Nearly all the data presented are nationwide in scope and, where possible, they are displayed by regions, States, and cities, so as to increase their value for local decision makers and for comparative analyses. Each of the sourcebooks is divided into six sections. The first section presents data on the number and types of criminal justice agencies and employees, criminal justice expenditures, workload of agency personnel, etc. It also includes tables that summarize, State-by-State, the statutory, regulatory, or administrative characteristics and practices of criminal justice agencies. The second section presents the results of nationwide public opinion polls on such matters as fear of victimization, the death penalty, gun control, drug use, and ratings of law enforcement and judicial system performance. The third section presents data from several indicators of the extent of illegal activities. They include surveys of individuals and households that may have been victims of crime, proportions of persons reporting that they have used various drugs or participated in other illegal activities, and police agency counts of reported offenses. A section on the characteristics and distribution of persons arrested includes tabulations of arrestees by age, sex, race, and area; proportions of known crimes cleared by arrests; and counts of illegal goods and assets seized. The fifth section presents data on the number of juveniles and adults processed through the courts, as well as the characteristics, dispositions, and sentences of defendants. The concluding section presents data on persons on probation and parole, juveniles in custody, persons in local jails, population and movement of inmates in State and Federal prisons, and characteristics of State and Federal prison inmates; Data also cover offenders executed and offenders currently under sentence of death.