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1 Patrick A. Langan & John M. Dawson, Felony Sentences in State Courts, 1990 1 (1990)

handle is hein.death/flosct0001 and id is 1 raw text is: U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Statistics Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin Felony Sentences S m State Courts, 1990 By Patrick A. Langan, Ph.D. and John M. Dawson BJS Statisticians In 1990, an estimated 168,000 persons were convicted of drug trafficking, accord- ing to the most recent national survey of felony sentencing in State courts. That number is more than twice the number convicted in 1986, the year the survey was first conducted. An estimated 49% of drug traffickers received a State prison sen- tence in 1990, up from 37/o in 1986. Other-results nelude the fookwein.- * Drug traffickers (20%) and drug pos- sessors (13%) together made up 33% of felons convicted in State courts in 1990. Violent offenders, consisting of murderers (1%), rapists (2%), robbers (6%), assault- ers (7%), and others convicted of a violent crime (2%) together made up 18%. Burglars (13%) and larcenists (14%) made up most of the rest. - State courts sentenced 46% of convicted felons to a State prison and 25% to a local jail (usually for a year or less). The remaining 29% were sentenced to straight probation with no jail or prison time to serve. * State courts sentenced to death 2% of those convicted of murder. a The average sentence to local jail was 8 months. The average probation sen- tence was about 31/2 years. The 1990 National Judicial Reporting Program (NJRP), a biennial collection of sentencing data from a sample of felony trial courts in 300 counties, is designed to provide national estimates of the number of felony convictions and the types of sentences imposed after conviction. The statistical series, begun in 1986, documents an estimated 42% increase in the number of felony con- victions over the period, from about 583,000 to more than 829,000 in 1990. About 92,000 additional felony drug trafficking offenders were sentenced in 1990 compared to 1986, accounting for about 37% of the total increase during the 4-year period. In 1986 drug * Felons sentenced to a State prison in 1990 had an average sentence of 61/4 years but were likely to serve a third of that sentence - or about 2 years - before release, assuming that current release policies continued. * About 78% of felons had one felony conviction offense, 16% had two, and the remaining 6% had three or more. * A fine was imposed on 16% of convicted felons, restitution on 16%, community ser- vice on 4%, and treatment was ordered for 7%. * Of the total number of convicted felons in 1990, 91% had pleaded guilty to their March 1993 trafficking accounted for 13% of felons sentenced that year compared to 20% of felons sentenced in 1990. The 1990 NJRP, an important com- ponent of BJS's effort to provide national statistics on courts and adjudication, gives more detail than ever before on the types of felony offenses handled by State courts, including armed and unarmed' robbery as well as different categories of burglary, larceny, and fraud. BJS gratefully acknowledges the gen- erous cooperation and assistance of State court and prosecution officials who made this report possible. Lawrence A. Greenfeld Acting Director crime. The rest had been found guilty at trial. 9 The average time from arrest to sen- tencing in 1990 was about 7 months. * Large urban counties disproportionately accounted for felony convictions nation- wide- the 75 largest urban counties had 37% of the Nation's residents but 48% of its felony convictions. o Of the felons convicted nationally in 1990, 52% were white, 47% were black, and 1% were of other races. Males were 86% of the total. The average age of convicted felons was 29 years. 1~nW~I

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