Persons Arrested

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Definition

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program counts one arrest for each separate instance in which a person is arrested, cited, or summoned for an offense. The Program collects arrest data on 29 offenses, as described in Offense Definitions. Because a person may be arrested multiple times during the year, the UCR arrest figures do not reflect the number of individuals who have been arrested. Rather, the arrest data show the number of times that persons are arrested, as reported by law enforcement agencies to the UCR Program.

Data collection—juveniles

The UCR Program considers a juvenile to be an individual under 18 years of age regardless of state definition. The Program does not collect data regarding police contact with a juvenile who has not committed an offense, nor does it collect data on situations in which police take a juvenile into custody for his or her own protection, e.g., neglect cases.

Overview

• In 2006, the FBI estimated that 14,380,370 arrests occurred nationwide for all offenses (except traffic violations), of which 611,523 were for violent crimes, and 1,540,297 were for property crimes
• Law enforcement made more arrests for drug abuse violations in 2006 (an estimated 1.9 million arrests, or 13.1 percent of the total number of arrests) than for any other offense. (Based on Table 29.)
• Nationwide, the 2006 rate of arrests was estimated at 4,832.5 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants; for violent crime, the estimate was 207.0 per 100,000; and for property crime, the estimate was 524.5 per 100,000. (See Table 30.)
• Although the number of arrests for violent crimes increased less than 1 percent (0.3) when compared with arrest data from 2005, arrests for robbery offenses rose 8.6 percent.
• Arrests of juveniles (under 18 years of age) for murder rose 3.4 percent in 2006 compared with 2005 arrest data; for robbery, arrests of juveniles increased 18.9 percent over the same 2-year period. (See Table 36.)
• In 2006, 76.3 percent of all persons arrested were male, 82.2 percent of persons arrested for violent crime were male, and 68.8 percent of persons arrested for property crime were male. (See Table 42.)
• Among the four categories of race reflected in UCR arrest data, 69.7 percent of persons arrested were white, 58.5 percent of persons arrested for violent crime were white, and 68.2 percent of persons arrested for property crime were white.
• White juveniles comprised 67.1 percent of the juveniles arrested in 2006.
• Black juveniles accounted for 51.0 percent of the juveniles arrested for violent crime, and white juveniles comprised 66.3 percent of juveniles arrested for property crime. (See Table 43.)

Expanded arrest data

Expanded data about arrests include information about the age, gender, and race of the arrestees. These data are available in the following tables:

Age: Tables 32, 34, 36, 38, 41, 44, 46, 47, 50, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 62, 64, and 65

Gender: Tables 33, 35, 37, 39, 40, 42, 45, 48, 51, 54, 57, 60, 63, and 66

Race: Tables 43, 49, 55, 61, and 67

Arrest Table

Arrests for Drug Abuse Violations
Percent Distribution by Region, 2006

Drug abuse violations		United States total	Northeast	Midwest	South	West
Total1		100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0	100.0
Sale/ Manufacturing:	Total	17.5	22.7	17.4	17.5	15.1
	Heroin or cocaine and their derivatives	8.0	14.6	5.6	8.3	5.5
	Marijuana	4.8	5.4	6.8	4.3	4.1
	Synthetic or manufactured drugs	1.5	1.0	1.1	2.8	0.6
	Other dangerous nonnarcotic drugs	3.2	1.7	3.9	2.0	4.8
Possession:	Total	82.5	77.3	82.6	82.5	84.9
	Heroin or cocaine and their derivatives	22.8	23.9	16.1	24.9	23.1
	Marijuana	39.1	42.5	50.2	45.5	25.9
	Synthetic or manufactured drugs	3.4	2.1	3.1	4.4	3.1
	Other dangerous nonnarcotic drugs	17.2	8.9	13.3	7.8	32.8

¹ Because of rounding, the percentages may not add to 100.0.

September 2007