The Footprint
Tracking the Size of
America's Criminal Justice System
Published September 2023
Updated October 2024
The overall size, or “footprint,” of the American criminal justice system remains well above historical levels, but it has shrunk substantially in recent years. This series of interactive charts summarizes trends in crime, arrests, and correctional control (incarceration and community supervision), comparing current levels with their most recent peaks or valleys. Time periods vary due to data availability, and where reliable data are available, trends in race and sex are also presented.
COVID-19 resulted in significant changes in crime patterns and the operations of law enforcement agencies, courts, correctional agencies, and paroling authorities. Because of the unique influence of the pandemic across the system, analyses also examine the early effects of the pandemic on crime, arrests, and correctional control.
The first section provides a high-level overview of crime, arrest, and incarceration trends in recent decades. The following sections take a closer look at trends in each area, broken down by age, crime type, race, and sex.
Overview
Reported Crime, 1960-2023
Notes: Data reflect Part I crimes as defined by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program: burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Data only include crimes reported to law enforcement. The FBI does not provide arson estimates due to high variability in the degree of reporting; therefore, arson data are not presented. The volume and rate of other offenses, including simple assault, drug-related crimes, and weapons charges, are only captured in arrests. 2021 and 2022 data were updated with the 2024 Summary Reporting System release. The FBI stopped presenting an overall crime rate in 2004 because of concern that it facilitated unfair comparisons between local jurisdictions that had different proportions of violent and property crimes. The National Crime Victimization Survey provides another measure of crime in America; these data are presented below.
Arrests, 1980-2020
Note: Data include adults and juveniles.
Correctional Control, 1980-2022
Notes: Data include adults and juveniles. People awaiting trial at home or engaged in diversion/deferred prosecution programs or specialty courts are not included unless they are under probation supervision. Unless otherwise noted, the jurisdictional count is used for correctional populations throughout this product.
Crime and Victimization Rates
Near real-time CCJ analysis on crime trends derived from a limited number of cities across the nation are provided in regular reports that began in July 2020.
Reported Violent Crime, 1960-2023
Notes: Data reflect Part I crimes as defined by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program: homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. The volume and rate of other offenses against persons, including simple assault, are only captured in arrests. See the Council’s report on Homicide Trends for additional information. 2021 and 2022 data were updated with the 2024 Summary Reporting System release.
Reported Property Crime, 1960-2023
Notes: Data reflect Part I crimes as defined by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program: burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The FBI does not provide arson estimates due to high variability in the degree of reporting; therefore, arson data are not presented here. The volume and rate of other offenses, including simple assault, drug-related crimes, and weapons charges, are only captured in arrests. 2021 and 2022 data were updated with the 2024 Summary Reporting System release.
Violent Crime Victimization,
1993-2023
Notes: Data were drawn from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which collects information from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households on nonfatal crimes, reported and not reported to the police, against people age 12 or older. Data for 2006 are not comparable to other years due to changes in survey methodology.
Property Crime Victimization, 1993-2023
Notes: Data were drawn from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which collects information from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households on nonfatal crimes, reported and not reported to the police, against people age 12 or older. Property crimes against businesses or other non-household entities are not included. Data for 2006 are not comparable to other years due to changes in survey methodology.
Arrests
Total arrests include all arrests nationally in a given year for adults (age 18 and older) and juveniles (age 10 to 17). Arrests are displayed by crime type, race, and sex for adults and juveniles.
Adult Arrests
Adult Arrests, 1980-2020
Adult Arrests for
Violent Crime, 1980-2020
Notes: Data presented on arrests for violent crime include arrests for homicide, robbery, and aggravated assault. Historically, these three offenses have comprised more than 95% of arrests for offenses in the Violent Crime Index. The Index cannot be used here because rape was redefined by the FBI in 2013, complicating longitudinal comparisons.
Adult Arrests for
Property Crime, 1980-2020
Note: Arrests for property crime include only Part I property offenses (burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson). Additional types of property crime arrests are counted by the FBI in the “other” category.
Adult Arrests for
Drug Offenses, 1980-2020
Note: Drug offenses include sale, purchase, distribution, manufacture, cultivation, transport, possession, and use.
Adult Arrests for
Other Crimes, 1980-2020
Note: The “other” category includes all other non-traffic related offenses (e.g., curfew/loitering, disorderly conduct, drunkenness, driving under the influence, embezzlement, forgery/counterfeiting, fraud, human trafficking, liquor law violations, offenses against family and children, prostitution, certain sexual offenses, vagrancy, and weapons charges).
Adult Arrests by Race, 1980-2020
Notes: Data identifying Hispanic ethnicity of those arrested were missing for the majority of the study period, therefore data by Hispanic origin are not presented as a separate category. These individuals were reported as members of one of the included racial groups.
Adult Arrest Rate by Race, 1980-2020
Adult Arrests by Sex,
1980-2020
Adult Arrest Rate by Sex,
1980-2020
Juvenile Arrests
Juvenile Arrests, 1980-2020
Juvenile Arrest Rates by Offense Type, 1980-2020
Juvenile Arrests by Race,
1980-2020
Juvenile Arrest Rate by Race, 1980-2020
Juvenile Arrests by Sex, 1980-2020
Correctional Control
Correctional control includes all people (adult and juvenile) under probation or parole supervision as well as those incarcerated in jails and prisons.
Probation
Probation is a period of court-ordered community supervision during which supervisees must fulfill certain conditions in order to avoid incarceration or other sanctions. Standard conditions include checking in with a probation officer, not engaging in new crime, securing and maintaining employment, and submitting to drug tests.
Probation, 1980-2022
Probation by Race, 2001-2022
Notes: Throughout the study period, approximately one-third of people on probation did not have a recorded race or ethnicity. Only data for people with a reported race or ethnicity are included. Data from 2011-2021 are rounded to the nearest hundred.
Probation by Sex, 1994-2022
Parole
Parole is the discretionary release of an incarcerated person under post-release supervision conditions by a case review board. Typically, parole eligibility occurs after an individual serves a required percentage of the maximum sentence imposed by the court. When a person becomes eligible for parole varies widely by state, and not all states offer parole.
Parole, 1980-2022
Parole by Race, 2001-2022
Notes: Throughout the study period, a substantial proportion of individuals on parole (30% in 2021) did not have a recorded race or ethnicity. Only data for people with reported race or ethnicity are included. Data from 2011-2021 are rounded to the nearest hundred.
Parole by Sex, 1994-2022
Jails
Jails are local correctional facilities that hold people who have been accused of crime and are awaiting trial, along with those serving shorter sentences (typically less than one year) for less serious crimes. Some people are incarcerated in jail prior to their transfer to prison; others are released from jail to the community.
Incarceration in Jails, 1980-2022
Jail Incarceration by Conviction Status, 1982-2022
Jail Incarceration by Race,
1990-2021
Note: Data on Native American and Asian adults were not consistently reported and are therefore not presented here.
Jail Incarceration by Sex,
1983-2022
State Prisons
Prisons are correctional facilities that house people typically serving sentences of incarceration of one year or more.
Incarceration in State Prisons, 1960-2022
State Prison Population by Offense Type, 1990-2021
Notes: Data are for most serious offense type and represent year-end counts, rounded to the nearest hundred. Data were not available for 2007 and are omitted, 2011 data were estimated from percentages, and 2006 data did not include separate estimates for public order and other offenses. Violent crime includes murder, negligent manslaughter, rape and sexual assault, robbery, aggravated and simple assault, and an “other” category. Property crime includes burglary, larceny/theft, motor vehicle theft, fraud, and an “other” category. Drug offenses include possession and an “other” category. Public order offenses include weapons charges, driving under the influence, and an “other” category.
State Imprisonment Rate by Race, 1990-2020
Note: Data on Native American and Asian adults were not consistently reported and are therefore not presented here.
State Prison Population by Sex, 1978-2022
Federal Prisons
Federal correctional facilities house people who have violated federal laws, often those covering drug trafficking, money laundering, identity theft, racketeering, some sexual crimes, and immigration violations. People incarcerated in federal prisons typically have been given sentences of more than one year.
Incarceration in Federal Prisons 1960-2022
Federal Prison Population by Offense Type, 1990-2022
Notes: Data are for the most serious offense type and represent counts on September 30; data for some years are rounded to the nearest hundred. Data were not available for 1997 and are omitted. Violent crime includes homicide, robbery, sexual abuse, and an “other” category. Property crime includes burglary, fraud, and an “other” category. Drug offenses were not specified in the primary data sources. Public order offenses include weapons charges, immigration crimes, and an “other” category.
Federal Prison Population by Sex, 1978-2022
The Incarceration of Women and Juveniles
Incarcerated Women, 1982-2022
Juveniles Held in Local Jails, 1982-2022
Note: Juveniles charged with certain offenses may be held in local jails rather than in juvenile detention centers.
Juveniles Held in State and Federal Prisons, 2000-2022
Note: Juveniles convicted of violent crimes, including murder, may be tried as adults and housed in adult prisons.
Suggested Citation
Council on Criminal Justice. (2024). The footprint: Tracking the size of America's criminal justice system. https://counciloncj.foleon.com/the-footprint-trends-in-crime-arrests-and-the-total-correctional-population/the-footprint/
