Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties

U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics

Revised 7/15/2010

Bureau of Justice Statistics

BULLETIN

May 2010, NCJ 228944

State Court Processing Statistics, 2006

Felony Defendants in Large Urban
Counties, 2006
Thomas H. Cohen, J.D., Ph.D. and
Tracey Kyckelhahn, M.A.
BJS Statisticians

I

n the nation’s 75 largest counties, an estimated
58,100 defendants were charged with a felony
offense in May 2006. About two-thirds of these
felony defendants were charged with a drug or
property offense, while 23% had charges for violent
offenses, such as murder, rape, robbery, or aggravated assault (table 1).

These are some of the findings from the 2006 State
Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) data collection
program. Since 1988 the Bureau of Justice Statistics
has sponsored a biennial collection of data on felony cases processed in state courts in the nation’s
75 largest counties. SCPS collects data on the demographic characteristics, criminal history, pretrial
processing, adjudication, and sentencing of felony
defendants. Federal defendants and defendants
charged with misdemeanor crimes are not included
in SCPS data (although outcomes of felony cases in
which charges were reduced to misdemeanors are
included in some tables).

Figure 1.
Typical outcome of 100 felony defendants arraigned in state courts
in the 75 largest counties, May 2006
Arraignment

Prosecution

100 felony defendants

8 diversion or other outcome
23 dismissed
69 prosecuted

Pre-trial
release
58 released

Conviction and sentencing

42 detained

4 trials

65 guilty pleas

68 convicted
56 felony
11 misdemeanor
24 prison

1 acquittal

3 convictions

24 jail
17 probation

Note: Typical outcome based on the percentage reported for key measures in
Tables 5 and 11. Numbers may not add to expect totals because of rounding.

3 other

Highlights
• About a fourth of felony defendants were charged with a violent offense in 2006.
• Forty-three percent of felony defendants had at least one prior
felony conviction.
• Nearly 60% of felony defendants were released prior to adjudication. The percentage of defendants released pretrial has
remained relatively stable since 1990.
• The most common form of pretrial release was through commercial surety bond. Since 1998, most pretrial releases of state
court felony defendants have been under financial conditions
requiring the posting of bail.

• About a third of released defendants committed some form of
pretrial misconduct including 18% who were re-arrested for a
new offense committed while they awaited disposition of their
case.
• Sixty-eight percent of felony defendants were eventually convicted, and 95% of these convictions occurred through a guilty
plea.
• A majority (72%) of convicted defendants were convicted of
the felony offense with which they were originally charged.
• Seventy percent of defendants convicted of a felony were sentenced to incarceration in a state prison or local jail.

For a list of publications in this series, go to http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbse&sid=27.

Trends 1990-2006

Two-thirds of felony defendants were charged
with drug or property crimes

Figure 2.
Most serious arrest charge of felony defendants in the
Between 1994 and 2006, drug defendants com- 75 largest counties, 1990 to 2006
prised the largest group of felony cases in the 75 Percent of defendants
largest counties, ranging from 34% to 37% (figure 40
Drug
2). Property defendants accounted for 29% to 31% 35
of felony cases during this period. From 1990 to
2006, the percentage of felony defendants charged 30
Property
with a violent offense declined from 27% to 23%,
25
while those charged with a public-order offense
Violent
increased from 7% to 11%.
20

The proportion of felony defendants over age
40 rose from 1990 through 2006
The proportion of defendants age 40 or older rose
from 10% in 1990 to 26% in 2006 (figure 3). After
1996 about a third of defendants were under age 25,
a smaller proportion than from 1990 to 1994, when
about two-fifths of defendants were this young.

More felony defendants have prior felony
arrest or conviction records
The percentage of defendants with one or more
prior felony arrests rose to 64% in 2006, continuing
an upward trend that began after 1992 when 55%
had a felony arrest record (not shown). The percentage with a felony conviction record also
increased from 36% in 1990 to 43% in 2006.

15
10

Public-order
5
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006

Figure 3.
Age at arrest of felony defendants in the 75 largest
counties, 1990 to 2006
Percent of defendants
50
25-39
40
Under 25

30
40 or older
20

Surety bond surpassed release on
recognizance in 1998 as the most common
type of pretrial release
From 1990 to 2002 the percentage of felony defendants released prior to case disposition remained
fairly consistent, ranging from 62% to 64% (not
shown). After 2002 there was a slight decline to 58%
of defendants released before case disposition. A
more pronounced trend was observed in the type of
release used (figure 4). From 1990 through 1994,
release on recognizance (ROR) accounted for 42%
of releases, compared to 24% released on surety
bond. From 2002 through 2006, surety bonds were
used for 42% of releases, compared to 26% for ROR.

Overall conviction rates remained relatively
stable at 68% from 2002 to 2006
The overall proportion of felony defendants convicted of a felony or convicted of charges reduced to
a misdemeanor remained at approximately twothirds of all felony defendants (not shown). Similarly, the incarceration rate for defendants convicted
of a felony remained relatively stable, ranging from
70% in 1994 to 77% in 1998.

10
0
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998

Figure 4.
Type of pretrial release of felony defendants in the
75 largest counties, 1990 to 2006
Percent of defendants
50

40

Surety bond

30
ROR-citation release
20

Conditional

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Deposit bail

10
Unsecured bond
0
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998

2

2000 2002 2004 2006

Full cash bond

2000 2002 2004 2006

Felony case
processing, 2006

Nearly a fourth of felony defendants were
charged with violent offenses in 2006
The 2006 SCPS collected case processing data for
16,211 defendants charged with a felony during
May 2006 in 39 counties. These cases were part of
a two-stage sample that was representative of the
estimated 58,100 felony defendants whose cases
were processed in the 75 largest counties during
that month. In 2006, 37% of the U.S. population
resided in these counties. According to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform Crime Report,
these same counties also accounted for 49% of all
serious violent crimes and 41% of all serious property crimes reported in the United States.
During May 2006 an estimated 13,295 felony
defendants were charged with a violent offense in
the nation's 75 largest counties (23% of all felony
defendants) (table 1). About half of those faced

assault charges, and about a fourth were charged
with robbery. Murder defendants comprised 3% of
the defendants charged with a violent felony, while
rape defendants accounted for 5%. (See Methodology for the specific crimes included in each offense
category.)
Nearly two-thirds of felony defendants were
charged with property or drug offenses. Among
property defendants, approximately a third were
charged with larceny or theft, and about a fourth
were charged with burglary. Less than half of drug
defendants were charged with drug trafficking.
Public-order offenses were the most serious charge
of the remaining 11% of defendants. At least 52%
of felony defendants charged with a violent, property, or drug crime were charged with additional
crimes as well (see Appendix table 1).

Table 1.
Felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Most serious arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number
58,100
13,295
370
669
3,451
6,386
2,419
16,948
4,495
5,268
1,661
1,416
2,128
1,980
21,232
8,487
12,745
6,624
1,958
1,837
2,830

Felony defendants in the 75 largest counties
95% Confidence interval
Percent
Lower bound
Upper bound
100.0 %
22.9 %
21.6 %
24.2 %
0.6
0.5
0.8
1.2
1.0
1.4
5.9
5.2
6.8
11.0
10.1
12.0
4.2
3.5
4.9
29.2 %
27.7 %
30.7 %
7.7
7.0
8.5
9.1
8.1
10.1
2.9
2.5
3.3
2.4
2.1
2.9
3.7
3.0
4.4
3.4
2.9
4.0
36.5 %
34.8 %
38.3 %
14.6
13.0
16.4
21.9
19.9
24.1
11.4 %
10.4 %
12.5 %
3.4
2.9
3.9
3.2
2.5
3.9
4.9
4.3
5.6

Note: Data for the specific arrest charge were available for all cases. Detail may not add to total because of rounding.

May 2010

3

Felony defendants charged with robbery
and weapons offenses were on average age
27 at arrest
The average age of defendants at the time of arrest
was 32 years (table 2). By specific offense, the
average age ranged from 27 years for robbery and
weapons offense defendants to 36 years for those
charged with a driving-related offense. Thirteen
percent of robbery defendants were under 18 years
old, although the age group represented only 3% of
all felony defendants. Thirty-nine percent of defendants charged with a driving-related offense were
age 40 or older, although this age group represented
only 26% of all felony defendants.
Forty-five percent of the felony defendants in the 75
largest counties were non-Hispanic blacks, and 82%
of felony defendants were male (see Appendix
tables 2 and 3).

About a third of felony defendants had an
active criminal justice status at the time of
arrest
Thirty-one percent of felony defendants were in
custody, awaiting trial, or on probation or parole
when arrested on the current felony charge (table

3). When just the most serious criminal justice status is considered, 12% of felony defendants had
been released pending disposition of a previous
case, 9% were on probation, and 4% were on parole.

Approximately 40% of felony defendants had
previously been convicted of a felony
The majority of felony defendants had at least one
prior arrest (77%), and 69% had multiple prior
arrests (table 4). Felony defendants charged with a
public-order (81%) or drug (81%) offense were
more likely to have been previously arrested than
those charged with a property (74%) or violent
(71%) offense. Felony public-order defendants
(66%) and felony drug defendants (66%) were
slightly more likely to have a conviction record
compared to felony defendants overall (61%).
Nearly half of felony drug defendants (49%) and
public-order defendants (47%) had a prior felony
conviction, compared to 43% of all felony defendants. Nearly 3 in 4 defendants with a conviction
record had at least one prior felony conviction, and
about half had multiple prior felony convictions.
Appendix tables 4 through 7 offer more statistics on
felony defendants’ criminal history.

Table 2.
Age at arrest of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Percent of felony defendants who were—
Most serious arrest
charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of
defendants
57,948
13,246
370
665
3,451
6,376
2,385
16,882
4,486
5,259
1,653
1,416
2,091
1,977
21,223
8,482
12,741
6,597
1,958
1,836
2,805

Total
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %

Under 18
3
6
7
4
13
3
2
2
3
2
4
1
1
2
2
3
2
2
3
0
2

18-20
14
16
19
15
27
13
11
15
19
14
23
9
8
16
13
17
10
12
25
3
9

21-24
17
17
18
15
17
17
15
15
16
13
17
18
12
20
17
22
14
17
27
12
13

25-29
16
16
24
16
12
17
15
17
15
16
16
19
19
18
15
17
14
16
20
18
13

30-34
13
12
13
16
8
14
14
13
11
12
14
14
16
14
13
11
13
14
10
16
16

35-39
12
10
7
15
8
11
12
13
13
14
11
11
16
10
12
10
13
11
4
12
16

Average age at
40 or older arrest (years)
26
32
23
31
11
28
18
30
15
27
25
32
31
34
25
32
23
31
29
33
16
29
28
32
29
34
20
30
28
32
21
30
33
34
28
32
12
27
39
36
31
34

Note: Data on age of defendants were available for 99.7% of all cases. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.

4

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Table 3.
Criminal justice status of felony defendants at time of arrest, by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Most serious arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of
defendants
56,583
12,881
362
650
3,378
6,118
2,372
16,330
4,374
4,902
1,638
1,375
2,073
1,964
20,800
8,147
12,651
6,572
1,930
1,833
2,810

Total
31 %
27 %
31 %
20 %
31 %
27 %
22 %
33 %
37 %
32 %
40 %
32 %
25 %
32 %
30 %
30 %
29 %
35 %
38 %
27 %
39 %

Percent of felony defendants who were on—
Probation Pretrial release
Parole
9
12
4
8
11
3
11
13
2
4
8
1
9
12
4
7
11
2
8
8
1
11
13
4
13
13
5
8
14
4
16
13
5
10
13
2
8
11
2
12
12
4
9
13
5
8
16
4
10
11
5
9
14
4
13
14
8
8
11
1
7
17
4

Other*
5
6
4
7
6
6
4
5
5
6
6
7
4
4
3
3
4
7
3
7
11

Note: Data on criminal justice status at time of arrest were available for 97% of all cases. Some defendants with a criminal justice
status had more than one type of status. For those cases, the status indicated is the most serious. Detail may not sum to total because
of rounding.
*Includes defendants in custody at the time of arrest.

Table 4.
Prior arrests and convictions of felony defendants at time of arrest, by most serious arrest
charge, 2006
Percent of defendants with—
Most serious arrest
Number of
At least one Multiple prior At least one
Multiple prior At least one prior
charge
defendants
prior arrest
arrests
prior conviction convictions felony conviction
All offenses
56,583
77 %
69 %
61 %
49 %
43 %
Violent offenses
12,881
71 %
62 %
53 %
41 %
35 %
Murder
362
81
69
56
43
42
Rape
650
56
43
31
23
18
Robbery
3,378
73
64
54
42
38
Assault
6,118
74
66
56
45
36
Other violent
2,372
62
52
48
35
30
Property offenses
16,330
74 %
66 %
58 %
47 %
42 %
Burglary
4,374
81
73
66
54
49
Larceny/theft
4,902
69
62
54
44
39
Motor vehicle theft
1,638
85
77
69
57
51
Forgery
1,375
71
61
56
41
37
Fraud
2,073
62
53
45
36
30
Other property
1,964
77
69
60
47
39
Drug offenses
20,800
81 %
74 %
66 %
53 %
49 %
Trafficking
8,147
78
72
61
50
46
Other drug
12,651
83
75
68
56
50
Public-order offenses
6,572
81 %
74 %
66 %
54 %
47 %
Weapons
1,930
80
71
65
52
52
Driving-related
1,833
88
82
72
58
38
Other public-order
2,810
78
71
62
53
48
Note: Data on whether a defendant had any prior arrests and the number of prior arrest charges were available for 99% of all current
arrest cases. Data on the number of prior convictions were available for 99% of all cases.

May 2010

5

Nearly 6 out of 10 felony defendants were
released before final case disposition
An estimated 58% of felony defendants in the
75 largest counties were released before final disposition of their cases (table 5). Defendants charged
with a violent offense (52%) were less likely to be
released than those whose most serious arrest
charge was a public-order (62%) or drug (60%)
offense.
Within the violent offense category, release rates
varied greatly. Just 8% of murder defendants were
released, compared to 59% of those charged with
assault. Among defendants charged with a property
offense, less than half of those charged with burglary (44%) or motor vehicle theft (44%) were
released prior to case disposition. Higher proportions of those charged with fraud (74%) or larceny
or theft (66%) were released.

The most common form of pretrial release
was through commercial surety bond
Overall, 70% 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 (table 6). The remainder

Table 5.
Felony defendants released before or detained until case disposition,
by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Most serious arrest
charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of
defendants
57,560
13,187
365
666
3,431
6,322
2,402
16,738
4,469
5,197
1,625
1,401
2,093
1,952
21,050
8,462
12,588
6,585
1,958
1,833
2,794

Percent of defendants who were—
Released before Detained until
Total
case disposition case disposition
100 %
58
42
100 %
52
48
100 %
8
92
100 %
57
43
100 %
39
61
100 %
59
41
100 %
59
41
100 %
59
41
100 %
44
56
100 %
66
34
100 %
44
56
100 %
65
35
100 %
74
26
100 %
61
39
100 %
60
40
100 %
63
37
100 %
/
/
100 %
62
38
100 %
56
44
100 %
72
28
100 %
60
40

Note: Data on detention or release outcome were available for 99% of all cases. Detail may
not sum to total because of rounding.
/Data not reported. See Methodology section for discussion of pretrial release for other drug
crime defendants.

6

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

were granted non-financial release (25%), were
ordered held without bail (5%), or were part of an
emergency release (less than 0.5%).
The most common type of release was surety bond
(42% of released defendants), which involves the
services of a commercial bail bond agent (figure 5).
In 2006 an estimated 6% of felony defendants
released through surety bond also had conditions
attached to that release, including pretrial monitoring. Other types of financial release were deposit
bond (8% of released defendants) and full cash
bond (5%.) (See Methodology for definitions related
to pretrial release.)
Less than half of released defendants were released
under non-financial conditions (not requiring the
posting of bail). The most common types of nonfinancial release were release on personal recognizance (28% of released defendants) and conditional
release (12% of released defendants). See Appendix
table 8 for more statistics about pretrial release.

Median bail amounts were 5 times higher for
detained defendants than for released
defendants
Bail was set at $10,000 for more than half of defendants who had bail set (table 7). The overall median
bail amount set for defendants charged with a violent offense was about twice that amount ($22,000).
Defendants detained until disposition of their cases
had a median bail amount set at $25,000 compared
to defendants who were released on bail, for whom
bail was set at a median of $5,000.
Figure 5.
Pretrial release of felony defendants in the 75 largest
counties, 2006
Type of pretrial release
Surety bond
Recognizance
Conditional
Deposit bond
Full cash bond
Unsecured bond
0

10
20
30
40
Percent of released defendants

50

Table 6.
Type of pretrial release or detention of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Percent of felony defendants who were—
Released before case disposition
Detained until case disposition
Financial Non-financial Emergency
Held on bail
Denied bail
33 %
25 %
-- %
37 %
5%
33 %
19 %
-- %
40 %
8%
5
2
0
45
47
36
21
0
34
9
21
18
0
51
10
40
19
0
35
5
37
22
-38
3
30 %
29 %
-- %
38 %
4%
25
19
0
51
5
34
32
-31
3
24
21
0
49
6
29
36
-29
6
34
40
-24
2
27
34
0
36
3
32 %
27 %
0%
37 %
4%
39
24
0
33
3
28
29
0
39
4
39 %
23 %
-- %
33 %
5%
36
20
0
40
4
49
22
-23
5
35
25
-33
7

Number of
Most serious arrest charge defendants
All offenses
57,558
Violent offenses
13,186
Murder
365
Rape
666
Robbery
3,430
Assault
6,322
Other violent
2,401
Property offenses
16,736
Burglary
4,469
Larceny/theft
5,198
Motor vehicle theft
1,623
Forgery
1,401
Fraud
2,093
Other property
1,950
Drug offenses
21,049
Trafficking
8,462
Other drug
12,586
Public-order offenses
6,587
Weapons
1,959
Driving-related
1,833
Other public-order
2,794

Note: Data on specific type of pretrial release or detention were available for 96% of all cases.
--Less than 0.5%.

Table 7.
Median and mean bail amounts set for felony defendants, by pretrial release/detention outcome
and most serious arrest charge, 2006
Most serious arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Total

Median bail amount
Released

$10,000
$22,000
1,000,000
50,000
45,000
10,000
20,000
$8,500
14,500
5,000
5,500
6,000
5,000
10,000
$10,000
15,000
8,000
$7,500
15,000
5,000
5,000

$5,000
$9,500
100,000
20,000
10,000
7,500
10,000
$5,000
7,500
4,000
2,600
5,000
3,000
4,000
$5,000
10,000
5,000
$5,000
5,000
5,000
5,000

Detained

Total

$25,000
$50,000
1,000,000
100,000
50,000
39,500
75,000
$15,000
20,000
15,000
15,000
20,000
10,000
20,000
$20,000
30,000
15,000
$20,000
35,000
15,500
10,000

$55,500
$112,000
1,001,700
150,600
96,300
87,400
94,800
$29,300
36,200
26,700
29,300
25,500
24,800
23,600
$43,100
64,700
26,600
$37,600
53,700
27,800
31,800

Mean bail amount
Released
Detained
$17,100
$23,400
231,300
35,200
24,900
19,500
25,300
$12,400
12,900
10,000
17,800
9,300
18,800
9,500
$18,600
29,800
8,000
$11,000
15,000
9,400
9,600

$89,900
$185,500
1,096,400
271,100
125,700
164,400
162,900
$42,800
47,600
46,100
34,900
42,100
34,000
34,300
$66,000
105,700
41,200
$69,800
88,900
68,000
54,700

Note: Data on bail amounts were available for 98% of all defendants for whom a bail amount was set. Bail amounts have been
rounded to the nearest hundred dollars. Table excludes defendants given nonfinancial release.

May 2010

7

Criminal histories associated with lower
probability of pretrial release
Many states have established specific criteria for
courts to consider when setting release conditions,
including the defendant’s criminal history and
criminal justice system status at time of arrest. The
SCPS data illustrate how release rates vary with
some of these factors. For example, 65% of the
defendants without an active criminal justice status
when arrested for the current offense were released
prior to case disposition, compared to 41% of the
defendants with an active criminal justice status
who were detained (table 8).

Other criteria considered include prior arrests and
previous failures to appear in court. Seventy-five
percent of the defendants with no prior arrests were
released, compared to 53% of those who had been
previously arrested. Among defendants with an
arrest record, those who had never missed a court
appearance (61%) had a higher probability of being
released than those who had failed to appear at least
once during a previous case (51%).
About three-fourths of defendants without a prior
conviction (74%) were released prior to disposition
of the current case, compared to about half of those
with a conviction record (48%).

Table 8.
Felony defendants released or detained prior to case disposition, by criminal history, 2006

Criminal history
Any criminal history
On parole
In custody
On probation
On pretrial release
Other
None
Court appearance history
With prior arrest(s)
With prior failure to appear
Made all prior appearances
No prior arrests
Number of prior convictions
With prior conviction(s)
5 or more
2-4
1
With no prior convictions
Most serious prior conviction
Any type of felony
Violent felony
Nonviolent felony
Misdemeanor

Number of
defendants
17,204
2,239
991
5,191
6,997
1,787
38,879

Percent of defendants who were—
Released prior to case disposition
Detained until case disposition
Total
Financial Non-financial
released release release
Total Held on bail Denied bail
41 %
23
18
59 %
49
10
14 %
7
7
86 %
76
10
27 %
18
9
73 %
50
23
34 %
20
15
66 %
57
9
53 %
29
24
47 %
38
9
55 %
32
23
45 %
35
10
65 %
36
29
35 %
32
2

43,896
13,822
21,147
13,291

53 %
51 %
61 %
75 %

30
24
37
41

23
26
24
34

47 %
49 %
39 %
25 %

42
43
33
22

5
7
6
3

34,554
16,228
11,616
6,710
22,471

48 %
39 %
52 %
61 %
74 %

27
22
30
34
41

21
17
22
27
32

52 %
61 %
48 %
39 %
26 %

46
55
42
34
23

6
6
6
5
3

24,656
7,216
15,175
9,897

42 %
41 %
45 %
61 %

24
24
26
33

18
17
19
28

58 %
59 %
55 %
39 %

51
50
49
36

7
9
7
3

Note: Subsets will not sum to totals because of missing data.

8

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

A third of released defendants committed
some form of pretrial misconduct
Among defendants who were released prior to case
disposition, 33% committed some type of misconduct while on pretrial release (table 9). Misconduct
included 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. The proportion of defendants charged
with pretrial misconduct was highest for drug
defendants (37%) and lowest for those released after
being charged with a violent offense (26%).

Overall, 18% of released defendants were rearrested for a new offense allegedly committed
while they awaited disposition of their original case.
Sixty-three percent of these defendants, or 11% of
all released defendants, were charged with a new
felony.
Eighty-two percent of defendants who were
released prior to case disposition made all scheduled court appearances. Courts issued bench warrants for the remaining 18% for failing to appear.
Nearly a fourth of the defendants who failed to
appear in court, or 4% of all released defendants,
were still fugitives at the end of the 1-year study
period. The remainder returned to the court (either
voluntarily or not) before the end of the study.

Table 9.
Released felony defendants committing
misconduct, by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Most serious arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number
33,279
6,890
28
376
1,323
3,747
1,416
9,770
1,963
3,452
721
903
1,550
1,182
12,534
5,356
7,178
4,085
1,098
1,318
1,669

Any pretrial
misconducta
33 %
26 %
0
20
39
25
20
35 %
37
31
53
34
27
38
37 %
38
36
31 %
28
34
30

Percentage of defendants with—
Failure to
Fugitive statusb Rearrestc
appearb
18 %
4%
18 %
11 %
2%
16 %
0
0
0
6
3
9
16
2
27
10
2
15
8
3
10
20 %
5%
18 %
21
5
19
20
4
17
24
4
30
21
6
14
18
6
11
20
4
22
21 %
5%
20 %
19
4
24
23
5
16
16 %
4%
15 %
11
3
17
19
5
14
18
4
15

Rearrest for
a felonyc
11 %
9%
0
4
15
8
5
11 %
12
10
21
8
8
16
13 %
15
12
9%
10
9
9

aTypes of misconduct include failure to appear in court, rearrest for a new offense, or a technical violation of release conditions

that resulted in the revocation of pretrial release. Data were collected for up to 1 year.
b

Data on the court appearance record for the current case were available for 99% of cases involving a defendant released prior to
disposition. Defendants who failed to appear in court and were not returned to the court during the 1-year study period are
counted as fugitives. Some of these defendants may have been returned to the court at a later date.

c
Rearrest data were available for 97% of released defendants. Rearrest data were collected for 1 year. Rearrests occurring after the
end of this 1-year study period are not included in the table. Information on rearrests occurring in jurisdictions other than the
one granting the pretrial release were not always available.

May 2010

9

Almost 9 out of 10 felony defendants’ cases
were adjudicated within 1 year
The median time from arrest to adjudication for all
felony defendants was 92 days, yet nearly 4 times
longer for murder defendants (364 days) and about
2.5 times longer for rape defendants (228 days)
(table 10). Defendants charged with a non-trafficking drug offense had the shortest median time from
arrest to adjudication (50 days). Nearly 90% of all
felony cases were adjudicated within 1 year of
arrest.

Approximately two-thirds of felony
defendants were convicted
Sixty-eight percent of the defendants whose cases
were adjudicated within 1 year of arrest (or 2 years
for felony murder defendants) were convicted (table
11). Overall, nearly two-thirds of defendants
entered a guilty plea, with 55% pleading guilty to a
felony and 10% pleading guilty to a misdemeanor.
In most cases where the defendants were not convicted it was because the charges against the defendants were dismissed. About a quarter of all cases

ended in this way. Defendants charged with assault
(39%) were 3 times or more likely to have their case
dismissed as those charged with a driving-related
offense (11%) or murder (13%).

Guilty pleas accounted for 95% of convictions
Guilty pleas accounted for 95% of the estimated
32,876 convictions obtained within 1 year of arrest.
This included about 26,000 felony pleas and about
5,000 misdemeanor pleas (not shown). Defendants
charged with a driving-related offense had the highest plea rate (81%) and the highest felony plea rate
(72%) (not shown). More than 6 out of 10 defendants in each offense category except assault (54%)
eventually pleaded guilty to either a felony or a misdemeanor (figure 6).
Regardless of adjudication method, a majority
(72%) of convicted defendants were convicted of
the felony offense with which they were originally
charged (figure 7). More than three-fourths of
defendants convicted of driving-related, weapons,
or murder offenses were convicted of their original
arrest charges. In comparison, about half of convicted rape defendants were convicted of their original arrest charges.

Table 10.
Time from arrest to adjudication for felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Most serious arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of
defendants
58,017
13,266
370
663
3,449
6,369
2,416
16,931
4,496
5,264
1,650
1,418
2,126
1,980
21,205
8,487
12,719
6,615
1,958
1,837
2,821

Median time
92 days
139 days
364
228
144
121
141
85 days
86
92
61
80
92
74
75 days
112
50
92 days
88
114
80

Cumulative percent of cases adjudicated within—
1 week
1 month 3 months 6 months
1 year
7%
26 %
49 %
71 %
88 %
4%
16 %
37 %
60 %
83 %
2
5
7
20
50
7
11
23
44
69
3
14
34
60
86
4
19
42
64
86
6
16
36
60
81
6%
26 %
52 %
74 %
90 %
4
25
52
76
91
6
22
49
72
89
8
32
59
79
90
8
28
55
77
91
8
24
49
68
86
6
29
56
78
93
10 %
32 %
55 %
75 %
90 %
5
20
43
67
88
13
40
62
80
91
7%
24 %
49 %
72 %
89 %
6
25
52
74
90
4
19
41
69
89
10
27
54
74
90

Note: Data on time from arrest to adjudication were available for 99.9% of all cases. The median time from arrest to adjudication
includes cases still pending at the end of the study. Knowing the exact times for these cases would not change the medians reported.
Murder cases were tracked for 2 years. All other cases were tracked for 1 year.

10

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Table 11.
Adjudication outcome for felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Most serious arrest
Number of
charge
defendants
All offenses
51,922
Violent offenses
11,303
Murder
266
Rape
466
Robbery
2,988
Assault
5,582
Other violent
2,001
Property offenses
15,351
Burglary
4,132
Larceny/theft
4,722
Motor vehicle theft
1,501
Forgery
1,301
Fraud
1,835
Other property
1,860
Drug offenses
19,295
Trafficking
7,574
Other drug
11,720
Public-order offenses
5,973
Weapons
1,775
Driving-related
1,642
Other public-order
2,557

Total
convicted
68 %
61 %
81 %
62 %
71 %
54 %
62 %
70 %
77 %
67 %
72 %
70 %
64 %
69 %
68 %
74 %
64 %
72 %
68 %
85 %
67 %

Total
56 %
50 %
81 %
50 %
64 %
40 %
52 %
57 %
67 %
53 %
65 %
55 %
49 %
49 %
59 %
63 %
56 %
60 %
59 %
75 %
51 %

Felony
Plea
55
45
42
46
60
37
49
56
66
52
65
54
49
48
56
61
55
58
58
73
50

Percent of defendants who were—
Convicted of—
Misdemeanor
Trial
Total
Plea
Trial
Total
2
11 %
10
1
24 %
4
11 %
10
1
34 %
39
0%
0
0
18 %
4
12 %
11
1
34 %
5
7%
7
-25 %
3
14 %
13
1
41 %
3
11 %
10
1
32 %
1
13 %
12
1
22 %
1
10 %
9
1
17 %
1
14 %
13
1
24 %
-7%
7
0
24 %
1
16 %
15
1
20 %
-15 %
13
2
26 %
1
20 %
18
2
26 %
1
10 %
9
1
20 %
1
11 %
11
-20 %
1
8%
8
1
21 %
1
12 %
11
1
21 %
2
9%
8
1
28 %
2
10 %
9
1
11 %
1
16 %
15
1
24 %

Not convicted
Other
Dismissed Acquitted outcome*
23
1
8%
33
1
5%
13
5
2
32
2
4
24
1
4
39
2
6
31
1
6
22
1
8%
16
1
6
23
1
9
23
1
4
19
1
10
26
0
11
26
-5
20
-12 %
19
1
6
20
-15
21
1
6%
26
2
4
11
0
5
24
-9

Note: Eleven percent of all cases were still pending adjudication at the end of the 1-year study period and are excluded from the table. Murder defendants were followed
for an additional year. Data on adjudication outcome were available for over 99.9% of those cases that had been adjudicated. Detail may not sum to total because of
rounding.
--Less than 0.5%.
*Includes diversion and deferred adjudication.

Figure 6.
Probability of conviction for felony defendants in the 75 largest
counties by most serious arrest charge, 2006

Figure 7.
Conviction charge probability for felony defendants in the 75 largest
counties by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Original felony charge

Assault
Rape

Rape

Fraud

Assault

Larceny/theft

Forgery

All defendants

Drug trafficking

Weapons

Other felony charge

Misdemeanor

Fraud

Forgery

Larceny/theft

Robbery

All defendants

Motor vehicle theft

Burglary

Drug trafficking

Robbery
Motor vehicle theft

Burglary

Murder

Murder

Weapons

Driving-related
0

50

Percent of defendants convicted

100

Driving-related
0

50
Percent of defendants convicted

May 2010

100

11

Almost three-quarters of convicted offenders
were sentenced to incarceration
Seventy-three percent of offenders convicted of a
felony were sentenced to incarceration in a state
prison or local jail (table 12), compared to 57% of
those convicted of a misdemeanor.

Almost all (98%) sentences for a murder conviction
resulted in a prison sentence, as did a majority of
robbery (72%), rape (67%), and weapons offense
(53%) convictions. About a third of offenders convicted of forgery (38%) or larceny or theft (32%)
were sentenced to prison. Of all misdemeanors,
54% went to jail and 22% were sentenced to probation. Nearly all incarceration sentences for misdemeanor convictions were to jail.

Table 12.
Most severe sentence received by convicted offenders, by most serious conviction offense, 2006
Most serious conviction
offense
All offenses
Felonies
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order
Misdemeanors

Number of
offenders
33,025
27,810
4,713
147
146
1,515
1,893
1,014
8,573
2,307
2,685
997
662
964
957
10,710
3,370
7,339
3,749
1,100
1,197
1,451
5,212

Total
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %

Percent of convicted offenders sentenced to—
Incarceration
Non-incarceration
Total
Prison
Jail
Total Probation
Other
70 %
35
36
30 %
25
5
73 %
40
32
27 %
25
2
80 %
55
26
20 %
18
1
100 %
98
2
0%
0
0
80 %
67
12
21 %
21
0
86 %
72
14
14 %
13
1
76 %
43
33
24 %
23
1
76 %
42
34
24 %
20
4
75 %
38
37
25 %
23
2
82 %
47
35
18 %
16
1
71 %
32
39
29 %
27
2
87 %
50
37
13 %
12
1
72 %
38
34
28 %
27
1
55 %
24
31
45 %
40
5
78 %
34
43
22 %
20
2
67 %
36
32
33 %
31
2
77 %
47
30
23 %
22
1
63 %
30
32
37 %
35
3
73 %
41
32
27 %
25
2
80 %
53
27
20 %
19
1
65 %
35
30
35 %
31
4
74 %
37
37
26 %
24
2
57 %
3
54
43 %
22
21

Note: Data on type of sentence were available for 94% of convicted defendants. Sentences to incarceration that were wholly suspended are included under probation. Nine percent of prison sentences and 68% of jail sentences included a probation term. Sentences to incarceration or probation may have included a fine, restitution, community service, treatment, or other court-ordered
conditions. Other sentences may include fines, community service, restitution, and treatment. Total for all felonies includes cases that
could not be classified into one of the four major offense categories.
Details may not sum to totals because of rounding.

12

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Average prison sentences were more than
4 years
Among offenders convicted of a felony and sentenced to prison, the mean sentence was 49 months
and the median was 24 months (table 13). By general conviction offense category, offenders convicted of a violent felony received the longest prison
sentences (mean of 94 months and median of 48
months), and those convicted of a public-order felony received the shortest (mean of 33 months and
median of 24 months).

For offenders sentenced to probation without incarceration for a felony, the median sentence length
was 33 months, compared to 19 months for a misdemeanor. Three percent of offenders convicted of a
felony were given a probation term of greater than
5 years (not shown).
More than a quarter of felony offenders sentenced
to probation were required to enter a treatment program, including 41% convicted for felony drug
crimes. Nineteen percent of the offenders who
received a probation sentence were required to perform community service (table 14).

Table 13.
Length of sentence received by convicted offenders, by most serious conviction offense and sentence type, 2006
Prison
Sentence length
Most serious conviction
offense
All offenses
Feloniese
Violent offenses
Property offenses
Drug offenses
Public-order offenses
Misdemeanors

Number of
offendersb
11,359
11,359
2,550
3,273
3,801
1,545
0

Mean Median
49 mo 24 mo
49 mo 24 mo
94
48
38
24
34
24
33
24
~ mo
~ mo

Most severe type of sentence receiveda
Jail
Sentence length
Number of
Number of
offendersc
Mean Median offendersd
11,181
6 mo
4 mo
8,124
8,609
6 mo
5 mo
6,997
1,162
9
6
853
2,977
7
6
1,974
3,290
5
3
3,247
1,145
6
5
915
2,572
5 mo
4 mo
1,127

Probation
Sentence length
Mean
31 mo
33 mo
38
32
32
34
19 mo

Median
24 mo
24 mo
24
24
36
24
12 mo

~Not applicable.
a

Seven percent of prison sentences included a probation term, and 9% included a fine. Fifty percent of jail sentences included a probation term,
and 13% included a fine.

bData on length of prison sentence were available for over 99.9% of all cases in which a defendant received a prison sentence.
cData on length of jail sentence were available for 95% of all cases in which a defendant received a jail sentence. Table excludes portions
of sentences that were suspended.
d
Data on length of probation sentence were available for 99% of all cases in which the most severe type of sentence a defendant received was
probation.
eTotal for felony offenses includes cases that could not be classified into one of the four major offense categories.

Table 14.
Conditions of probation sentence received most often by offenders, by most serious conviction
offense, 2006
Most serious conviction
offense
All offenses
Felonies
Violent offenses
Property offenses
Drug offenses
Public-order offenses
Misdemeanors

Number of offenders
8,207
7,070
964
1,996
3,270
931
1,137

Percent whose sentence to probation included—
Community service
Restitution
Treatment
19 %
9%
28 %
17 %
9%
28 %
16
9
23
18
24
14
16
1
41
20
5
15
27 %
12 %
26 %

Note: Total for felonies includes cases that could not be classified into one of the four felony offense categories. A
defendant may have received more than one type of probation condition. Not all offenders sentenced to probation
received probation conditions.

May 2010

13

Convicted offenders with multiple prior
felony convictions were the most likely to be
incarcerated
For offenders convicted of a felony on their current
charge, the probability of receiving a sentence to
incarceration was highest if they had multiple prior
felony convictions (83%) (table 15). Seventy-six
percent of offenders with just one prior felony conviction and 70% of those with only prior misdemeanor convictions were also sentenced to incarceration following a felony conviction in their
current case.
Offenders with no prior convictions of any type
(60%) were generally the least likely to receive a
sentence to incarceration for a felony conviction,
although 74% of them received such a sentence
when the conviction was for a violent felony.

Fifty-four percent of the offenders with more than
one prior felony conviction were sentenced to
prison for a new felony conviction. This included
67% of those whose current conviction was for a
violent felony.
Twenty-six percent of defendants with prior misdemeanor convictions received a prison sentence for a
felony conviction in the current case only. However,
more than two-fifths of such defendants (44%)
received a prison sentence when the current conviction was for a violent felony. Appendix tables 9
through 12 provide more statistics about sentencing.

Table 15.
Most severe type of sentence received by offenders convicted of a felony, by prior conviction record, 2006
Prior conviction record and most serious
current felony conviction
More than 1 prior felony conviction
All offenses
Violent offenses
Property offenses
Drug offenses
Public-order offenses
1 prior felony conviction
All offenses
Violent offenses
Property offenses
Drug offenses
Public-order offenses
Prior misdemeanor convictions only
All offenses
Violent offenses
Property offenses
Drug offenses
Public-order offenses
No prior convictions
All offenses
Violent offenses
Property offenses
Drug offenses
Public-order offenses

Percent of offenders convicted of a felony and sentenced to—
Incarceration
Non-incarceration
Total
Prison
Jail
Total
Probation
Other*

Number of
offenders

Total

10,196
1,101
3,176
4,630
1,265

100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %

83 %
88 %
88 %
77 %
86 %

54
67
60
46
59

29
22
28
32
27

17 %
12 %
12 %
23 %
14 %

16
11
11
21
13

1
1
1
2
1

4,695
654
1,323
1,921
793

100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %

76 %
82 %
80 %
69 %
83 %

45
62
41
39
52

31
20
39
30
31

24 %
18 %
20 %
31 %
18 %

22
17
19
29
16

1
1
1
2
1

4,535
875
1,509
1,429
722

100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %

70 %
83 %
74 %
58 %
69 %

26
44
19
20
32

44
39
55
38
38

30 %
17 %
26 %
43 %
31 %

28
16
24
41
26

2
1
2
2
5

8,102
2,027
2,486
2,622
930

100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %

60 %
74 %
56 %
54 %
52 %

29
50
21
25
17

31
24
36
30
35

40 %
26 %
44 %
46 %
49 %

38
24
40
43
46

3
2
3
3
3

Note: Data on prior conviction record and type of sentence were available for 96% of all convicted felony offenders. Sentences to incarceration may have also
included a probation term, and probation sentences may have included additional court ordered conditions. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.
*Other sentences may include fines, community service, restitution, and treatment.

14

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Methodology

The State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) sample was designed and selected by U.S. Census
Bureau staff. It is a two-stage stratified sample,
with 40 of the nation’s 75 largest 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 four first-stage strata based on overall population, arrests, and felony filing information.

tion provided filings data for 5, 10, or 20 selected
business days in May 2006. Data from jurisdictions that were not required to provide a full
month of filings were weighted to represent the
full month.

One

5

4.0

The first stratum was designed to include 10 counties selected with certainty because of their large
number of court filings; however, one of these
counties was dropped because of problems with
data quality. Clark County (NV), which had been
selected as a stratum-one site, was dropped
because of problems with overall completeness of
the electronic case management data received.
Specifically, Clark County was not able to provide
pretrial, adjudication, and sentencing case processing data. Because these problems were not
confirmed until late in the data collection process,
it was too late to find alternative methods for
retrieving SCPS data from this site. Hence, the
first-stage weight for stratum-one counties was
changed from 1.00 to 1.111.

Two

10

2.0

Three

10

2.0

Four

20

1.0

The remaining counties were allocated to the three
non-certainty strata based on the variance of felony court filings, population, and arrest data.
SCPS first-stage design
Number of counties
Stratum

Universe

Weight

One

Sample
9

10

1.111

Two

7

12

1.714

Three

9

18

2.000

Four

14

35

2.500

The second-stage sampling (filings) was designed
to represent all defendants who had felony cases
filed with the court during the month of May
2006. 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 jurisdic-

SCPS second-stage design
Stratum

Number of days of
filings provided

Weight

The 2006 SCPS collected data for 16,211 defendants charged with a felony offense during May
2006 in 39 large counties. These cases were part of
a sample that was representative of the estimated
58,100 felony defendants whose cases were processed in the nation's 75 largest counties during
that month. Defendants charged with murder
were tracked for up to 2 years, and all other defendants were followed for up to 1 year.
This report is based on data collected from the following jurisdictions: Arizona (Maricopa, Pima);
California (Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino,
Ventura); Connecticut (Hartford); Florida (Broward, Miami-Dade, Hillsborough; Orange);
Hawaii (Honolulu); Illinois (Cook); Indiana (Marion); Maryland (Baltimore, Montgomery, Prince
George); Michigan (Oakland, Wayne); Missouri
(Saint Louis); New Jersey (Essex, Middlesex); New
York (Bronx, Kings, Nassau, New York, Suffolk);
North Carolina (Wake); Ohio (Cuyahoga, Franklin, Hamilton); Tennessee (Shelby); Texas (Dallas,
El Paso, Harris, Tarrant); Utah (Salt Lake City);
Washington (King); and Wisconsin (Milwaukee).
Because the data come from a sample, a sampling
error and confidence intervals are associated with
each reported number. Confidence intervals and
standard errors for several key variables in the
SCPS database are reported in appendix tables 13
and 14. These confidence intervals show where
the reported SCPS numbers would fall 95% of the
time under repeated sampling. For example, the
confidence intervals for the total number of felony
defendants in the 75 largest counties ranges from
53,894 to 62,305 defendants. In other words, if
repeated sampling of felony case processing in the
nation’s 75 largest counties were undertaken, there
is a 95% confidence that the number of felony
defendants would fall between 53,894 and 62,305.

May 2010

15

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 lists are a
representative summary of the crimes in each category; however, these lists are not meant to be
exhaustive. All offenses except murder include
attempts and conspiracies to commit.
Violent offenses
Murder—Includes homicide, non-negligent manslaughter, and voluntary homicide. Excludes
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 non-forcible acts with a minor or
someone unable to give legal consent, nonviolent
sexual offenses, or commercialized sex offenses.
Robbery—Includes unlawful taking of anything of
value by force or threat of force. Includes armed,
unarmed, and aggravated robbery, car-jacking,
armed burglary, and armed mugging.
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. This offense
category 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
endangerment, hit-and-run with bodily injury,
intimidation, and extortion.
Property offenses
Burglary—Includes any type of entry into a residence, industry, or business with or without the use
of force with the intent to commit a felony or theft.
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. This offense category does not include motor
vehicle theft, receiving or buying stolen property,
fraud, forgery, or deceit.
16

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Motor vehicle theft—Includes auto theft, receiving
and transferring an automobile, unauthorized use
of a vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle, and larceny or taking of an automobile.
Forgery—Includes forging of a driver’s license, 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, and 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,
and 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 for which the interest is unknown.
Drug offenses
Drug trafficking—Includes trafficking, sales, distribution, possession with intent to distribute or sell,
manufacturing, and smuggling of controlled substances. This category 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.

Pretrial release

Types of nonfinancial release

Released defendant—Includes any defendant who
was released from custody prior to the disposition
of his or her case by the court. It also 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.

Release on recognizance (ROR)—The court
releases some defendants on a signed agreement
that they 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.

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—The bench warrant issued by a
court because the defendant failed to appear as
scheduled.

Unsecured bond—The defendant pays no money
to the court but is liable for the full amount of bail
upon failure to appear in court.
Conditional release—Defendants are released
under specified conditions. A pretrial services
agency usually conducts monitoring or supervision, if ordered for a defendant. 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.

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. A 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 bail amount.
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. It is also known as “collateral
bond.”

Other type of release
Emergency release—Defendants are released in
response to a court order placing limits on a jail’s
population.

Note on pretrial release of other drug
defendants
The detention/release of “other drug defendants”
was not reported due to issues associated with
properly coding the release status of these defendants. Differing coding practices were applied to
the release/detention status of other drug defendants in instances involving alternative adjudications. For this reason, the pretrial release/detention status of other drug defendants produced
results that were inconsistent with prior SCPS iterations. The other drug crime defendants, however,
are included in the totals for drug defendants and
for all felony defendants. Additionally, statistics
reporting bail amounts, time from arrest to
release, and pretrial misconduct for other drug
defendants are shown.

May 2010

17

Appendix Table 1.
Level of second most serious charge of felony defendants, by most serious primary arrest charge, 2006
Most serious arrest
charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of defendants
53,629
11,930
349
594
2,834
5,778
2,374
15,897
4,269
4,949
1,653
1,368
1,842
1,816
19,710
7,157
12,553
6,092
1,695
1,778
2,618

Total
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

Percent of felony defendants who were—
No other charges
Total
Felony
48
52
36
41
59
46
35
65
65
35
65
62
41
59
53
45
55
41
36
64
45
48
52
41
32
68
57
57
43
32
53
47
35
42
58
46
51
49
42
56
44
27
48
52
31
32
68
56
57
43
17
59
41
21
48
52
33
58
42
25
66
34
11

Note: Data for the most serious arrest charge and the next most serious arrest charge were available for 92.3% of all cases.
Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.

18

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Misdemeanor
16
12
0
3
7
14
19
11
11
10
12
12
7
17
20
11
25
20
19
17
23

Appendix Table 2.
Race and Hispanic origin of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Most serious arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of
defendants
56,978
13,035
368
645
3,407
6,288
2,329
16,545
4,412
5,186
1,626
1,387
2,021
1,916
20,904
8,348
12,556
6,494
1,934
1,793
2,767

Total
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

Percent of felony defendants who were—
Black
White
Other
non-Hispanic non-Hispanic non-Hispanic
45
29
2
47
26
2
67
10
1
39
30
1
57
20
3
47
26
2
33
35
3
39
36
2
36
36
1
44
34
2
38
26
5
37
40
4
39
37
3
36
40
3
49
26
1
59
16
2
43
33
1
41
30
2
60
14
-25
39
2
40
37
2

Hispanic,
any race
24
25
22
30
20
26
30
23
27
20
31
20
22
21
24
23
24
27
26
34
22

Note: Data on both race and Hispanic origin of defendants were available for 99% of all cases.
Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.
-- Less than 0.5%

May 2010

19

Appendix Table 3.
Sex of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Most serious arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of defendants
57,980
13,264
370
666
3,446
6,381
2,400
16,907
4,495
5,257
1,661
1,414
2,109
1,971
21,197
8,474
12,724
6,612
1,953
1,836
2,822

Percent of defendants
Total
Male
Female
100%
82
18
100%
87
13
100%
97
3
100%
98
2
100%
90
10
100%
83
17
100%
85
15
100%
76
24
100%
88
12
100%
68
32
100%
87
13
100%
63
37
100%
62
38
100%
84
16
100%
83
17
100%
88
12
100%
80
20
100%
89
11
100%
96
4
100%
89
11
100%
84
16

Note: Data on sex of defendants were available for 99.8% of all cases.

20

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Appendix Table 4.
Number of prior arrest charges of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge,
2006

Most serious
current arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of
defendants
57,722
13,203
370
666
3,400
6,359
2,408
16,833
4,461
5,217
1,650
1,404
2,122
1,980
21,116
8,417
12,699
6,570
1,950
1,818
2,802

Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties
With prior arrest
Number of prior arrest charges
Without prior
Total arrest
Total
1
2-4
5-9
10 or more
100%
23
77%
8
17
17
35
100%
29
71%
9
17
15
30
100%
19
81%
12
17
23
29
100%
44
56%
12
18
10
15
100%
27
73%
9
16
13
35
100%
26
74%
9
17
16
33
100%
38
62%
10
18
16
18
100%
26
74%
8
16
16
34
100%
19
81%
9
16
17
40
100%
31
69%
8
15
14
32
100%
15
85%
7
19
18
40
100%
29
71%
11
21
16
25
100%
38
62%
9
15
13
24
100%
23
77%
8
16
19
34
100%
19
81%
7
17
19
38
100%
22
78%
7
16
18
37
100%
17
83%
8
17
19
39
100%
19
81%
8
19
19
36
100%
20
80%
9
20
19
32
100%
12
88%
6
20
22
39
100%
22
78%
7
18
17
36

Note: Data on whether a defendant had any prior arrests and the number of prior arrest charges were available for 99%
of all cases.
Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.

May 2010

21

Appendix Table 5.
Number of prior convictions of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge,
2006

Most serious
current arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of
defendants
57,560
13,154
366
663
3,395
6,326
2,405
16,801
4,451
5,214
1,629
1,412
2,122
1,974
21,040
8,379
12,661
6,565
1,946
1,818
2,801

Percent of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties
With prior conviction
Number of prior convictions
Without prior
Total conviction
Total
1
2- 4
5- 9 10 or more
100%
39
61%
12
20
16
12
100%
47
53%
11
19
13
9
100%
44
56%
14
24
16
3
100%
69
31%
8
14
6
3
100%
46
54%
11
16
16
11
100%
44
56%
11
21
14
11
100%
52
48%
13
19
9
6
100%
42
58%
11
18
16
14
100%
34
66%
12
19
18
17
100%
46
54%
10
15
16
13
100%
31
69%
12
26
17
13
100%
44
56%
15
20
12
9
100%
55
45%
9
14
12
9
100%
40
60%
13
18
14
15
100%
34
66%
12
22
17
14
100%
39
61%
12
21
16
13
100%
32
68%
13
23
19
14
100%
34
66%
12
25
18
12
100%
35
65%
14
28
15
9
100%
28
72%
14
28
20
10
100%
38
62%
10
20
18
14

Note: Data on number of prior convictions were available for 99% of all cases.
Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.

22

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Appendix Table 6.
Number of prior felony convictions of felony defendants, by most serious current arrest charge, 2006

Most serious current
arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of
defendants
57,561
13,154
367
663
3,395
6,326
2,404
16,802
4,451
5,214
1,628
1,412
2,121
1,974
21,040
8,379
12,661
6,565
1,946
1,818
2,801

Total
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

Percent of felony defendants—
Without prior felony conviction
With prior felony conviction
Number of prior felony convictions
Nonfelony No prior
Total only
convictions
Total
1
2- 4
5- 9 10 or more
57%
17
39
43%
14
19
8
2
65%
18
47
35%
12
15
6
1
58%
14
44
42%
18
19
4
0
82%
13
69
18%
7
8
3
0
62%
15
46
38%
13
16
8
1
64%
20
44
36%
13
16
5
2
70%
17
52
30%
12
13
4
1
58%
17
42
42%
12
17
9
2
51%
17
34
49%
13
21
11
4
61%
14
46
39%
11
16
10
2
49%
18
31
51%
18
19
11
2
63%
19
44
37%
13
16
6
2
70%
15
55
30%
9
13
7
2
61%
21
40
39%
13
16
8
2
51%
17
34
49%
15
22
10
2
54%
15
39
46%
14
22
9
2
50%
18
32
50%
16
21
11
3
53%
19
34
47%
17
21
7
2
48%
13
35
52%
22
23
5
1
62%
34
28
38%
16
13
7
1
52%
14
38
48%
15
23
7
2

Note: Data on number of prior felony convictions were available for 99% of all cases.
Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.

May 2010

23

Appendix Table 7.
Most serious prior conviction of felony defendants, by most serious
current arrest charge, 2006
Most serious current
arrest charge
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of
defendants
55,224
12,808
350
660
3,308
6,164
2,327
16,048
4,173
5,058
1,473
1,367
2,064
1,911
20,048
8,073
11,976
6,320
1,861
1,789
2,670

Most serious prior conviction
Violent Nonviolent Misdemeanor
13%
28%
18%
16%
17%
18%
16
23
15
10
8
13
19
18
16
17
17
21
13
15
18
11%
28%
17%
14
32
18
10
27
15
13
32
20
9
26
20
6
22
15
12
25
22
12%
34%
18%
12
32
16
12
36
19
16%
29%
20%
16
34
13
9
28
35
20
26
15

Note: Data were available on the most serious prior felony conviction for 95% of all
cases.
Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.

24

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Appendix Table 8.
Types of pretrial release or detention of felony defendants, by most serious arrest charge, 2006
Percent of felony defendants released before case disposition
Financial release
Nonfinancial release
Most serious arrest Total
Surety Deposit Full cash Property
charge
financial bond* bond
bond
bond
All offenses
33%
25
5
3
-Violent offenses
33%
26
3
3
-Murder
5%
4
0
1
0
Rape
36%
24
6
5
1
Robbery
21%
15
3
2
1
Assault
40%
33
3
4
-Other violent
37%
30
3
3
-Property offenses
30%
22
4
3
-Burglary
25%
21
3
1
-Larceny/theft
34%
27
3
3
1
Motor vehicle theft
24%
19
2
2
-Forgery
29%
21
6
3
-Fraud
34%
23
5
6
-Other property
27%
16
7
5
0
Drug offenses
32%
24
5
2
-Trafficking
39%
30
5
3
1
Other drug
28%
21
5
2
-Public-order offenses 39%
27
8
4
-Weapons
36%
22
10
3
1
Driving-related
49%
32
11
7
0
Other public-order
35%
27
5
3
0

Total nonfinancial Recognizance
25%
16
19%
11
2%
1
21%
14
18%
11
19%
10
22%
14
29%
19
19%
10
32%
23
21%
12
36%
22
40%
30
34%
23
27%
17
24%
17
29%
17
23%
13
20%
11
22%
12
25%
15

Emergency
Conditional Unsecured release
7
3
-7
1
-1
0
0
6
2
0
7
-0
8
1
0
5
2
-7
2
-7
1
0
6
3
-7
1
0
9
4
-7
4
-8
2
0
7
3
0
6
1
0
8
5
0
6
4
-5
4
0
7
3
-5
4
--

Detained until
case disposition
Held on Denied
bail
bail
37 %
5%
40 %
8%
45
47
34
9
51
10
35
5
38
3
38 %
4%
51
5
31
3
49
6
29
6
24
2
36
3
37 %
4%
33
3
39
4
33 %
5%
40
4
23
5
33
7

Note: Data on specific types of pretrial release or detention were available for 96% of all cases. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.
*An estimated 6% of defendants released through surety bond also had conditions attached to that release including pretrial monitoring.
-- Less than 0.5%.

May 2010

25

Appendix Table 9.
Time from conviction to sentencing for convicted offenders, by most serious conviction offense, 2006
Most serious conviction
offense
All offenses
Felonies
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order
Misdemeanors

Number of offenders
33,682
28,018
4,789
147
146
1,567
1,908
1,023
8,616
2,321
2,708
985
661
979
962
10,833
3,415
7,418
3,780
1,117
1,203
1,461
5,664

Total
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

Percent of convicted defendants sentenced within—
0-1 day
2-30 days 31-60 days
61 days or more
68
12
12
8
66
13
13
8
55
16
18
11
22
37
28
14
47
19
31
3
53
16
18
14
60
15
16
9
57
13
19
11
64
14
14
9
65
14
12
9
69
13
10
8
66
14
11
10
54
21
16
10
64
10
18
9
50
19
23
8
73
11
10
7
61
15
14
10
78
9
8
5
67
12
13
8
57
18
16
10
75
9
10
7
69
11
12
8
79
5
8
9

Note: Data on time from conviction to sentencing were available for 96% of convicted offenders. Total for all felonies includes cases that could not
be classified into one of the four major offense categories. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.

26

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Appendix Table 10.
Length of prison sentence for offenders convicted of a felony, by most serious conviction offense, 2006
Most serious conviction
offense
All felonies
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Number of
offenders
11,359
2,550
138
97
1086
816
415
3,273
1,084
872
499
254
235
329
3,801
1,568
2,234
1,545
582
423
541

Percent receiving a maximum sentence length (in months)
1-24
25-48 49-72 73-120 Over 120*
Life
51%
24%
11%
8%
6%
1%
27%
23%
16%
15%
16%
3%
0
2
0
5
41
52
14
20
11
22
29
4
20
25
16
20
19
-39
26
16
10
9
-35
18
22
12
13
0
57%
22%
9%
8%
4%
0%
49
24
10
12
6
0
66
20
5
6
2
0
61
19
11
7
2
0
45
30
9
9
7
0
55
24
15
5
2
0
61
21
12
5
2
0
59%
24%
9%
5%
2%
0%
40
33
12
10
5
0
73
18
7
2
1
0
59%
25%
12%
3%
2%
0%
49
28
17
5
2
0
57
26
12
4
2
0
71
20
6
1
2
0

Note: Data on length of prison sentence were available for over 99.9% of all cases in which a defendant received a prison sentence. Seven percent of prison sentences included a probation term, and 9% included a fine. Total for all offenses includes
cases that could not be classified into one of the four major offense categories. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.
--Less than 0.5%.
*Excludes life sentences.

May 2010

27

Appendix Table 11.
Length of jail sentence received by convicted offenders, by most serious conviction offense, 2006
Most serious conviction
offense
All offenses
Felonies
Violent offenses
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order
Misdemeanors

Number of
offenders
11,181
8,609
1,162
207
596
339
2,977
770
975
341
222
263
407
3,290
994
2,296
1,145
294
358
492
2,572

Percent of offenders receiving a maximum jail sentence (in months)
1 or less
2-3
4-6
7-9
10-12
Over 12
25%
19%
25%
8%
18%
4%
24%
18%
27%
9%
18%
4%
14%
16%
30%
12%
22%
7%
6
9
31
12
24
18
15
18
35
11
21
1
20
16
24
13
19
9
18%
17%
29%
11%
19%
5%
14
18
32
13
20
4
21
13
28
11
20
8
13
20
36
13
12
6
20
26
31
5
15
3
22
20
22
5
29
2
22
18
26
13
18
3
31%
19%
24%
6%
17%
3%
16
15
34
9
20
7
38
21
19
5
15
2
28%
15%
27%
11%
17%
3%
29
8
27
16
18
1
25
15
28
11
15
6
29
20
25
7
17
2
30%
25%
20%
4%
17%
4%

Note: Data on length of jail sentence were available for 95% of all cases in which a defendant received a jail sentence. Table excludes portions of
sentences that were suspended. Fifty percent of jail sentences included a probation term and 13% included a fine. Murder and rape have been
excluded from the detail because few of murder and rape convictions resulted in a jail sentence. The total for violent offenses, however, does
include these cases. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.

28

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Appendix Table 12.
Length of probation sentence received by convicted offenders, by most serious conviction
offense, 2006
Most serious conviction
offense
All offenses
All felonies
Violent offenses
Property offenses
Drug offenses
Public-order offenses
Misdemeanors

Number of
offenders
8,124
6,997
853
1,974
3,247
915
1,127

Percent of defendants receiving a probation sentence of (in months)
1-12
13-24
25-36
37-48
49-60
Over 60
21%
35%
29%
2%
10%
3%
16%
36%
31%
3%
12%
3%
19
36
20
5
17
4
20
36
22
2
18
2
13
33
43
2
6
3
17
45
16
2
14
5
54%
29%
16%
0%
-1%

Note: Data on length of probation sentence were available for 99% of all cases in which the most severe type of sentence a
defendant received was probation. Eighteen percent of those sentenced to probation also received a fine. Total for felonies
includes cases that could not be classified into one of the four categories.
Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.
--Less than 0.5%.

May 2010

29

Appendix Table 13.
Standard errors and confidence intervals for felony in defendants in the
nations's 75 largest population counties, by most serious arrest charge,
2006
Most serious
arest charge
Number of felony cases
All offenses
Violent offenses
Murder
Rape
Robbery
Assault
Other violent
Property offenses
Burglary
Larceny/theft
Motor vehicle theft
Forgery
Fraud
Other property
Drug offenses
Trafficking
Other drug
Public-order offenses
Weapons
Driving-related
Other public-order

Estimated
number
Standard error
58,100
13,295
370
669
3,451
6,386
2,419
16,948
4,495
5,268
1,661
1,416
2,128
1,980
21,232
8,487
12,745
6,624
1,958
1,837
2,830

95% confidence interval
Lower bound Upper bound

2,071
559
40
57
235
352
218
670
292
330
135
101
218
152
987
546
854
398
164
215
202

53,894
12,160
288
554
2,973
5,672
1,977
15,588
3,902
4,598
1,387
1,211
1,685
1,671
19,228
7,378
11,012
5,817
1,624
1,401
2,421

62,305
14,430
452
783
3,929
7,101
2,861
18,309
5,088
5,937
1,935
1,622
2,571
2,288
23,236
9,596
14,478
7,432
2,291
2,273
3,239

Note: Standard errors were calculated using the Taylor Linearization Method assuming a
without replacement (WOR) design, available in Sudaan 10.0.

30

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Appendix Table 14.
Standard errors and confidence intervals for felony defendants in the nation's 75
largest population counties, by selected characteristics, 2006
Characteristic
Sex
Male
Female
Race / Hispanic Origin
White, non-Hispanic
Black, non-Hispanic
Hispanic, any race
Other, non-Hispanic
Criminal justice status at time of arrest
Any relationship with CJ system
Probation
Pretrial release
Parole
In custody
Other
Most serious prior conviction
Felony
Misdemeanor
No prior convictions
Released before case disposition
Total released
Financial conditions
Surety bond
Deposit bond
Full cash bond
Property bond
Non-financial conditions
Recognizance
Conditional
Unsecured bond
Emergency release

Estimated
percent
Standard error

95% confidence interval
Lower bound Upper bound

82.4%
17.6

0.4%
0.4

81.6%
16.8

83.2%
18.4

29.2%
44.8
24.2
1.8

1.3%
2.0
1.6
0.4

26.6%
40.9
21.1
1.1

31.9%
48.8
27.7
2.9

30.7%
9.2
12.5
4.0
1.8
3.2

1.1%
0.9
0.9
0.4
0.3
0.5

28.5%
7.5
10.8
3.2
1.4
2.3

32.9%
11.3
14.4
4.9
2.4
4.3

43.2%
17.4
39.5

1.0%
0.7
1.5

41.1%
16.0
36.5

45.3%
18.8
42.5

57.9%
32.6
24.5
4.7
2.9
0.4
25.3%
15.9
6.8
2.6
0.1%

1.4%
55.1%
60.7%
1.5
29.5
35.7
2.0
20.8
28.7
0.9
3.2
6.9
0.5
2.0
4.2
0.2
0.2
0.9
1.8%
21.8%
29.2%
1.5
13.1
19.3
0.8
5.3
8.6
0.6
1.6
4.2
0.0%
0.0%
0.1%
Table 14 continued next page

May 2010

31

Appendix table 14 (cont .)
Standard errors and confidence intervals for felony in defendants in the nation's 75 largest
population counties, by selected characteristics, 2006
Characteristic

Estimated
percent

95% confidence interval
Standard error Lower bound Upper bound

Detained until case disposition
Total detained

42.1 %

1.4 %

39.4 %

44.9 %

Held on bond

37.3

1.5

34.3

40.4

Denied bond

4.8

0.5

3.9

5.9

Pretrial misconduct among released defendants
Total misconduct

33.2 %

1.2 %

30.7 %

35.7 %

Failure to appear

18.2

0.9

16.5

20.0

Re-arrests

17.9

1.1

15.7

20.3

Adjudication outcome
Convicted

67.5 %

1.2 %

65.0 %

70.0 %

Felony

56.4

1.7

53.0

59.8

Misdemeanor

11.2

1.1

9.2

13.6

24.0 %

1.4 %

21.3 %

27.1 %

8.5 %

0.8 %

7.0 %

10.2 %

Dismissal/Acquittal
Other outcome
Most serious sentences among convicted defendants
Prison

34.4 %

1.3 %

31.8 %

37.2 %

Jail

35.7

1.6

32.5

39.1

Probation

24.9

1.6

21.8

28.4

4.9

0.8

3.5

6.8

Other
Sentence length
Average sentence
Prison
Jail
Probation

48.5 mo

3.0 mo

m
42.4 o

54.6 mo

6.0

0.4

5.2

6.8

30.8

1.5

27.8

33.8

23.9 mo

1.6 mo

m
23.6 o

30.0 mo

Median sentence
Prison
Jail
Probation

3.8

0.5

3.2

5.1

23.0

2.7

22.0

33.1

Note: Standard errors were calculated using the Taylor Linearization Method assuming a without replacement (WOR)
design, available in Sudaan 10.0

32

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Appendix Table 15.
Population, sampling weights, and number of cases, by SCPS jurisdiction, 2006
Sampling weights
Filings
County*

Total

Number of cases
Unweighted
Weighted
16,211
58,100
533
2,369
540
1,350
1,274
5,662
537
1,841
293
1,302
223
558
439
1,756
328
1,124

County (State)
Total
Maricopa (AZ)
Pima (AZ)
Los Angeles (CA)
Orange (CA)
San Bernardino (CA)
Ventura (CA)
Hartford (CT)
Broward (FL)

Population
3,766,461
974,121
9,826,493
2,970,485
1,981,696
791,247
872,945
1,764,533

4
1
4
2
4
1
2
2

1.11
2.50
1.11
1.71
1.11
2.50
2.00
1.71

4.44
2.50
4.44
3.43
4.44
2.50
4.00
3.43

Miami-Dade (FL)
Hillsborough (FL)
Orange (FL)
Honolulu (HI)
Cook (IL)
Marion (IN)
Baltimore County (MD)
Montgomery (MD)

2,376,421
1,158,277
1,052,515
904,134
5,270,146
872,069
785,200
936,070

4
2
2
1
4
2
1
1

1.11
1.71
2.00
2.50
1.11
1.71
2.50
2.50

4.44
3.43
4.00
2.50
4.44
3.43
2.50
2.50

899
692
334
166
716
431
324
232

3,995
2,372
1,336
415
3,182
1,477
810
580

Prince George (MD)
Oakland (MI)
Wayne (MI)
Saint Louis (MO)
Essex (NJ)
Middlesex (NJ)
Bronx (NY)
Kings (NY)

831,602
1,204,666
5,270,146
996,953
775,041
778,806
1,371,353
2,523,047

1
1
4
1
4
1
2
2

2.50
2.50
1.11
2.50
1.11
2.50
1.71
2.00

2.50
2.50
4.44
2.50
4.44
2.50
3.43
4.00

349
359
292
313
259
436
358
436

873
898
1,298
783
1,151
1,090
1,227
1,744

Nassau (NY)
New York (NY)
Suffolk (NY)
Wake (NC)
Cuyahoga (OH)
Franklin (OH)
Hamilton (OH)
Shelby (TN)

1,353,766
1,612,630
1,508,192
791,214
1,307,936
1,107,090
847,184
909,658

1
2
1
1
2
2
2
2

2.50
1.71
2.50
2.50
1.71
2.00
2.00
2.00

2.50
3.43
2.50
2.50
3.43
4.00
4.00
4.00

232
426
399
545
516
155
316
243

580
1,460
998
1,363
1,769
620
1,264
972

Dallas (TX)
El Paso (TX)
Harris (TX)
Tarrant (TX)
Salt Lake (UT)
King (WA)
Milwaukee (WI)

2,355,200
722,458
3,858,432
1,662,215
987,035
1,827,533
951,334

4
1
4
2
2
2
1

1.11
2.50
1.11
2.00
2.00
2.00
2.50

4.44
2.50
4.44
4.00
4.00
4.00
2.50

357
328
649
496
246
183
357

1,587
820
2,884
1,984
984
732
893

Note: In some of the 40 counties included in the 2006 SCPS study, prosecutors did not screen out any felony arrests
before filing charges. In these counties, the SCPS sample cases are representative of all felony cases received by prosecutors and any cases subsequently screened out by the prosecutor are included in the SCPS dismissal category. In
other counties, all felony arrests were reviewed by prosecutors before the decision to file felony charges was made.
Weights are rounded to second decimal place. Populations are Census Bureau figures for July 1, 2006.
*Data collection problems caused Clark County (NV), which had been selected for stratum one in the 2006 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 one was reduced from ten (as specified in the original design) to nine. This changed the firststage weight for stratum one counties from 1.00 to 1.11.

May 2010

33

Appendix Table 16.
Most serious arrest charge of felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 2006
Percent of felony defendants charged with—
Violent offenses Property offenses Drug offenses

County (State)

Total

Maricopa (AZ)
Pima (AZ)
Los Angeles (CA)
Orange (CA)
San Bernardino (CA)
Ventura (CA)
Hartford (CT)
Broward (FL)
Miami-Dade (FL)
Hillsborough (FL)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

16
22
20
16
24
21
24
25
24
21

33
29
29
26
31
30
18
28
23
27

40
36
42
54
34
42
40
34
44
34

11
13
9
4
11
8
18
13
9
17

Orange (FL)
Honolulu (HI)
Cook (IL)
Marion (IN)
Baltimore County (MD)
Montgomery (MD)
Prince George (MD)
Oakland (MI)
Wayne (MI)
Saint Louis (MO)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

37
25
9
29
32
35
32
24
22
10

31
46
17
37
49
40
38
43
31
38

25
27
57
23
17
23
29
19
27
35

8
2
16
11
2
2
0
14
20
17

Essex (NJ)
Middlesex (NJ)
Bronx (NY)
Kings (NY)
Nassau (NY)
New York (NY)
Suffolk (NY)
Wake (NC)
Cuyahoga (OH)
Franklin (OH)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

28
22
30
39
22
21
21
15
30
21

17
39
18
18
53
34
40
40
28
36

47
24
42
28
13
35
18
40
35
32

7
15
9
15
11
10
21
5
7
12

Hamilton (OH)
Shelby (TN)
Dallas (TX)
El Paso (TX)
Harris (TX)
Tarrant (TX)
Salt Lake (UT)
King (WA)
Milwaukee (WI)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

26
23
24
34
19
22
23
25
30

26
21
33
22
22
35
41
45
20

36
53
33
29
45
29
28
13
33

12
3
10
16
14
14
8
17
17

Note: Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.

34

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Public offenses

Revised 7/15/2010

Appendix Table 17.

Sex and age of felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 2006
Percent of felony defendants
County (State)

Total

Sex
Male
Female

Total

Under 21

Age at arrest
21-29
30-39 40 or older

Maricopa (AZ)
Pima (AZ)
Los Angeles (CA)
Orange (CA)
San Bernardino (CA)
Ventura (CA)
Hartford (CT)
Broward (FL)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

82
80
84
81
84
81
85
73

18
20
16
19
16
19
15
27

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

17
17
13
17
12
10
32
19

37
32
30
33
38
41
31
34

25
25
26
28
25
22
19
21

20
26
31
23
26
27
18
26

Miami-Dade (FL)
Hillsborough (FL)
Orange (FL)
Honolulu (HI)
Cook (IL)
Marion (IN)
Baltimore (MD)
Montgomery (MD)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

82
76
83
83
85
78
77
85

18
24
17
17
15
22
23
15

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

13
15
17
11
18
14
28
28

29
30
34
33
29
33
36
34

25
25
23
27
27
27
15
16

33
30
26
29
26
26
20
22

Prince George's (MD)
Oakland (MI)
Wayne (MI)
Saint Louis (MO)
Essex (NJ)
Middlesex (NJ)
Bronx (NY)
Kings (NY)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

88
80
84
83
86
81
86
90

12
20
16
17
14
19
14
10

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

22
27
18
18
15
13
26
27

37
28
33
32
34
32
31
34

21
23
21
27
24
29
23
18

20
23
28
23
27
26
20
21

Nassau (NY)
New York (NY)
Suffolk (NY)
Wake (NC)
Cuyahoga (OH)
Franklin (OH)
Hamilton (OH)
Shelby (TN)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

86
82
87
82
82
87
78
83

14
18
14
18
18
14
22
17

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

18
19
17
24
17
19
16
13

34
27
36
34
34
36
36
37

25
22
23
23
23
23
22
23

23
32
24
20
26
23
26
27

Dallas (TX)
El Paso (TX)
Harris (TX)
Tarrant (TX)
Salt Lake (UT)
King (WA)
Milwaukee (WI)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

83
83
79
79
82
87
87

17
17
21
21
18
13
13

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

14
18
16
14
11
17
22

33
29
31
33
37
31
33

27
31
24
29
24
27
26

27
21
29
25
27
25
19

Note: Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.

May 2010

35

Appendix Table 18.
Race and Hispanic/Latino origin, by SCPS jurisdiction, 2006

County (State)
Total

Percent of felony defendants
Black, non- White, non- Other, non- Hispanic or
Total
Hispanic Hispanic
Hispanic
Latino, any race
100%
45
29
2
24

Maricopa (AZ)
Pima (AZ)
Los Angeles (CA)
Orange (CA)
San Bernardino (CA)
Ventura (CA)
Hartford (CT)
Broward (FL)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

15
10
34
6
25
6
32
47

41
42
17
42
37
35
41
38

5
5
2
4
1
3
1
--

39
43
47
48
37
56
26
14

Miami-Dade (FL)
Hillsborough (FL)
Orange (FL)
Honolulu (HI)
Cook (IL)
Marion (IN)
Baltimore (MD)
Montgomery (MD)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

49
42
45
6
67
54
52
52

14
42
34
17
19
42
46
33

0
0
-75
1
0
-2

38
16
21
2
13
4
2
13

Prince George's (MD)
Oakland (MI)
Wayne (MI)
Saint Louis (MO)
Essex (NJ)
Middlesex (NJ)
Bronx (NY)
Kings (NY)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

81
44
74
53
77
33
51
71

14
56
24
46
15
46
3
10

1
0
0
0
1
6
-1

5
0
2
1
7
15
45
19

Nassau (NY)
New York (NY)
Suffolk (NY)
Wake (NC)
Cuyahoga (OH)
Franklin (OH)
Hamilton (OH)
Shelby (TN)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

43
50
36
65
67
58
67
85

38
13
39
26
29
37
32
14

1
2
2
1
0
0
0
0

18
35
24
9
4
5
2
1

Dallas (TX)
El Paso (TX)
Harris (TX)
Tarrant (TX)
Salt Lake (UT)
King (WA)
Milwaukee (WI)

100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%
100%

48
8
43
42
9
29
63

31
12
26
39
68
52
26

-0
--3
8
1

20
80
31
19
20
12
10

Note: Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.
-- Less than 0.5%.

36

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Appendix Table 19.
Felony defendants released before or detained until case disposition, by SCPS jurisdiction, 2006
Percent of felony defendants—
With financial release
County (State)

Total

Total
Surety
financial bond

With nonfinancial release

Deposit Full cash Property
bond
bond
bond

Detained until case
disposition

Total non - Recog - Condi- Unsecured
financial nizance tional bond
Total

Held
on bail

Denied
bail

Maricopa (AZ)
Pima (AZ)
Los Angeles (CA)
Orange (CA)
San Bernardino (CA)
Ventura (CA)
Hartford (CT)
Broward (FL)
Miami-Dade (FL)
Hillsborough (FL)

60%
61%
31%
32%
52%
41%
71%
76%
65%
67%

13%
7%
19%
20%
18%
31%
37%
64%
36%
56%

10
3
19
19
18
30
37
52
36
53

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

3
4
0
1
0
1
0
13
0
3

--0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

46%
53%
11%
11%
34%
10%
34%
12%
29%
11%

31
38
11
11
16
10
17
6
9
11

15
15
0
0
18
0
0
6
20
--

0
0
0
0
0
0
17
0
0
0

40%
39%
69%
68%
48%
59%
29%
24%
35%
33%

21
37
68
67
46
59
27
22
25
27

19
2
1
1
2
0
2
2
10
5

Orange (FL)
Honolulu (HI)
Cook (IL)
Marion (IN)
Baltimore County (MD)
Montgomery (MD)
Prince George (MD)
Oakland (MI)
Wayne (MI)
Saint Louis (MO)

59%
64%
52%
69%
72%
69%
70%
62%
67%
73%

53%
39%
26%
20%
46%
39%
43%
30%
37%
55%

49
35
0
18
44
11
28
10
8
11

0
0
26
-0
13
2
15
27
41

4
4
-2
1
2
1
5
2
1

0
0
0
-1
14
12
0
0
2

5%
25%
26%
48%
26%
29%
26%
32%
30%
19%

4
2
-44
25
10
22
1
0
19

2
23
5
4
0
16
4
4
17
0

0
0
21
0
1
3
-27
13
0

41%
36%
48%
31%
28%
31%
30%
38%
33%
27%

35
34
47
27
23
28
25
34
30
24

6
2
1
4
6
3
5
3
4
3

Essex (NJ)
Middlesex (NJ)
Bronx (NY)
Kings (NY)
Nassau (NY)
New York (NY)
Suffolk (NY)
Wake (NC)
Cuyahoga (OH)
Franklin (OH)

53%
61%
79%
83%
66%
72%
69%
60%
66%
70%

26%
27%
12%
23%
33%
18%
31%
48%
50%
41%

6
18
...
...
8
...
6
47
38
32

18
4
...
...
0
...
0
0
9
6

2
5
...
...
25
...
25
1
4
2

0
0
...
...
0
...
0
1
-0

28%
33%
68%
60%
33%
54%
38%
11%
16%
29%

28
33
66
35
17
47
38
1
15
6

0
0
1
25
16
6
0
10
2
10

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
-0
12

47%
39%
21%
17%
34%
28%
31%
40%
34%
30%

45
38
16
14
34
23
30
36
32
30

1
1
4
2
1
5
2
5
2
1

Hamilton (OH)
56%
37%
2
32
2
1
18%
18
0
1
44%
44
0
Shelby (TN)
53%
41%
41
0
0
0
13%
5
8
0
47%
47
0
Dallas (TX)
45%
31%
30
0
1
0
14%
12
1
1
55%
51
4
El Paso (TX)
63%
52%
52
0
-0
11%
0
11
0
37%
9
27
Harris (TX)
37%
36%
35
0
1
0
-0
-0
63%
52
11
Tarrant (TX)
60%
57%
56
0
2
0
3%
0
3
0
40%
39
1
Salt Lake (UT)
67%
24%
23
0
1
0
43%
13
30
0
33%
20
13
King (WA)
55%
17%
9
5
3
0
38%
30
8
0
45%
39
7
Milwaukee (WI)
58%
32%
0
0
32
0
26%
20
6
0
42%
26
16
Note. In the following jurisdictions, a percentage of defendants were released as part of an emergency measure to relieve jail overcrowding: Marion (IN), 1%; Oakland
(MI), 1%; and Hamilton (OH), 1%. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.
--Less than 0.5%.
...Data on specific type of release was not reported by these jurisdictions.

May 2010

37

Appendix Table 20.
Failure-to-appear and re-arrest rates of defendants released prior to case disposition, by SCPS
jurisdiction, 2006

County (State)

Percent of released felony defendants who—
Failed to appear in court
Were re-arrested:
Returned to Remained
Total
court
a fugitive
Total
Felony Misdemeanor

Maricopa (AZ)
Pima (AZ)
Los Angeles (CA)
Orange (CA)
San Bernardino (CA)
Ventura (CA)
Hartford (CT)
Broward (FL)
Miami-Dade (FL)
Hillsborough (FL)

29%
17%
24%
39%
27%
32%
1%
19%
12%
11%

17
12
17
35
22
31
1
17
10
10

13
5
7
4
4
1
-3
3
1

15%
12%
10%
6%
11%
20%
6%
11%
12%
17%

11
9
6
5
3
10
2
8
10
11

4
3
4
1
7
10
4
3
2
6

Orange (FL)
Honolulu (HI)
Cook (IL)
Marion (IN)
Baltimore County (MD)
Montgomery (MD)
Prince George (MD)
Oakland (MI)
Wayne (MI)
Saint Louis (MO)

10%
11%
21%
27%
15%
23%
23%
10%
22%
18%

10
10
18
20
12
17
18
8
15
12

1
2
3
7
3
6
5
2
8
6

27%
16%
25%
18%
15%
13%
9%
5%
5%
4%

21
8
15
8
7
4
4
1
4
4

6
8
10
9
8
9
5
4
1
0

Essex (NJ)
Middlesex (NJ)
Bronx (NY)
Kings (NY)
Nassau (NY)
New York (NY)
Suffolk (NY)
Wake (NC)
Cuyahoga (OH)
Franklin (OH)

7%
19%
20%
20%
8%
19%
16%
11%
31%
25%

5
5
15
15
8
14
14
6
27
18

2
14
5
4
1
5
2
4
4
7

7%
10%
33%
28%
...%
29%
26%
10%
...%
9%

5
8
13
15
...
11
11
7
...
6

1
2
20
13
...
18
14
3
...
4

Hamilton (OH)
Shelby (TN)
Dallas (TX)
El Paso (TX)
Harris (TX)
Tarrant (TX)
Salt Lake (UT)
King (WA)
Milwaukee (WI)

23%
12%
3%
5%
7%
21%
28%
36%
16%

23
9
1
4
6
18
23
35
11

1
3
1
1
1
3
5
1
5

21%
26%
37%
18%
11%
26%
15%
34%
10%

10
8
29
12
6
18
9
32
5

11%
18
8
6
5
8
6
2
5

Note: All defendants who failed to appear in court and were not returned to the court during the 1-year study period
are counted as fugitives. Some of these defendants may have been returned to the court at a later date.
Rearrest data were collected for 1 year. Rearrests occurring after the end of this 1-year study period are not included in
the table. Information on rearrests occurring in jurisdictions other than the one granting the pretrial release was not
always available. Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.
...Data were not reported by the jurisdiction.
--Less than 0.5%.

38

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

Revised 7/15/2010

Appendix Table 21.
Adjudication outcome for felony defendants, by SCPS jurisdiction, 2006

County (State)
Total

Adjudicated
within 1 year
88%

Total
67%

Percent of felony defendants—
Convicted
Not convicted
Felony
Misdemeanor
Total
Dismissed Acquitted Other outcome*
56
11
24%
24
1
9%

Maricopa (AZ)
Pima (AZ)
Los Angeles (CA)
Orange (CA)
San Bernardino (CA)
Ventura (CA)
Hartford (CT)
Broward (FL)

87%
95
94
91
91
92
76
77

68%
56%
80%
80%
94%
75%
59%
63%

55
55
76
75
93
74
53
59

13
-4
4
1
2
6
4

31%
43%
9%
3%
6%
12%
41%
11%

30
43
8
3
6
12
40
10

-1
1
-0
0
0
1

1%
1
12
17
1
13
0
26

Miami-Dade (FL)
Hillsborough (FL)
Orange (FL)
Honolulu (HI)
Cook (IL)
Marion (IN)
Baltimore (MD)
Montgomery (MD)

85%
93
93
82
90
87
87
90

53%
60%
47%
93%
56%
72%
53%
57%

52
44
41
90
53
70
35
41

-16
6
4
3
3
18
17

39%
20%
39%
7%
44%
28%
40%
37%

38
19
38
4
42
26
40
37

2
-1
2
2
2
-1

8%
21
14
0
0
0
7
5

Prince George's (MD)
Oakland (MI)
Wayne (MI)
Saint Louis (MO)
Essex (NJ)
Middlesex (NJ)
Bronx (NY)
Kings (NY)

87%
97
97
80
88
84
76
87

43%
79%
64%
94%
60%
56%
79%
46%

21
78
62
88
34
30
34
23

22
1
2
6
26
26
45
24

53%
3%
16%
1%
36%
30%
21%
54%

52
2
14
1
35
28
21
53

2
1
2
0
1
1
0
--

4%
18
21
5
5
15
0
0

Nassau (NY)
New York (NY)
Suffolk (NY)
Wake (NC)
Cuyahoga (OH)
Franklin (OH)
Hamilton (OH)
Shelby (TN)

93%
87
83
87
94
82
96
77

89%
65%
83%
72%
87%
67%
65%
62%

37
34
51
72
78
48
48
21

52
31
33
0
9
19
17
41

6%
35%
15%
28%
10%
30%
31%
26%

6
35
15
28
8
30
29
26

0
1
0
0
1
0
2
0

5%
0
2
0
3
3
4
12

Dallas (TX)
El Paso (TX)
Harris (TX)
Tarrant (TX)
Salt Lake (UT)
King (WA)
Milwaukee (WI)

75%
85
96
84
87
96
93

68%
53%
69%
69%
63%
86%
82%

64
53
56
65
28
66
64

4
0
13
3
34
21
18

11%
29%
15%
14%
32%
11%
17%

11
28
15
14
30
11
16

0
1
-0
1
0
2

22%
18
16
18
5
3
1

Note: Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.
--Less than 0.5%.
*Includes diversion and deferred adjudication.

May 2010

39

Appendix Table 22.
Most severe type of sentence for offenders convicted of a felony, by SCPS jurisdiction,
2006

County (State)
Total

Percent of felony offenders
Incarceration
Nonincarceration
Total
Prison
Jail
Total
Probation
Other
73%
40
32
27%
25
2

Maricopa (AZ)
Pima (AZ)
Los Angeles (CA)
Orange (CA)
San Bernardino (CA)
Ventura (CA)
Hartford (CT)
Broward (FL)

60%
58%
84%
78%
83%
85%
46%
50%

37
40
41
34
38
34
32
16

23
18
43
43
45
51
13
34

40%
43%
16%
23%
17%
15%
55%
50%

40
41
16
21
15
15
31
48

-1
-1
2
0
23
3

Miami-Dade (FL)
Hillsborough (FL)
Orange (FL)
Honolulu (HI)
Cook (IL)
Marion (IN)
Baltimore (MD)
Montgomery (MD)

76%
58%
95%
48%
49%
92%
57%
75%

13
27
29
24
45
44
34
20

63
31
66
25
3
48
23
56

24%
42%
5%
52%
52%
8%
43%
25%

24
42
5
51
46
8
43
23

1
0
0
1
6
0
0
2

Prince George's (MD)
Oakland (MI)
Wayne (MI)
Saint Louis (MO)
Essex (NJ)
Middlesex (NJ)
Bronx (NY)
Kings (NY)

91%
79%
52%
35%
...%
64%
...%
...%

78
32
29
28
...
42
...
...

13
48
23
7
...
22
...
...

9%
21%
48%
65%
...%
36%
...%
...%

6
19
47
65
...
35
...
...

4
1
1
0
...
1
...
...

Nassau (NY)
New York (NY)
Suffolk (NY)
Wake (NC)
Cuyahoga (OH)
Franklin (OH)
Hamilton (OH)
Shelby (TN)

86%
...%
87%
52%
56%
86%
65%
59%

35
...
52
24
49
46
56
54

51
...
35
28
7
40
9
5

14%
...%
13%
48%
44%
14%
35%
41%

14
...
6
41
43
12
34
41

0
...
7
7
1
2
1
0

Dallas (TX)
El Paso (TX)
Harris (TX)
Tarrant (TX)
Salt Lake (UT)
King (WA)
Milwaukee (WI)

84%
26%
99%
94%
81%
90%
81%

59
3
70
68
40
43
38

25
23
29
26
42
47
43

16%
74%
1%
6%
19%
11%
19%

16
73
1
5
17
4
19

0
1
0
1
2
7
0

Note: Offenders receiving incarceration sentences that were wholly suspended are included under probation. Sentences to incarceration may have also included a probation term. Sentences to incarceration or probation may have included a fine, restitution, community service, treatment, or other court-ordered
condition. Other sentences included, fines, restitution, community service, or treatment-oriented punishment.
Detail may not sum to total because of rounding.
--Less than 0.5%.
... Data were not reported by the jurisdiction.

40

Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006

U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Bureau of Justice Statistics

*NCJ~228944*

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The Bureau of Justice Statistics is the statistical agency of the
U.S. Department of Justice. Michael D. Sinclair is acting
director. This BJS Bulletin presents the first release of findings from the 2006 State Court Processing Statistics project.
Thomas H. Cohen and Tracey Kyckelhahn, BJS statisticians,
prepared this report under the supervision of Duren Banks.
The data were collected and processed by the Pretrial Justice
Institute (PJI) under the supervision of Cherise Burdeen.
Current and former PJI staff, including Stephanie Garbo,
Jessica Keefe, David Levin, Tracy Loynachan, and Becky
Mensch also contributed to this project. Carma Hogue of
the Economic Statistical Methods and Procedures Division,
U.S. Census Bureau, assisted with sample design.

This report in portable document format and in ASCII and
its related statistical data and tables are available at the BJS
World Wide Web Internet site: .

Office of Justice Programs
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Catherine Bird and Jill Duncan edited the report, and Tina
Dorsey and Jayne E. Robinson produced and prepared the
report for final printing, under the supervision of Doris J.
James.
May 2010, NCJ 228944

May 2010

41