NCJ Number
79970
Date Published
1981
Length
43 pages
Annotation
The resources and functions of the New Orleans criminal justice system are discussed, from the point of complaint to final case disposition.
Abstract
The primary purpose of the presentation is to educate the public about the capacity of criminal justice agencies to impact crime in New Orleans. The focus is on the response of the criminal justice system to the serious adult offender. It is emphasized that the primary role of the criminal justice system is to react to crime by identifying criminals and administering justice rather than remedying complex socioeconomic factors generally accepted as the causes of crime. Following a discussion of crime in New Orleans during 1979, the report considers arrest (the police response), prosecution, adjudication, and corrections (incarceration and probation) with emphasis on organization, resources, and workload for each criminal justice agency. The police received 355,195 calls for service in 1979; 15 percent involved Part I offenses and 85 percent were for Part II crimes and community service. These calls resulted in 44,972 arrests (excluding traffic). Prosecution received 9,786 cases involving 11,416 defendants. Of the cases referred, 59 percent were accepted for prosecution. About 10,000 inmates are processed through the prison system annually, with about 1,700 prisoners held at a given time. As of January 1980, about 45 percent of the inmates were awaiting trial. Although the city is under a Federal court order to reduce the parish prison population, another court order aimed at reducing the population at Angola State Penitentiary has resulted in an increase in the Orleans Parish Prison population. The jail overcrowding problem is aggravated by a provision which allows persons sentenced to State corrections who are appealing their convictions to remain in the local jail until settlement of the appeal. Tabular and graphic data are provided.