The United States is currently experiencing the longest period of decline in violent crime rates (murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) since the early 1960s; and property crime rates (burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft) have declined steadily over the last 10 years after having remained relatively stable during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. Regarding illegal drug use and its link to other crimes and related social issues, Federal, State, and local officials have responded in a number of ways, including committing significant resources to law enforcement, treatment, and prevention strategies. This has led to sharp increases in drug arrest rates, drug control budgets, and correctional populations. Similar to overall crime rate patterns, juvenile crime and victimization rates have recently decreased. Although school-related crimes have received significant media attention, they too were substantially lower in the late 1990s than at the beginning of the decade. As prison populations have increased dramatically over the past 20 years, the types of offenses for which incarceration is imposed have changed. A review of the percentage of new court commitments to State prisons for the years 1980, 1986, 1992, and 1997 shows significant increases in the percentage of offenders imprisoned for drug offenses, and significant declines in the percentage of offenders imprisoned for property and violent offenses. Approximately 500,000 individuals re-entered the community from prison in 1997, and the vast majority were on some form of conditional release. Examples of State crime legislation related to adults and juveniles for the year 2000 are provided for each State. Extensive tables and figures
Crime and Justice Atlas 2001 Update
NCJ Number
209992
Date Published
2001
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This Crime and Justice Atlas 2001 Update reviews trends in rates of violent and property crime, illegal drug use, and juvenile crime and victimization; trends in prison populations and the offenses for which offenders are imprisoned; and trends in parole/reentry.
Abstract