Subject: Tracking Offenders

 
TRACKING OFFENDERS
 
     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Felony case processing data from eight
states revealed that of the almost 600,000 alleged felons whose cases
were disposed of during 1988, 81 percent were prosecuted, 59 percent
were convicted and 39 percent were sentenced to a jail or prison term,
according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics study released today.  The
findings are based on criminal case information the states voluntarily
send to the Bureau, which is a U.S. Department of Justice agency in
the Office of Justice Programs.
 
     "The prosecution rates ranged from 90 percent of those
arrested for homicides to 64 percent of those arrested for motor
vehicle thefts," said Bureau Director Steven D. Dillingham.  "The
conviction rates for those prosecuted varied by crime.  For example,
considering only those who were prosecuted, 76 percent of the people
arrested for homicide and 79 percent of those arrested for burglary
were convicted, whereas 59 percent of the people arrested for assault
were convicted."
 
     The eight states that provided complete data from arrest
through sentencing were Alaska, California, Kentucky, Minnesota,
Missouri, New York, Oregon and Pennsylvania.  Six additional
states--Alabama, Delaware, Nebraska, Utah, Vermont and Virginia also
provided felony case data that followed people after the initiation of
criminal prosecution.
 
     Of the 536,708 prosecutions in the 14 states, almost one in
four resulted in a court dismissal, and slightly less than three in
four ended in a conviction.  One percent of the prosecutions resulted
in acquittals, and 5 percent resulted in other dispositions that were
not convictions.
 
     More than six in ten of those convicted in the 14 states were
sentenced to a term in a prison or jail.  Among those convicted of
homicide, 88 percent were sentenced to incarceration as were 79
percent of those convicted of a rape or robbery and 78 percent of
those convicted of burglary.
 
     Eighty-six percent of the people arrested for felonies were
male, 61 percent were white, and 61 percent were younger than 30 years
old.  Among those arrested for a violent felony, 51 percent were
white, 48 percent were black and 1 percent were of other races--
Native Americans, Asians and Pacific Islanders.
 
     Single copies of the Bureau of Justice Statistics bulletin,
"Tracking Offenders, 1988" (NCJ-129861), as well as other Bureau of
Justice Statistics publications and statistical information, may be
obtained from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Box
6000, Rockville, MD 20850.  The telephone number is 1-301-251-5500.
The toll-free number from areas other than Maryland and metropolitan
Washington, D.C., 1-800-732-3277.