The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, collects crime and arrest data from more than 17,000 city, county, and state law enforcement agencies. According to Crime in the United States, 2003, released in October 2004 ¹, in 2003:

• 23.2% of arrests were of females.
• 20.4% of arrests of females in the United States were of persons under the age of 18.
• 7% of arrests of females were of persons under the age of 15.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) publication, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear, 2004 ², which features data collected from National Prisoner Statistics and the Annual Survey of Jails, at midyear 2004:

• California, Texas, Florida, and the Federal system housed 4 of every 10 female prison inmates.
• Women accounted for 6.9% of all prison inmates, up from 6.1% at yearend 1995.
• Black females were 2.5 times more likely than Hispanic females and nearly 4.5 times more likely than white females to be incarcerated in prison or jail.
• Since 1995, the total number of female State and Federal prison inmates has grown 5% a year, compared to 3.3% average annual growth for male prisoners.

The United States Bureau of the Census conducts a biennial survey of both public and private juvenile residential placement facilities in every state for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The latest national and state-level data from the census, portraying the 134,011 youth held in 2,939 facilities on October 27, 1999, revealed that:

• 16% of the juvenile offenders in private residential placement facilities were females, accounting for 35% of all females in residential placement.
• 12% of the juvenile offenders in public residential placement facilities were female.
• 42% of juvenile female offenders in private residential facilities were charged with simple assault, 25% for aggravated assault, and 15% robbery.
• The number of juvenile females in residential placement increased 2% from 1997 to 1999.
• 13% of juvenile female offenders in residential placement were in custody for status offenses, down from 23% in 1997.

(Juveniles in Corrections, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, 2004)

The Bureau of Justice Statistics' Annual Probation Survey and the Annual Parole Survey provide counts for the total number of persons supervised in the community on January 1 and December 31, and counts of the number entering and leaving supervision during the year in all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and the Federal system. Survey data for 2004 revealed that:

• About 1 of every 8 adults on parole (94,400) were women and almost 1 of every 4 adults on probation (957,600) were women.
• The female parole and probation populations have increased steadily since 1995. The female parole population increased from 10% in 1995 to 12 percent in 2000 and 2004. The female probation population increased from 21% in 1995 to 22% in 2000 and 23% in 2004.

(Probation and Parole in the United States, 2004, Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2005). ³

In its 2002 report, Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 1994, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reveals the results of a study wherein 272,111 former inmates were tracked for 3 years after their release in 1994. The 272,111 representing two-thirds of all prisoners released in the United States that year were discharged from prisons in 15 States. Study findings include the following.

• 8.7 % of the prisoners released were female.
• 57.6% of the released female prisoners were re-arrested within three years of their release.
• 39.9% of the released female prisoners were re-convicted within three years of their release.
• 17.3% of the released female prisoners returned to prison with a new sentence.

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¹ A more recent version of this report, Crime in the United States, 2007, is available from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

² A more recent version of this report, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2007, is available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).

³ A more recent version of this report, Probation and Parole in the United States, 2007, is available from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS).