BJS: Bureau of Justice Statistics

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Home | Courts | Criminal Cases
Criminal Cases
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Summary findings

  • In the nation's 75 largest counties, an estimated 58,100 defendants were charged with a felony offense in 2006.
  • More than three-fourths of felony defendants had a prior arrest history, with 69% having multiple prior arrests.
  • Fifty-eight percent of felony defendants in the nation's 75 largest counties were released prior to adjudication and about a third of the released defendants committed some form of pretrial misconduct.
  • About two-thirds of felony defendants were eventually convicted and more than 95% of these convictions occurred through a guilty plea.
  • Seventy percent of defendants convicted were incarcerated in a state prison or local jail.

 

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