did so. About three-fourths of defendants with a bail set at under $5,000 (76%) posted the amount needed for release, as did about three-fifths of those with a bail amount of $5,000 to $9,999 (61%). In contrast, just 1 in 8 defendants with bail set at $50,000 or more (12%), and 1 in 4 defendants with a bail amount of $25,000 to $49,999 (27%) met the financial conditions required for release. Among defendants given financial release, the mean bail amount was higher for those released on surety ($13,300) or property ($12,800) bond, than for those released on full cash ($9,200) or deposit ($8,600) bond. The median bail amount was $5,000 for all types of financial release bonds except full cash ($2,500). Type of Bail amount release bond Median Mean Surety $5,000 $13,300 Deposit 5,000 8,600 Full cash 2,500 9,200 Property 5,000 12,800 Unsecured $5,000 $7,700 Unlike those released on full cash bond, defendants released on deposit bond generally posted 10% of the full bail amount with the court to secure release. However, they remained liable to the court for the full bail amount if they violated the terms of release. Those released on surety bond paid a similar fee to a bail bond agent, who assumed liability to the court for the full bail amount if the defendant violated the terms of release. Defendants released on an unsecured bond had a median bail amount of $5,000 and a mean bail amount of $7,700. These defendants did not have to post any of this amount, but like those on financial release, they were liable for the full bail amount if they violated the terms of release. Time from arrest to release Among defendants released prior to case disposition, 54% were released within 1 day of arrest, and 80% within 1 week. Nearly all releases during the 1-year study occurred within a month of arrest (94%). By general offense category, defendants charged with a violent offense (49%) were the least likely to be released within 1 day of arrest. Slightly more than half of those charged with a drug (53%), public-order (56%), or property (58%) offense were released this quickly. By specific offense, murder defendants typically waited the longest to be released. Just 7% of released murder defendants were released within 1 day of arrest, compared to 71% of those charged with fraud and 63% of those charged with charged with larceny/theft. After 1 month, just 32% of murder defend- ant releases had occurred, compared to nearly all 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. Criminal history and probability of release Court decisions about bail and pretrial release are primarily based on the judgment of whether a defendant will appear in court as scheduled and whether there is potential danger to the community from crimes that a defendant may commit if released. Many States have established specific criteria to be considered by the courts when setting release conditions. The SCPS data illustrate how release rates vary with some of these factors. For example, 71% of the defendants without an active criminal justice status when arrested for the current offense were released prior to case disposition, compared to 42% of those with such a status. Defendants on parole (18%) or with an open bench warrant (20%) at the time of arrest were the least likely to be released. This compared with 43% of those on probation and 55% of those released pending disposition of a prior case. Seventy-nine percent of the defendants with no prior arrests were released, compared to 54% of those who had been previously arrested. Among defendants with an arrest record, those who had never missed a court appearance (59%) had a higher probability of being released than those who had failed to appear at least once during a previous case (46%). About three-fourths of defendants without a prior conviction (77%) were released prior to disposition of the current case, compared to half of those with a conviction record. Among defendants with a conviction record, release rates ranged from 62% for those with a single prior conviction to 39% for those with five or more. Less than half of the defendants with one or more prior felony convictions (44%) were released prior to disposition of the current case, compared to about three-fifths of those whose prior convictions involved only misdemeanors (62%). Those with a prior conviction for a violent felony (39%) had a lower release rate than those whose most serious prior conviction was for a nonviolent felony (47%). Conduct of released defendants Among defendants who were released prior to case disposition, 31% committed 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. By original offense category, the proportion of defendants charged with pretrial misconduct was higher for drug defendants (38%) than for defendants charged with a property (29%), public- order (27%), or violent (24%) offense. By specific arrest offense, rates of pretrial misconduct were highest among defendants charged with drug trafficking (40%), motor vehicle theft (39%), or robbery (38%). Defendants whose most serious original arrest charge was fraud (12%) had the lowest misconduct rate. Failure to appear in court About three-fourths of the defendants who were released prior to case disposition made all scheduled court appearances (76%). Bench warrants for failing to appear in court were issued for the remaining 24% . Released drug defendants (30%) had the highest failure-to-appear rate followed by property defendants (24%). Lower percentages of defendants charged with public-order (18%) or violent (14%) offenses failed to appear in court as scheduled. Within the violent offense category, failure-to-appear rates were highest for defendants charged with robbery (21%). Nearly a fourth of the defendants who failed to appear in court, 5% of all defendants, were still fugitives at the end of the 1-year study period. The remainder were returned to the court (either voluntarily or not) before the end of the study. Defendants released after being charged with a drug offense (7%) were slightly more likely to be a fugitive after 1 year than defendants released after being charged with other offenses. No released murder defendants were in a fugitive status at the end of the 1-year study period. Rearrest for a new offense Overall, 16% of released defendants were rearrested for a new offense allegedly committed while they awaited disposition of their original case. Sixty-two percent of these defendants, 10% of all released defendants, were charged with a new felony. Sixty-two percent of the new felony arrests were for the same category of offense as the original charge, and 44% were for the same specific type of offense. By original arrest charge, released drug trafficking (25%) and robbery (24%) defendants had the highest pretrial rearrest rate. Defendants originally charged with fraud (3%) had the lowest. Defendants released after originally being charged with robbery (15%), drug trafficking (15%), or motor vehicle theft (14%) were the most likely to be rearrested for a new felony while in a release status. Adjudication Time from arrest to adjudication For 54% of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties, adjudication of their case occurred within 3 months of arrest, and 75% of cases were adjudicated within 6 months of arrest. By the end of the 1-year study period, 90% of all cases had been adjudicated. While the overall median time from arrest to adjudication was 79 days, it was about twice this long for rape defendants (163 days), and was more than a year for murder defendants. Defendants charged with motor vehicle theft had the shortest median time from arrest to adjudication (49 days). At the end of the 1-year study period, 61% of murder defendants were awaiting adjudi- cation of their case, compared to 20% of rape defendants, and no more than 12% of the defendants in any other offense category. For each offense other than murder (for which medians could not be calculated), and rape (where the times were about the same), the median time from arrest to adjudication was shorter for detained defendants than for those released pending case disposition. The median time from arrest to adjudi- cation was about 3 months longer for defendants released after being charged with motor vehicle theft, drug trafficking or a driving-related felony than for those detained. The difference was about 21/2 months among those charged with forgery or larceny/theft, and about 2 months among those charged with burglary, assault, or fraud. Excluding murder, the longest median time from arrest to adjudication among released defendants was for those charged with rape (163 days), followed by those charged with a driving-related offense (131 days), drug trafficking (128 days), or forgery (126 days). Detained defendants charged with motor vehicle theft (27 days) or fraud (28 days) had the shortest adjudication time. Adjudication outcome Sixty-eight percent of the defendants whose cases were adjudicated within 1 year of arrest were convicted. A majority of these convictions were for a felony, with 52% of defendants eventually convicted of a felony. About 6 in 10 defendants charged with a violent offense (59%) were eventually convicted of a felony or a misdemeanor, compared to about 7 in 10 defendants originally charged with a drug (72%), property (69%), or public-order (69%) offense. By specific type of arrest offense, the proportion of defendants convicted ranged from about three-fourths of those charged with drug trafficking (77%), forgery (75%), a driving-related offense (73%), or burglary (72%) to just over half of those charged with assault (54%). The probability of being convicted of a felony was highest for defendants whose most serious arrest charge was murder (68%) or drug trafficking (66%). The next highest felony conviction rates were for defendants charged with burglary (58%), a weapons offense (57%), or a driving-related offense (56%). The lowest felony conviction rate was for assault defendants (34%). In most cases where the defendant was not convicted, it was because the charges against the defendant were dismissed. An estimated 27% of all cases ended in this way, with about two-fifths of dismissals by the prosecutor and three-fifths by the court. Defendants charged with assault (41%) were the most likely to have their case dismissed, and those charged with fraud (18%) or drug trafficking (19%) the least likely. About 4% of cases had other outcomes such as diversion or deferred adjudication. Defendants charged with fraud (12%) were the most likely to have their case handled in this manner. Seventy-eight percent of the defendants who were detained until case disposition were eventually convicted of some offense, compared to 63% of those released pending disposition. Approximately two-thirds of detained defendants (67%) were convicted of a felony, compared to under half of released defendants (46%). Adjudication outcome was related to some extent to the number and type of the original arrest charges filed. Seventy-two percent of defendants who were originally charged with more than 1 felony were eventually convicted of some offense, compared to 65% of the defendants who had no additional felony charges. Sixty percent of defendants whose original arrest charges included more than one felony were eventually convicted of a felony compared to 48% of those with no additional felony charges. Among the defendants who had no additional felony charges, those who were charged with one or more misdemeanors (36%), were less likely to be convicted of a felony than those who had no additional charges (53%). Defendants with only one felony charge, but one or more additional misdemeanor charges, were about twice as likely as other defendants to eventually be convicted of a misdemeanor (29%). This almost always was the result of their pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge instead of the original felony charge. Overall, about two-thirds of defendants entered a guilty plea at some point, with 50% pleading guilty to a felony, and 15% to a misdemeanor. Two-thirds or more of defendants charged with drug trafficking (74%), forgery (72%), burglary (71%), a driving-related offense (70%), fraud (67%), or a weapons offense (66%) pleaded guilty to either a felony or a misdemeanor. Murder defendants (42%) had the lowest overall plea rate, with all of these pleas to a felony. Nearly two-thirds of defendants charged with drug trafficking (64%) pleaded guilty to a felony, as did a majority of those charged with burglary (57%), a weapons offense (55%), or a driving-related offense (53%). Assault defendants (32%) were the least likely to plead guilty to a felony charge. An estimated 4% of the cases adjudicated within 1 year went to trial. These trials were divided evenly between bench trials, decided by a judge, and jury trials. An estimated 77% of all trials ended with a guilty verdict, and 23% with an acquittal. Bench trials (83%) were more likely to result in a conviction than jury trials (72%); however, 65% of jury trials resulted in a felony conviction compared to 57% of bench trials. Percent of trials Type resulting in a conviction of trial Total Felony Misdemeanor Total 77% 61% 17% Bench 83 57 26 Jury 72 65 8 Twenty-eight percent of defendants facing murder charges went to trial, compared to no more than 8% of defendants charged with other offenses. Regardless of adjudication method, a majority of convicted defendants were convicted of the same felony offense as the original arrest charge. Among defendants arrested for murder and later convicted, 74% were convicted of murder. The corresponding percentages for other violent offenses were as follows: robbery (62%), rape (54%), and assault (51%). Among defendants originally charged with a property offense and later convicted, the percentages whose conviction offense corresponded with their most serious arrest charge were as follows: larceny/theft (69%), motor vehicle theft (67%), burglary (64%), forgery (62%), and fraud (56%). About three-fourths of defendants convicted after being charged with a weapon offense (78%), drug trafficking (74%), or a driving-related offense (72%) were convicted of that same offense. For most offenses a smaller percentage of defendants were in each felony conviction offense category than were in the original distribution by arrest charge. The biggest drop was in the violent felony category, which accounted for about 24% of all defendants by arrest charge, but just 13% of them by conviction charge. Much of this change can be accounted for by the fact that about 12% of all defendants were originally facing felony assault charges, but just 6% of all convictions were for such an offense. Overall, 23% of convicted defendants were convicted at the misdemeanor level, including 37% of those convicted after being originally charged with felony assault. Given arrest, slightly more than half of defendants whose most serious arrest charge was for drug trafficking (57%), a weapons offense (54%), or a driving- related offense (53%) were eventually convicted of that same offense. This was true for about half of murder defendants, and slightly less than half of the defend- ants originally charged with forgery (47%), burglary (46%), larceny/theft (45%), or motor vehicle theft (44%). Just 28% of defendants originally facing felony assault charges were eventually convicted of such an offense. Case processing statistics Among the approximately 50,000 cases with a known adjudication outcome that occurred within 1 year of arrest, about 32,500 were disposed by a guilty plea. About 3 in 10 pleas occurred within 1 month of arrest and 6 in 10 within 3 months of arrest. The next most common type of adjudication, dismissal of the charges against the defendant, occurred in about 13,600 cases. Nearly half (46%) of all dismissals occurred within the first month after arrest and 70% within 3 months. Trials occurred in about 1,900 cases. About 1 in 12 trials were completed within a month of arrest and about 1 in 4 within 3 months of arrest. Guilty pleas accounted for 96% of the 34,000 convictions obtained within 1 year of arrest. This included about 25,100 felony pleas and about 7,300 misdemeanor pleas. Twenty-six percent of the felony pleas occurred within 1 month of arrest, and 59% were obtained within 3 months of arrest. Thirty-six percent of the misdemeanor pleas were obtained with 1 month of arrest, and 66% within 3 months. Of the approximately 1,500 trial convictions obtained within 1 year, nearly all were for a felony, with about 300 trials resulting in a misdemeanor conviction. About a fourth of all trial convictions occurred within 3 months of arrest, and about two-thirds within 6 months of arrest. Sentencing Time from conviction to sentencing About 3 in 5 convicted defendants were sentenced within 1 day of adjudication. Defendants convicted of a misdemeanor (80%) were more likely to be sentenced this quickly than those convicted of a felony (57%). Sentencing after a felony conviction was most likely to occur within 1 day if the conviction was for a property (61%) or public-order (60%) offense. Defendants convicted of a violent offense (50%) were the least likely to be sentenced this quickly. Within the violent offense category, the proportion of convicted defendants sentenced within 1 day ranged from about a third of those convicted of murder to about half of those convicted of other violent felonies. With the exception of drug traffickers (48%), a majority of the defendants in other offense categories were sentenced within a day of conviction. Seventy-five percent of defendants convicted of a felony received their sentence within 30 days, compared to 85% of those convicted of a misdemeanor. About 9 in 10 defendants were sentenced within 60 days, including 92% of those convicted of a misdemeanor and 89% of those convicted of a felony. Type and length of sentence Sixty-eight percent of convicted defend- ants were sentenced to incarceration in a State prison or local jail. Seventy- one percent of defendants convicted of a felony were sentenced to incarceration, compared to 54% of those convicted of a misdemeanor. About half of incarceration sentences following a felony conviction, 36% of felony sentences overall, were to State prison. Fifteen percent of prison sentences included a probation term to be served after release. All murder convictions resulted in a prison sentence, as did a majority of robbery (65%) and rape (60%) convictions. Although less than half of defendants convicted of burglary (48%), drug trafficking (42%), felony assault (40%), or a weapons offense (36%) were sentenced to prison, a prison term was still more likely than a sentence to jail, probation, or fine. Nearly all incarceration sentences for misdemeanor convictions, 52% of all misdemeanor sentences, were to jail. Two-thirds of jail sentences included a probation term to be served in addition to the jail time. This was much more likely for defendants convicted of a felony (74%) than those convicted of a misdemeanor (42%). Among defendants who were convicted but not sentenced to incarceration, 98% of those convicted of a felony and 84% of those convicted of a misdemeanor received a probation term. Probation sentences may have included a fine, restitution, community service, treatment, or other conditions. Overall, 30% of convicted defendants received a sentence to probation without any incarceration. This included 29% of those convicted of a felony and 39% of those convicted of a misdemeanor. Defendants convicted of fraud (50%) were the most likely to be sentenced to probation. About two-fifths of defen- dants convicted of forgery (42%), and about a third of those convicted of a non-trafficking drug offense (35%), larceny/theft (34%), or a weapons offense (33%) received a probation term without incarceration. Two percent of defendants were fined but were not sentenced to a term of incarceration or probation. These fines may have been in addition to other court-ordered conditions. Among persons arrested and charged with a felony by the prosecutor, murder defend- ants had the highest probability of eventually being convicted and sentenced to prison (68%). The next highest probability of an eventual prison sentence was for defendants charged with robbery (39%) or drug trafficking (37%). About a third of defendants originally charged with rape (33%) or burglary (32%) were eventually convicted and sentenced to prison. Defendants originally charged with fraud (15%) were the least likely to eventually be sentenced to prison. Defendants originally charged with a driving-related offense (31%), or motor vehicle theft (30%) were the most likely to be eventually convicted and receive a jail sentence. No murder defendants were convicted and sentenced to jail. Half or more of defendants charged with murder (68%), drug trafficking (61%), robbery (57%), a driving-related offense (56%), burglary (55%) motor vehicle theft (53%), or rape (51%) were eventually convicted and sentenced to either prison or jail. Fraud (33%) defendants were the least likely to be eventually convicted and sentenced to some type of incarceration. Among defendants convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison, the mean sentence was 58 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 104 months and a median of 60 months), and those convicted of a public-order felony the shortest (a mean of 39 months and a median of 24 months). By specific conviction offense, murder- ers received the longest prison terms, a mean of 430 months and a median of 456 months. Next were defendants convicted of rape with a mean prison sentence of 188 months, and a median of 120 months. Median prison sentences for other felony convictions included 72 months for robbery, 45 months for assault, and 36 months for burglary, drug trafficking, weapons offenses, or forgery. Fourteen percent of all murder convictions resulted in a life sentence, compared to a maximum of 4% of the defendants convicted of any other offense. In addition to those receiving life sentences, 68% of the defendants convicted of murder were sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. About 1 in 3 rape convictions, 1 in 6 robbery convictions, and 1 in 8 felony assault convictions resulted in a prison term of more than 10 years. For defendants convicted of a felony and subsequently sentenced to jail, the mean jail term was 7 months and the median was 6 months. Misdemeanor convictions resulted in a mean jail term of 6 months and a median of 3 months. Excluding murder (for which all sentences were to prison), and rape (for which few cases resulted in a jail sentence), defendants sentenced to jail for robbery received the longest average sentence (a mean of 17 months and a median of 10 months). About two-thirds of all jail sentences were for a period of greater than 3 months. About 3 in 5 jail sentences following convictions for public-order felonies were for more than 3 months compared to about 3 in 4 sentences for other types of felonies. About 2% of all jail sentences for a felony conviction were for a period greater than 1 year, including 8% of those that followed a conviction for robbery. For defendants sentenced to probation without incarceration for a felony, the median sentence length was 36 months, compared to 24 months for a misdemeanor. Two percent of defendants convicted of a felony were given a probation term of greater than 5 years, including 5% of those sentenced for a violent felony. An estimated 24% of defendants sentenced to probation were also required to pay a fine. Some probation sentences were also supplemented by one or more special court-ordered conditions. For example, 22% of the defendants who received a probation sentence were required to perform a specified number of hours of community service work. Nineteen percent of offenders sentenced to probation were required to pay restitution, including 32% of those convicted for a property-related felony. Ten percent of probation sentences included a requirement that the defendant enter a treatment program. Defendants convicted of a drug-related felony (17%) were the most likely to have this requirement. Prior record and felony sentencing For defendants convicted of a felony on their current charge, the probability of receiving a sentence to incarceration was highest if they had multiple prior felony convictions (86%). A large majority of defendants with just one prior felony conviction (83%), or with only prior misdemeanor convictions (74%), were also sentenced to incarceration following a felony conviction in the current case. Just over half of those with no prior convictions of any type (55%) received an incarceration sentence for a felony conviction. Defendants with no prior convictions and whose current conviction was for a public-order (45%) or property (44%) offense were the least likely of all defendants convicted of a felony to be sentenced to incarceration. A majority (59%) of the defendants with more than one prior felony conviction were sentenced to prison for a new felony conviction. This included 69% of those whose current conviction was for a violent offense. Forty-five percent of the defendants with a single prior felony conviction were sentenced to prison following a felony conviction in the current case, including 64% of those convicted of a violent felony. Overall, less than a fourth of defendants without a prior felony conviction received a prison sentence for a felony conviction in the current case. How- ever, 37% of such defendants received a prison sentence when the current conviction was for a violent felony. Defendants with a prior conviction record consisting solely of misdemeanors who were convicted of a nonviolent felony in the current case were more likely than other defendants to receive a jail sentence (53%). Defendants with no prior convictions of any kind whose current conviction was for a property (54%) or public-order (53%) offense were the most likely to receive a probation sentence. Defendants convicted of a violent felony were much more likely to be sentenced to prison than jail or probation if they had at least one prior felony conviction. Those without a prior felony conviction were as likely to be sentenced to jail as prison. Among defendants convicted of a nonviolent felony, prison was the most likely sentence for those with multiple prior felony convictions. However, those with a single prior felony conviction were as likely to be sentenced to jail as prison. Jail was the most probable sentence for a nonviolent felony among defendants who had a prior conviction record that consisted of only misdemeanors. Probation was the most likely sentence if they had no conviction record at all. Methodology The SCPS sample was designed and selected by U.S. Census Bureau staff. It is a 2- stage stratified sample, with 40 of the 75 most populous counties selected at stage one and a systematic sample of State court felony filings (defendants) within each county selected at stage two. The 40 counties were divided into 4 first-stage strata based on court filing information obtained through a telephone survey. Twelve counties were included in the sample with certainty because of their large number of court filings. The remaining counties were allocated to the three noncertainty strata based on the variance of felony court dispositions. SCPS first-stage design Number of counties Stratum Sample Universe Weight One 12 12 1.00 Two 9 12 1.33 Three* 9 18 2.00 Four 10 33 3.30 *Data collection problems caused Fulton County (GA), which had been selected for stratum three in the 1998 SCPS sample, to be dropped from the study. Because this occurred at a date too late to allow for a substitution, the number of counties in stratum three was reduced from nine (as specified in the original design) to eight. This changed the first-stage weight for stratum three counties from 2.00 to 2.25. The second-stage sampling (filings) was designed to represent all defendants who had felony cases filed with the court during the month of May 1998. The participating jurisdictions provided data for every felony case filed on selected days during that month. Depending on the first-stage stratum in which it had been placed, each jurisdiction provided data for 5, 10, or 20 randomly selected business days' filings in May 1998. Data from jurisdictions that were not required to provide a full month of filings were weighted to represent the full month. SCPS second-stage design Number of days of filings Stratum provided Weight One 5 4.0 Two 10 2.0 Three 10 2.0 Four 20 1.0 Data on 15,909 sample felony cases were collected from the 40 sampled jurisdictions. This sample represented 56,606 weighted cases filed during May 1998 in the 75 most populous counties. A small number of cases (31 unweighted, 111 weighted) were omitted from the analysis because they could not be classified into one of the four major crime categories (violent, property, drug, public-order). This report is based on data collected from the following counties and independent cities: Alabama (Jefferson); Arizona (Maricopa, Pima); California (Alameda, Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Ventura); Florida (Broward, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough, Orange); Illinois (Cook, DuPage); Indiana (Marion); Kentucky (Jefferson); Maryland (Baltimore (city)), Montgomery); Michigan (Wayne); Missouri (Jackson, St. Louis); New York (Bronx, Erie, Kings, Monroe, New York, Queens, Suffolk); Ohio (Hamilton); Pennsylvania (Allegheny, Philadelphia); Tennessee (Shelby); Texas (Dallas, Harris); Washington (King); and Wisconsin (Milwaukee). Because the data came from a sample, a sampling error (standard error) is associated with each reported number. In general, if the difference between two numbers is greater than twice the standard error for that difference, we can say that we are 95% confident of a real difference and that the apparent difference is not simply the result of using a sample rather than the entire population. Race and Hispanic (Latino) origin Several jurisdictions did not provide complete reporting for defendants' Hispanic origin. As a result, the overall reporting level for race combined with Hispanic origin was 73%, compared to 86% for race alone. Because of this underreporting, the categories of race alone account for more defendants than the categories that include both race and Hispanic origin. A large preponderance of the defendants with a Hispanic origin were white, although the category includes all races. Offense categories Felony offenses were classified into 16 categories for this report. These were further classified into the four major crime categories of violent, property, drug, and public-order. The following listings are a representative summary of the crimes in each category; however, these lists are not meant to be exhaustive. All offenses, except for murder, include attempts and conspiracies to commit. Within the property offense category, the offense categories of motor vehicle theft, forgery, and fraud are new for 1998. Violent offenses Murder -- Includes homicide, nonnegligent manslaughter, and voluntary homicide. Does not include attempted murder (classified as felony assault), negligent homicide, involuntary homicide, or vehicular manslaughter, which are classified as other violent offenses. Rape -- Includes forcible intercourse, sodomy, or penetration with a foreign object. Does not include statutory rape or nonforcible acts with a minor or someone unable to give legal consent, nonviolent sexual offenses, or commercialized sex offenses. Robbery -- Includes the unlawful taking of anything of value by force or threat of force. Armed, unarmed, and aggravated robbery, car-jacking, armed burglary, and armed mugging are included. Assault -- Includes aggravated assault, aggravated battery, attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, felony assault or battery on a law enforcement officer, and other felony assaults. Does not include extortion, coercion, or intimidation. Other violent offenses Includes vehicular manslaughter, involuntary manslaughter, negligent or reckless homicide, nonviolent or non-forcible sexual assault, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, child or spouse abuse, cruelty to a child, reckless endanger- ment, 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. Does not include possession of burglary tools, trespassing, or unlawful entry for which the intent is not known. Larceny/theft -- Includes grand theft, grand larceny, and any other felony theft, including burglary from an automobile, theft of rental property, and mail theft. Does not include motor vehicle theft, receiving or buying stolen property, fraud, forgery, or deceit. Motor vehicle theft -- Includes auto theft, conversion of an automobile, receiving and transferring an automobile, unauthorized use of a vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle, larceny or taking of an automobile. Forgery -- Includes forging of a driver's license, forging official seals, notes, money orders, credit or access cards or names of such cards or any other documents with fraudulent intent, uttering a forged instrument, counterfeiting, forgery. Fraud -- Includes possession and passing of worthless checks or money orders, possession of false documents or identification, embezzlement, obtaining money by false pretenses, credit card fraud, welfare fraud, Medicare fraud, insurance claim fraud, fraud, swindling, stealing a thing of value by deceit, larceny by check. Other property offenses -- Includes receiving or buying stolen property, arson, reckless burning, damage to property, criminal mischief, vandalism, criminal trespassing, possession of burglary tools, and unlawful entry. 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 -- Includes driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, driving with a suspended or revoked license, and any other felony in the motor vehicle code. Other public-order offenses -- Includes flight/escape, parole or probation violations, prison contraband, habitual offender, obstruction of justice, rioting, libel, slander, treason, perjury, prostitution/pandering, bribery, and tax law violations. Terms related to pretrial release Released defendant -- Includes any defendant who was released from custody prior to the disposition of his or her case by the court. Includes defendants who were detained for some period of time before being released and defendants who were returned to custody after being released because of a violation of the conditions of pretrial release. The terms "on pretrial release" and "released pending disposition" are both used in this report to refer to all released defendants. Detained defendant -- Includes any defendant who remained in custody from the time of arrest until the disposition of his or her case by the court. This report also refers to detained defendants as "not released." Failure to appear -- Occurs when a court issues a bench warrant for a defendant's arrest because he or she has missed a scheduled court appearance. Types of financial release Surety bond -- A bail bond company signs a promissory note to the court for the full bail amount and charges the defendant a fee for the service (usually 10% of the full bail amount). If the defendant fails to appear, the bond company is liable to the court for the full bail amount. Frequently the bond company requires collateral from the defendant in addition to the fee. Deposit bond -- The defendant deposits a percentage (usually 10%) of the full bail amount with the court. The percentage of the bail is returned after the disposition of the case, but the court often retains a small portion for administrative costs. If the defendant fails to appear in court, he or she is liable to the court for the full amount of the bail. Full cash bond -- The defendant posts the full bail amount in cash with the court. If the defendant makes all court appearances, the cash is returned. If the defendant fails to appear in court, the bond is forfeited. Property bond -- Involves an agreement made by a defendant as a condition of pretrial release requiring that property valued at the full bail amount be posted as an assurance of his or her appearance in court. If the defendant fails to appear in court, the property is forfeited. Also known as "collateral bond." Types of nonfinancial release Release on recognizance (ROR) -- The court releases the defendant on a signed agreement that he or she will appear in court as required. In this report, the ROR category includes citation releases in which arrestees are released pending their first court appearance on a written order issued by law enforcement or jail personnel. Unsecured bond -- The defendant pays no money to the court but is liable for the full amount of bail should he or she fail to appear in court. Conditional release -- Defendants are released under specified conditions. If monitoring or supervised is required, this usually done by a pretrial services agency. In some cases, such as those involving a third-party custodian or drug monitoring and treatment, another agency may be involved in the supervision of the defendant. Conditional release sometimes includes an unsecured bond. Other type of release Emergency release -- Defendants are released in response to a court order placing limits on a jail's population. End of file 10/26/01 ih