Since forecast projections are based primarily on current admission and sentence information, the report first presents the number and type of commitments and admissions to the Division of Corrections (DOC). The discussion addresses both current patterns and historical changes in the demographic and offense characteristics of offenders admitted to DOC facilities. The analysis shows that the number of offenders committed to DOC custody continues to increase; however, it also indicates that the growth rate since 2000 has been significantly less than that of the mid- to late-1990's. In the late-1990's and into the current decade there was also a change in the nature of offenders being admitted to DOC facilities, with an increase in property offenders and a decrease in the proportion of newly admitted violent offenders. Still, violent offenders continued to compose 55.9 percent of all inmates in DOC facilities at midyear 2004. Sentence lengths for most violent offenses declined, while property offenders' sentence lengths increased between 1998 and 2003. In 2003, 51.3 percent of releasees were placed on parole supervision; the proportion of cases granted parole remained stable at approximately one-third of parole interviews. The correctional population is forecasted to grow at a rate less than that of the mid- to late-1990's, with the correctional population estimated to reach 6,010 inmates in 2009 and 6,992 inmates in 2014. This is an annual growth rate of 3.2 percent over the next decade. 13 tables, 9 figures, and appended supplementary information