May 31, 2000    NCJ 180258

Presents national-level statistics describing all aspects of processing in the Federal criminal justice system, including investigations by U.S. attorneys, prosecutions and declinations, pretrial release and detention, convictions and acquittals, sentencing, appeals, and corrections for 1998. Statistics for arrests are included for the first time.

Highlights include the following:

• The number of defendants prosecuted in federal courts rose 12.7 percent--from 69,351 in 1997 to 78,172 in 1998, principally because of increases in drug law prosecutions (38 percent of the increase) and immigration law violations (29 percent of the increase). Most (83 percent) were charged with felony offenses.
• Eighty-seven percent of those charged were convicted. Of those convicted, 94 percent pleaded guilty.
• Seventy-one percent of those convicted were sentenced to prison, up from 60 percent of those convicted in 1990.

Part of the Compendium of Federal Justice Statistics Series

Press Release
Full Report (PDF 828K)
Full Report (ASCII file 186K)
Full Report - Zip format (Spreadsheet 217K)
Chapter 1: Arrests for Federal offenses (PDF 97K)
Chapter 1: Arrests for Federal offenses - Zip format (Spreadsheet 21K)
Chapter 2: Prosecution (PDF 134K)
Chapter 2: Prosecution - Zip format (Spreadsheet 20K)
Chapter 3: Pretrial release (PDF 225K)
Chapter 3: Pretrial release - Zip format (Spreadsheet 36K)
Chapter 4: Adjudication (PDF 147K)
Chapter 4: Adjudication - Zip format (Spreadsheet 33K)
Chapter 5: Sentencing (PDF 139K)
Chapter 5: Sentencing - Zip format (Spreadsheet 23K)
Chapter 6: Appeals (PDF 125K)
Chapter 6: Appeals - Zip format (Spreadsheet 20K)
Chapter 7: Corrections (PDF 216K)
Chapter 7: Corrections - Zip format (Spreadsheet 65K)
Methodology (PDF 177K)
Codebooks and Datasets

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