NCJ Number
137303
Date Published
1990
Length
68 pages
Annotation
This report is a statistical description of the 3,780 offenders committed by the courts to a term of incarceration in Massachusetts Department of Correction facilities during 1989.
Abstract
The tables contain information on the nature of the present offense, personal background characteristics, and criminal history. There was a 27-percent increase in the number of commitments during the year, from 2,965 in 1988 to 3,780 in 1989. This was the highest level of commitments in the State's history. There was a 36-percent increase in male commitments and a 12-percent increase in female commitments from 1988 to 1989. Violent offenses accounted for 51 percent of all male commitments and 11 percent of all female commitments. Nonviolent offenses were involved in 89 percent of all female commitments and 49 percent of all male commitments. All commitment offenses increased from 1988 to 1989: drug offenses up 46 percent, sex offenses up 40 percent, person offenses up 27 percent, property offenses up 10 percent, and "other" offenses up 14 percent. The median age at commitment was 28 years. Fifty-three percent of the commitment population were white; 67 percent were single; 11 percent had been in the military; 38 percent came from the Boston Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area; most had limited work experience concentrated in services and manual labor; the median education level was 12th grade; and 32 percent had a self-reported history of drug use. Sixty-four percent of those committed were serving their first adult incarceration. The median age at first court appearance was 19. Tables and glossary