Law Articles

Return to Law Dictionary Index

Criminal Defense Statistics

• In 1998, State and Federal courts convicted a combined total of nearly 980,000 adults of felonies - State courts convicted 927,717 adults and Federal courts convicted 50,494 adults (accounting for 5% of the national total.)
• In 1998, 68% of all felons convicted in State courts were sentenced to a period of confinement - 44% to State prisons and 24% to local jails. Jail sentences are for short-term confinement (usually for a year or less) in a county or city facility, while prison sentences are for long-term confinement (usually for over a year) in a State facility.
• State courts sentenced 32% of convicted felons to straight probation with no jail or prison time to serve.
• Felons sentenced to a State prison in 1998 had an average sentence of 5 years but were likely to serve almost a half (47%) of that sentence - or just over 2 years - before release, assuming that 1998 release policies continue in effect.
• The average sentence to local jail was 6 months. The average probation sentence was about 3 1/4 years.
• Besides being sentenced to incarceration or probation, 36% or more of convicted felons also were ordered to pay a fine, pay victim restitution, receive treatment, perform community service, or comply with some other additional penalty. A fine was imposed on at least 21% of convicted felons

Lengths of felony sentences imposed by State courts, 1998
Average maximum sentence length (in months) for felons sentenced to:
Incarceration
Most serious conviction offense	Total	Prison	Jail	Probation
All offenses	39 mo	57 mo	6 mo	40 mo
Violent offenses	77 mo	100 mo	7 mo	47 mo
Property offenses	31 mo	44 mo	5 mo	39 mo
Drug offenses	31 mo	47 mo	5 mo	38 mo
Weapons offenses	29 mo	42 mo	6 mo	35 mo
Other offenses	25 mo	40 mo	6 mo	40 mo
Note: Means exclude sentences to death or to life in prison. Sentence length data were available for 921,328 incarceration and probation sentences.

Return to Criminal Law

Return to Law Dictionary Index