Latest Bureau of Justice Statistics Stories

WASHINGTON, Aug. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than half of the nation's violent crimes, or nearly 3.4 million violent victimizations per year, went unreported to the police between 2006 and 2010, according to a new report published by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Using data from BJS's National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), this new report examines characteristics of unreported victimizations, the reasons victims did not report crimes and trends from 1994...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At the end of 2009, the nation's publicly funded crime labs had an estimated backlog of 1.2 million requests for forensic services, relatively unchanged from the backlog at yearend 2008, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. A request was defined as backlogged if it had not been completed within 30 days. In 2009, the 411 federal, state, county and municipal labs began the year with more than 1.0 million backlogged...

Mortality rate in state prisons stable since 2003 WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported today that in 2009 both the rate and number of deaths in local jails dropped to one of the lowest levels in a decade, based on data from the Deaths in Custody Reporting Program (DCRP). The jail mortality rate dropped to 127 inmate deaths per 100,000 jail inmates in 2009 from 151 deaths per 100,000 in 2000. Over the past three years,...

Rates of completion up for parolees and probationers since 2006 WASHINGTON, Nov. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The number of adult offenders under community supervision on probation or on parole declined by 1.3 percent during 2010, dropping to about 4.9 million adults at yearend, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. This marked the second consecutive year of decline in the number of adults under community supervision. Probation is a court-ordered...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- From 2003 to 2009, a reported 4,813 persons died during or shortly after law enforcement personnel attempted to arrest or restrain them, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. About 60 percent of arrest-related deaths (2,931) were classified as homicides by law enforcement personnel and 40 percent (1,882) were attributed to other manners of death. Suicide and death by intoxication each accounted for about 11...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The nation's homicide rate fell to 4.8 homicides per 100,000 U.S. residents in 2010, its lowest level in four decades, the Bureau of Justice Statistics announced today. Much of the decline was in the nation's largest cities, those with a population of one million or more, where the homicide rate dropped dramatically from 35.5 homicides per 100,000 U.S. residents in 1991 to a low of 11.9 per 100,000 in 2008. The sharp increase in...

Police used or threatened to use force in less than two percent of contacts WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An estimated 40 million U.S. residents age 16 or older, or about 17 percent of the population, had a face-to-face contact with a police officer in 2008, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. This is a continuing decrease in contact between police and the public, down from 19 percent of residents who had contact with the police in 2005 and 21...

New interactive data tool allows users to analyze 30-year arrest trends WASHINGTON, Sept. 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. murder arrest rate dropped more than 50 percent over a 30-year period, from 8.8 arrests per 100,000 U.S. residents in 1980 to 4.0 per 100,000 in 2009, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. Arrest rates for forcible rape, robbery, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and weapon law violations also decreased significantly over the...

******MEDIA ADVISORY****** WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released today by Bureau of Justice Statistics: What: James P. Lynch, Director, Bureau of Justice Statistics, will discuss Crime in America on C-Span's "Washington Journal," a television call-in and interview program. When: Friday, August 26, 2011, 9 -10 a.m. Who: James P. Lynch, Ph.D., Director Details: Topics will include trends in violent crime, how they vary across social groups and...

WASHINGTON, August 4, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- From 1993 to 2009, about nine percent of victims of serious violent crime?rape or other sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated assault?received direct assistance from a victim service agency, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) announced today. Victim service agencies are publicly or privately funded organizations that provide victims with support and services to aid their physical and emotional recovery, offer protection from future...