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Crime and Justice Report, 1989

NCJ Number
126496
Date Published
1990
Length
38 pages
Annotation
Criminal justice trends and issues are reviewed in this 1989 annual report of the District of Columbia.
Abstract

Including statistical analyses, the report covers trends in law enforcement, the courts, corrections, parole, and juvenile justice. Its data cover questions pertaining to types of crime reported and number of arrests, crime in particular areas of the city, and criminal justice agency expenditures and caseload sizes. The report also identifies characteristics of adult and juvenile arrestees, including drug use, and describes the criminal and juvenile justice processes. Another section focuses on homicide and violent crime, examining such indicators as occurrence, motives, methods, and sociodemographic characteristics of victims and assailants. In 1989, the Metropolitan Police Department's expenditures increased 40 percent from $252,662,000 in 1985 to $212,428,000 in 1989; the expenditures of the Department of Corrections increased 58 percent from $136,559,000 in 1985 to $215,468,000 in 1989. Violent crime increased 9 percent, and property crime decreased by 1 percent. According to 1989 data, 18 cities had crime rates higher than the District, which has a crime rate of 10,019 per 100,000 residents. Total adult arrests increased 4 percent from 1985 to 1989; total juvenile arrests decreased 4 percent from 1987. The percent of adult arrestees testing positive for drug use declined in 1989 for the first time since 1987; juvenile arrestee drug test results showed a significant decrease in the percentage of persons testing positive for one or more drugs from 1987 to 1989.