Criminal Justice Statistics for Washington, D.C., and Other Major
Cities (17-AUG-01, GAO-01-1051R).
This report presents criminal justice statistics for the District
of Columbia and other major cities based on (1) Crime Index data
and (2) arrestees' drug testing data. The 1999 Crime Index total
rates for these large cities ranged from a high of 10,416
offenses per 100,000 inhabitants in Detroit, Michigan, to a low
of 2,944 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants in San Jose,
California. For Washington, D.C., the 1999 Crime Index total
rate was 8,062 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants. According to a
recent National Institute of Justice (NIJ) report, 69 percent of
the adult males arrested in the District of Columbia in calendar
year 1999 tested positive for at least one type of drug. This
figure was five percentage points higher than the median rate (64
percent) of the use of any drug among the adult males arrested
that year in the 34 urban sites covered by NIJ's report.
-------------------------Indexing Terms-------------------------
REPORTNUM: GAO-01-1051R
ACCNO: A01619
TITLE: Criminal Justice Statistics for Washington, D.C., and
Other Major Cities
DATE: 08/17/2001
SUBJECT: Criminals
Drug abuse
Statistical data
Arrests
Comparative analysis
Municipal governments
FBI Crime Index
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program
District of Columbia
******************************************************************
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GAO-01-1051R
GAO- 01- 1051R Criminal Justice Statistics for Major Cities United States
General Accounting Office
Washington, DC 20548
August 17, 2001 The Honorable Eleanor Holmes Norton Ranking Minority Member
Subcommittee on the District of Columbia Committee on Government Reform
House of Representatives
Subject: Criminal Justice Statistics for Washington, D. C., and Other Major
Cities Dear Ms. Norton: On July 20, 2001, we testified at an oversight
hearing- which focused on prisoner releases and reintegration programs- held
by the Subcommittee on the District of Columbia, House Committee on
Government Reform. 1 Among other matters, we testified that the District, a
wholly urban jurisdiction, was perhaps facing greater challenges than most
jurisdictions. We noted, for instance, that Bureau of Justice Statistics
(BJS) data as of December 31, 1999, indicated that the District of
Columbia?s incarceration rate was higher than the rate for either Louisiana
or Texas, the jurisdictions with the next highest rates. Also, we noted that
a National Institute of Justice (NIJ) report on arrests in urban areas
indicated that a high percentage of adult males arrested in the District in
1999 tested positive for at least one type of drug.
Regarding incarceration rates, you commented that it was inappropriate to
compare the District with states. You requested that we provide you, within
30 days, statistics comparing Washington, D. C., with other major cities.
More specifically, you asked us to compare cities based on incarceration
rates and any other relevant category of criminal justice statistics that we
presented in our July 20 th testimony.
To respond to your request, we contacted researchers in academia and at BJS
and NIJ to discuss incarceration rates, and we further analyzed NIJ?s report
on arrestee drug testing. According to the researchers we contacted,
incarceration rates are mainly applicable for comparing states and are not
available for comparing cities. Rather, the researchers noted that Crime
Index 2 data compiled by the Federal Bureau
1 Prisoner Releases: Reintegration of Offenders Into Communities (GAO- 01-
966T, July 20, 2001). 2 The Crime Index is composed of selected offenses
used to gauge fluctuations in the overall volume
and rate of crime reported to law enforcement. The offenses included in the
Index are (1) the violent
GAO- 01- 1051R Criminal Justice Statistics for Major Cities 2 of
Investigation (FBI) in its Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program 3 generally
are
the most useful criminal justice statistics for comparing major cities,
particularly in reference to public safety issues. Thus, we are presenting
Crime Index data in this letter. Also, regarding drug testing of arrestees,
we are presenting data for all of the applicable urban sites covered in
NIJ?s report.
In summary, the following two sections of this report present city- to- city
comparisons based on (1) Crime Index data and (2) arrestee drug testing
data, respectively.
Crime Index Data by Major City for 1999
Washington, D. C., is one of the nation?s major cities, that is, cities with
a population of 450,000 or more. For these large cities, we obtained Crime
Index data for calendar year 1999, the most recent year for which
substantially complete UCR Program information was available. As enclosure I
shows, the 1999 Crime Index total rates for these large cities ranged from a
high of 10,416 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants in Detroit, Michigan, to a
low of 2,944 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants in San Jose, California. For
Washington, D. C., the 1999 Crime Index total rate was 8,062 offenses per
100,000 inhabitants.
Arrestee Drug Testing Data by Major City for 1999
In our July 2001 testimony, we said that, according to a recent NIJ report,
69 percent of adult males arrested in the District of Columbia in calendar
year 1999 tested positive for at least one type of drug. 4 Also, we said
that this figure was 5 percentage points higher than the median rate (64
percent) of use of any drug among the adult males arrested that year in the
34 urban sites covered by NIJ?s report.
To provide a basis for specific comparisons, enclosure II presents data for
each of the 34 urban sites. As shown in the enclosure, in 1999, the
percentages of arrested adult males who tested positive for at least one
type of drug ranged from a high of 76.7 percent in Atlanta, Georgia, to a
low of 49.5 percent in San Antonio, Texas.
-- -- -- -- - crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape,
robbery, and aggravated assault and (2) the property crimes of burglary,
larceny- theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. 3 The UCR Program is a
nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of over 17, 000 city, county, and
state
law enforcement agencies voluntarily reporting data on crimes brought to
their attention. According to the FBI, during 1999, law enforcement agencies
active in the UCR Program represented nearly 260 million U. S. inhabitants,
or 95 percent of the total population as established by the Bureau of the
Census. 4 Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program: 1999 Annual Report
on Adult and Juvenile
Arrestees (NCJ 181426, June 2000). ADAM is an NIJ research program that
provides planning and policy information on drug use and other
characteristics of arrestees in U. S. cities through quarterly interviews of
adult and juvenile arrestees in holding facilities. The 1999 program
collected data from adult male arrestees in 34 reporting sites. ADAM data
consist of arrestees? self- reports regarding their drug use and urinalysis
results.
GAO- 01- 1051R Criminal Justice Statistics for Major Cities 3 As agreed with
your office, unless you publicly announce its contents earlier, we plan
no further distribution of this letter until 30 days after its date. At that
time, will make copies available to others on request.
If you have any questions about our work, please call me at (202) 512- 8777
or Assistant Director, Danny R. Burton, at (214) 777- 5600. Other key
contributors to this letter were Michael H. Harmond and Ellen T. Wolfe.
Sincerely yours, Laurie E. Ekstrand Director, Justice Issues
Enclosures - 2
GAO- 01- 1051R Criminal Justice Statistics for Major Cities 4
Enclosure I Crime Index Data for Major U. S. Cities, Calendar Year 1999
Rates (number of offenses per 100, 000 inhabitants) a City b Crime Index
total Violent crime total c Property crime total d Population e
Detroit, MI 10,416 2, 254 8,162 975,020 Dallas, TX 9,616 1,414 8,201
1,091,386 Oklahoma City, OK 9,319 859 8,460 473,772 Seattle, WA 9,165 767
8,397 542,954 Columbus, OH 9,102 855 8,247 673,401 Tucson, AZ 8,992 914
8,079 471,286 Nashville, TN 8,884 1,607 7,276 522,935 Charlotte-
Mecklenburg, NC 8,830 1,345 7,484 604,931 Memphis, TN 8,368 1,411 6,958
609,851 Portland, OR 8,134 1,237 6,897 508,984
Washington, D. C. 8,062 1,628 6,434 519,000
Chicago, IL 8,060 f 1,911 f 6,149 2,821,032 Milwaukee, WI 7,929 1,043 6,886
580,899 Phoenix, AZ 7,720 832 6,888 1,225,881 New Orleans, LA 7,677 1,273
6,404 465,828 Fort Worth, TX 7,488 851 6,636 498,883 Philadelphia, PA 7,291
1,605 5,687 1,435,382 Houston, TX 7,271 1,187 6,084 1,812,277 Jacksonville,
FL 7,152 1,034 6,117 702,462 Austin, TX 7,145 529 6,616 560,389 San Antonio,
TX 6,793 561 6,232 1,130,173 Cleveland, OH 6,743 1,215 5,528 497,903 Boston,
MA 6,288 1,302 4,986 557,812 El Paso, TX 5,792 686 5,106 623,888 San
Francisco, CA 5,725 866 4,859 756,700 Indianapolis, IN 5,322 1,016 4,306
759,066 Denver, CO 5,256 571 4,685 509,624 Las Vegas, NV 5,185 665 4,520
922,450 Honolulu, HI 4,925 254 4,671 866,566 Los Angeles, CA 4,589 1,283
3,305 3,650,138 New York, NY 4,032 1,063 2,969 7,429,263 San Diego, CA 4,004
598 3,405 1,238,549 San Jose, CA 2,944 581 2,363 875,840
Note: The ?Crime Factors? section (pp. iv- v) of the cited source cautions
readers that the ranking of cities based on Crime Index figures can lead to
simplistic and/ or incomplete analyses. The section notes, for instance,
that the volume and type of crime occurring from place to place are affected
by numerous factors, including economic conditions, specific to each
jurisdiction. a We calculated Crime Index rates for each central city by
dividing the number of crimes by the population number and then
multiplying by 100,000. For instance, the number of crimes reported in 1999
for Detroit was 101, 561. We divided 101,561 by 975,020 and multiplied the
resulting quotient by 100, 000 to arrive at a Crime Index total rate for
Detroit of 10,416 offenses per 100,000 inhabitants.
b The cities listed are those with a population of 450,000 or more (see note
e) and for which UCR Program data were available for 1999. According to the
FBI, due to data problems, Baltimore, MD (population of 632,681), was not
included in the FBI report cited in the source statement below.
c Violent crimes include murder and nonnegligent homicide, forcible rape,
robbery, and aggravated assault.
d Property crimes include burglary, larceny- theft, and motor vehicle theft.
According to the FBI, sufficient data were not available to estimate totals
for arson. e Population data are Bureau of the Census provisional estimates
as of July 1, 1999, and are subject to change. With the
exceptions of Las Vegas and Charlotte- Mecklenburg, the estimates are for
the central city and do not include the entire metropolitan statistical
areas. Las Vegas and Charlotte- Mecklenburg include data reported to the FBI
from police jurisdictions expanding beyond the central city.
f According to the FBI, instances of forcible rape are not included in the
Crime Index total and the violent crime total rates for Chicago because rape
figures furnished by the Illinois Department of State Police were not in
accordance with national UCR Program guidelines.
Source: GAO calculations based on UCR Program data reported by the U. S.
Department of Justice and the FBI in Crime in the United States 1999, tables
6 and 8.
GAO- 01- 1051R Criminal Justice Statistics for Major Cities 5
Enclosure II Percentage of Arrested Adult Males (by ADAM Program City)
Who Tested Positive for Drug Use, Calendar Year 1999 ADAM Program city
Percent of arrested adult males who tested positive
for at least one type of drug
Atlanta, GA 76.7 New York, NY 74. 7 Chicago, IL 74.4 Cleveland, OH 71.0
Philadelphia, PA 69.8 New Orleans, LA 69.2
Washington, D. C. 68.9
Sacramento, CA 68.3 Tucson, AZ 68.0 Denver, CO 66.8 Miami, FL 66.0 Seattle,
WA 65.9 Detroit, MI 65.3 Phoenix, AZ 64.4 Oklahoma City, OK 64.2
Indianapolis, IN 64.1 Albuquerque, NM 63.9 Birmingham, AL 63.8 Fort
Lauderdale, FL 63.8 Portland, OR 63.8 San Diego, CA 63.8 Los Angeles, CA
62.4 Spokane, WA 62.1 Omaha, NE 61.5 Dallas, TX 60.5 Minneapolis, MN 60.4
Salt Lake City, UT 60.3 Las Vegas, NV 59.6 Houston, TX 59.5 Laredo, TX 58.3
Des Moines, IA 56.0 San Jose, CA 55.4 Anchorage, AK 53.8 San Antonio, TX
49.5
Note: According to NIJ, although most ADAM sites are known by the name of
the largest local city, the catchment area of most sites encompasses
substantially larger geographic areas than the urban center. The standard
catchment area is the county. NIJ anticipates that the ADAM network
eventually will expand to a total of 75 sites to cover the largest U. S.
cities (i. e., cities with populations of 200, 000 or more, or the largest
city in states without a population center of more than 200, 000
inhabitants).
Source: NIJ, Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) Program: 1999 Annual
Report on Adult and Juvenile Arrestees (NCJ 181426, June 2000).
(440077)
*** End of document. ***