Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties, 2006. State Court Processing Statistics

摘要

In the nations 75 largest counties, an estimated 58,100 defendants were charged with a felony offense in May 2006. About two-thirds of these felony defendants were charged with a drug or property offense, while 23% had charges for violent offenses, such as murder, rape, robbery, or aggravated assault (table 1). These are some of the findings from the 2006 State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) data collection program. Since 1988 the Bureau of Justice Statistics has sponsored a biennial collection of data on felony cases processed in state courts in the nations 75 largest counties. SCPS collects data on the demographic characteristics, criminal history, pretrial processing, adjudication, and sentencing of felony defendants. Federal defendants and defendants charged with misdemeanor crimes are not included in SCPS data (although outcomes of felony cases in which charges were reduced to misdemeanors are included in some tables).