Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics, 1997

• NCJ Number: 176328
• Author(s): William J. Sabol Ph.D; William Adams; David Kirk; Barbara Parthasarathy; Harvey Meyerson; Yan Yuan; Christine Arriola
• Editor(s): Tom Hester
• Date Published: October 1999
• Length: 109 pages
• Grant Number(s): 98-BJ-CX-K015
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS)
• Corporate Author: The Urban Institute
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; Justice Statistics Clearinghouse/NCJRS
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This report presents national-level statistics describing all aspects of processing in the Federal criminal justice system, including investigations by United States attorneys, prosecutions and declinations, pretrial release and detention, convictions and acquittals, sentencing, appeals, and corrections for 1997.

Abstract

Presents national-level statistics describing all aspects of processing in the Federal criminal justice system, including investigations by U.S. attorneys, prosecutions and declinations, pretrial release and detention, convictions and acquittals, sentencing, appeals, and corrections for 1997. Interactive tabulations of Federal criminal case processing data are available from the Federal Justice Statistics Resource Center.

• During 1997 U.S. attorneys initiated criminal investigations of 110,034 suspects. They concluded investigations of 99,459 suspects.
• Criminal charges were filed in U.S. district courts against 69,351 defendants during 1997. Criminal cases were concluded against 64,956 defendants during 1997. Eighty-seven percent (or 56,570) of all defendants were convicted. Most felony convictions were obtained by guilty plea (93%).
• Drug defendants comprised 42% of felony convictions, defendants charged with property and public-order offenses each comprised 26% of the felony convictions, and defendants charged with violent offenses comprised the remaining 6% of felony convictions.