Prison Population in the U.S.

According to the press release, the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported that for the first time since it started to collect data in 1980 the adult prison population in the United States is down, as shown by the numbers for 2009.  Could this be a sign of a step in the right direction?

Although comparatively small, decreases in the probation population (down by 40,079 offenders) and the parole population (down by 5,526 offenders) were the first observed decreases since BJS began annual data collections on these populations in 1980. At yearend 2009, 4,203,967 adults were on probation, and 819,308 were under parole or other post-custody supervision.

While more than half of states reported decreases in admissions to prison, California reported the largest decline (11,122 fewer admissions), which was about four times the decline reported in any other state. The decrease in admissions in California was led by a drop in the number of parole violators returned to prison (down 9,668).

Related Statistical Reports:
Correctional Populations in the United States, 2009
This report presents data on the number of adults under some form of correctional supervision in the United States, including probation, parole, and jail and prison incarceration, at the end of 2009.

Probation and Parole in the United States, 2009
This report presents data on the number of adults under community supervision (parole and probation) at the end of 2009.

Prisoners in 2009
This annual report presents data on the number of prisoners under jurisdiction of federal or state correctional authorities as of the end of 2009.

Federal Justice Statistics 2008

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) published the Federal Justice Statistics - 2008 statistical tables.  They are  now available in PDF or as a spreadsheet.

[It] describes criminal case processing in the federal justice system, including arrest and booking through sentencing and corrections. These statistical tables present the number of suspects arrested and booked by the U.S. Marshals Services, suspects in matters investigated and prosecuted by U.S. attorneys, defendants adjudicated and sentenced in U.S. district court, and characteristics of federal prisoners and offenders under federal supervision.

FBI Releases Hate Crime Statistics for 2009

The FBI released the 2009 Hate Crime Statistics. The report including the background, collection design, data provided and participation is now available only on the FBI website.  A printable version is also available; however, according to the release, printed copies of the publication are no longer available.

[The statistics indicated that] 6,604 criminal incidents involving 7,789 offenses were reported as a result of bias toward a particular race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity/national origin, or physical or mental disability.  

FBI Releases 2009 Bank Crime Statistics

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released the bank crime statistics for the year 2009. You can read the release here and you access the report here.

The FBI released bank crime statistics for calendar year 2009. Between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2009, there were 5,943 robberies, 100 burglaries, and three extortions of financial institutions reported to law enforcement. The total 6,065 reported violations represents a decrease from 2008 during which 6,857 violations of the Federal Bank Robbery and Incidental Crimes Statute were reported.

These statistics were recorded as of February 22, 2010. Note that not all bank crimes are reported to the FBI, and therefore the report is not a complete statistical compilation of all bank cries that occurred in the United States.

Computer Use In the United States 2009

U.S. Census Bureau compiles data on the computer use and ownership in the United States. The most recent results available are compiled to the date of October 2009.

2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report: Consumer Version

2010 Identity Fraud Survey Report: Consumer Version is available. The Industry Version is available for purchase.

More than 11 million adult consumers became victims of identity fraud in 2009, up from nearly 10 million in 2008. The number of fraud victims rose for the second year in a row. On the other hand, victims’ out‐of‐pocket costs and the time required to resolve fraud have decreased. Out‐of‐pocket costs can include unreimbursed losses, lost wages due to time taken off work, and possible legal fees for those victims attempting to prosecute. Banks have stepped up their efforts in counteracting fraud and minimizing the cost and inconvenience suffered by consumers. Most victims don’t experience any out‐of‐pocket costs, but those who did suffered an average cost of $373. The average time to resolve the fraud for these victims was 21 hours. Due to the zero‐liability fraud protection offered by most banks and credit card companies, most victims will only have to pay out‐of‐pocket expenses to cover their time in resolving fraud, not for reimbursing fraudulent charges.

U.S. International Trade In Goods and Services, December 2009

U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released the U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, December 2009 report.

BJS Redesigned Its Website

We have featured statistical reports made available via the Bureau of Justice Statistics website; though we have not pointed out that the entire website has undergone a redesigned. The cleaner look makes it much easier for users to navigate through the realm of information.

Some of the most recent releases include:
National Corrections Reporting Program:

Updates the electronic series of selected tables on most serious offense, sentence length, and time served of state prison admissions and releases and parole entries and discharges. It collects demographic information, conviction offenses, sentence length, credited jail time, type of admission, type of release, and time served from individual prisoner records in participating jurisdictions.

HIV in Prisons, 2007-2008

The report provides data on the number of female and male prisoners who were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or had confirmed AIDS. Findings include the number of AIDS-related deaths in state and federal prisons, a profile of those inmates who died in state prison, and a comparison of AIDS rates between prison inmates and the general population. The report also covers the circumstances under which inmates were tested for HIV.

Sexual Victimization In Juvenile Facilities Reported By Youth, 2008-2009

The Bureau of Justice Statistics, Office of Justice Programs, published a recent report on the Sexual Victimization In Juvenile Facilities Reported By Youth, 2008-2009.

Presents data from the 2008-09 National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC), conducted in 195 juvenile confinement facilities between June 2008 and April 2009, with a sample of over 9,000 adjudicated youth. The report provides national-level and facility-level estimates of sexual victimization by type of activity, including youth-on-youth sexual contact, staff sexual misconduct, and level of coercion. It also includes an analysis of the experience of sexual victimization, characteristics of youth most at risk to victimization, where the incidents occur, time of day, characteristics of perpetrators, and nature of the injuries. Finally, it includes estimates of the sampling error for selected measures of sexual victimization and summary characteristics of victims and incidents. The report and appendix tables provide a listing of results for sampled state and large locally or privately operated facilities, as required under the Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (P.L. 108-79). Facilities are listed alphabetically by state with estimated prevalence rates of sexual victimization as reported by youths during a personal interview and based on activity in the 12 months prior to the interview or since admission to the facility, if shorter.

2009 Year-End Report On the Federal Judiciary

Chief Justice John Roberts issued the 2009 Year-End Report on the Federal Judiciary, stating:

The courts are operating soundly, and the nation’s dedicated federal judges are conscientiously discharging their duties....

The report includes an Appendix listing and discussing the workload statistics for the United States Supreme Court, the Federal Courts of Appeals, the Federal District Courts, the Bankruptcy Courts, and the Federal Probation and Pretrial Service Systems.

Crime In The United States

The Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, posted Preliminary Semiannual Uniform Crime Report for the months of January to June of 2009.

Preliminary figures indicate that, as a whole, law enforcement agencies throughout the Nation reported a decrease of 4.4 percent in the number of violent crimes brought to their attention for the first six months of 2009 when compared with figures reported for the same time in 2008. The violent crime category includes murder, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The number of property crimes in the United States from January to June of 2009 decreased 6.1 percent when compared with data from the same time period in 2008. Property crimes include burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Arson is also a property crime, but data for arson are not included in property crime totals. Figures for 2009 indicate that arson decreased 8.2 percent when compared to 2008 figures from the same time period.

New Releases from Bureau Of Justice Statistics

The following are some of the new releases by the Bureau Of Justice Statistics (BJS).

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2009

Presents data on crime and safety at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, and principals. A joint effort by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics, this annual report examines crime occurring in school as well as on the way to and from school.

Prisoners In 2008

This report presents data on prisoners under jurisdiction of federal or state correctional authorities on December 31, 2008, collected from the National Prisoner Statistics series. This annual report compares changes in the prison population during 2008 to changes from year end 2000 through year end 2007. These are the only comprehensive national-level data on prison admissions and releases. Findings cover data on decreasing growth in state and federal prisons through declining admissions and increasing releases; imprisonment rates for prisoners sentenced to more than 1 year by jurisdiction; the number of males and females in prison; age, race, and gender distributions; the number of inmates in custody in state and federal prison and local jails; and custody incarceration rates.

Probation and Parole In the United States, 2008

This report presents the number of adults under community supervision (probation or parole) at year end 2008 and the growth rates in these populations during the year and since 2000. The report examines factors associated with changes in the probation and parole populations, such as the number of entries and exits, the rate at which probationers and parolees exit supervision, changes in the populations within jurisdictions, and compositional changes in both populations.

Jails In Indian Country, 2008

Presents findings from the 2008 Survey of Jails in Indian Country, an enumeration of 82 jails, confinement facilities, detention centers, and other facilities operated by tribal authorities or the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The report includes data on the number of adults and juveniles held, type of offense, number of persons confined on the last weekday of each month, average daily population, peak population, and admissions in June 2008.

HIV In Prisons, 2007-08

Presents year end 2007 and 2008 data from the National Prisoner Statistics and the Deaths in Custody series, including data on the number of female and male prisoners who were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or had confirmed AIDS. Findings include the number of AIDS-related deaths in state and federal prisons, a profile of those inmates who died in state prison, and a comparison of AIDS rates between prison inmates and the general population.

Capital Punishment, 2008 - Statistical Tables

Presents characteristics of persons under sentence of death on December 31, 2008, and persons executed in 2008. Preliminary data on executions by states during 2009 are included. Tables present state-by-state information on the movement of prisoners into and out of death sentence status during 2008, status of capital statutes, and methods of execution. Numerical tables also summarize data on offender characteristics such as gender, race, Hispanic origin, age at time of arrest for capital offense, legal status at time of capital offense, and time between imposition of death sentence and execution.

2008 Emissions of Greenhouse Gases In the US

The December 2009 report on Emissions of Greenhouse Gases in the United States for the year 2008 is available.

This report—the seventeenth annual report—presents the Energy Information Administration’s latest estimates of emissions for carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and other greenhouse gases. Documentation for these estimates is available online at www.eia.doe. gov/oiaf/1605/ggrpt.

Changing Face of Labor 1983-2008 Report

Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), John Schmitt and Chris Warner published November 2009 report titled Changing Face of Labor 1983-2008.

Over the last quarter century, the unionized workforce has changed dramatically. In 1983, over half of all union workers were white men, few union workers had a college degree, and almost one-third were in manufacturing. In 1983 – the earliest year for which comparable data are available – over half (51.7 percent) of the unionized workforce were white men. Today, white men account for only about 38 percent of union workers. In the intervening years, the shares of women, Latinos, and Asian Pacific Americans in the total union workforce have surged, while African Americans have held a roughly steady share of the union workforce.

In this report, we review consistent, nationally representative data for the last quarter century on the composition of the unionized work force. For key demographic groups, we first provide a detailed picture of current union composition and document how these patterns have changed since 1983, when the government first began collecting systematic annual data on workers’ union status. We then compare these trends for union workers with those in the U.S. workforce as a whole. Finally, for each group, we present trends in the unionization rate (the share of workers in each group who are a member of, or represented by, a union) over the period 1983-2008.

Public Defender Offices 2007 statistics

The U.S. Department of Justice the Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics published the 2007 Statistical Tables on Public Defender Offices.

[The report] examines offices that provide representation for indigent defendants through a salaried staff of full-time or part-time attorneys who are employed as direct government employees or through a public, nonprofit organization. Public defender offices are categorized according to whether they are principally funded and administered at the state government level, county level, or through a combination of county and state government. Topics include public defender office staffing, caseloads, expenditures, and standards and guidelines used by the nearly 1,000 public defender offices found across 49 states and the District of Columbia.

The site provides information about the source data and offers the report in Adobe PDF, ASCII file or the Spreadsheet formats.

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction - Annual Report 2009

The 2009 Annual Report is available in 15 languages.

In this publication the reader will find the latest facts, figures and trends on drugs in Europe, collected in the annual report of the EU drugs agency, the EMCDDA. The report offers an overview of the drug situation across the 27 EU Member States, Croatia, Turkey and Norway, and details the current legal, political, social and health responses.

Tort Bench and Jury Trials in State Courts, 2005

U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics has posted a statistical addition covering the tort bench and jury trials in state courts in 2005.

[The report] discusses tort cases concluded by a bench or jury trial in a national sample of jurisdictions in 2005. Topics include the types of tort cases that proceed to trial, the differences between tort cases adjudicated by judges and juries, and the types of plaintiffs and defendants represented in tort trials. The report also covers plaintiff win rates, punitive damages, and the final award amounts generated in tort trial litigation. Lastly, trends are examined in tort trial litigation in the nation’s 75 most populous counties, based on comparable data in 1996, 2001, and 2005.

Statistical Reports of the U.S. Courts

The U.S. Courts website includes a page listing various statistical reports.

• Annual Report of the Director: Judicial Business of the United States (available online since 1997)
• Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act Statistics (tables are available for 2008 calendar year)
• Bankruptcy Statistics (Some tables date back to 1990s. Additional statistics are available via PACER.)
• Federal Court Management Statistics (available online since 1997)
• Federal Judicial Caseload Statistics (available online since 2001)
• Judicial Facts and Figures (available online since 2005 and now including caseload statistics and judgeship totals for fiscal year 2008)
• Statistical Tables for the Federal Judiciary (available online since 2001)
• Wiretap Reports (available online since 1997)

2009 Global Fraud Report

The 2009/2010 annual edition of Global Fraud Report is available.

Kroll commissioned The Economist Intelligence Unit to conduct a worldwide survey on fraud and its effect on business during 2009. A total of 729 senior executives took part in this survey. A little over a third of the respondents were based in North and South America, 25% in Asia-Pacific, just over a quarter in Europe and 11% in the Middle East and Africa. Ten industries were covered, with no fewer than 50 respondents drawn from each industry. The highest number of respondents came from the financial services industry (12%). A total of 46% of the companies polled had global annual revenues in excess of $1billion. This report brings together these survey results with the experience and expertise of Kroll and a selection of its affiliates. It includes content written by The Economist Intelligence Unit and other third parties.

Children's Exposure To Violence: A Comprehensive National Survey

October 2009 issue of the Juvenile Justice Bulletin features the 2009 National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence.

[The survey] was sponsored by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) and supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Conducted between January and May 2008, it measured the past-year and lifetime exposure to violence for children age 17 and younger across several major categories: conventional crime, child maltreatment, victimization by peers and siblings, sexual victimization, witnessing and indirect victimization (including exposure to community violence and family violence), school violence and threats, and Internet victimization.

The survey confirms that most of our society’s children are exposed to violence in their daily lives. More than 60 percent of the children surveyed were exposed to violence within the past year, either directly or indirectly.