Federal Justice Statistics, 2011-2012

Publisher Marketing: During fiscal year 2012, the number of suspects arrested for a federal offense declined to 172,248 after reaching a record 181,726 suspects in 2009. From 1994 to 2012, the number of suspects arrested by federal law enforcement more than doubled, from 80,450 in 1994 to 172,248 in 2012 (figure 1). In recent years, federal law enforcement activity has slowed along with the later stages of cases processing in U. S. district court (persons charged, convicted, and sentenced to prison). From 2010 to 2012, arrests decreased at an annual average rate of 1.9%. At yearend 2012, about 414,000 offenders were under some form of federal correctional control: 47% were confined by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), 15% were confined in pretrial detention, 32% were on post-conviction supervision in the community, and 6% were under pretrial supervision in the community (table 1). The number of federal arrests declined from 179,034 in 2010 to 172,248 in 2012. The decline in arrests was due to decreases across several offense types, including property (down 3,381), drug (down 2,786), and supervision violations (down 2,607). During this period, arrests for immigration offenses increased by 3,203. Illegal immigration (50%) was the most common arrest offense in 2012, followed by drug (15%) and supervision (13%) violations. From 2010 to 2012, arrests for regulatory offenses increased from 266 to 300 (average annual increase of 6%). Sex offense arrests increased at the next fastest rate (up 3% per year), followed by immigration offenses (up 2%). During this period, fraud offenses (down 10% per year) declined the most, followed by other property (down 6%) and supervision (down 5%) offenses. The five federal judicial districts along the U. S.-Mexico border (California Southern, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas Western, and Texas Southern) accounted for 60% of all federal arrests in 2012, up from 45% of all arrests in 2006 (map 1) (see Federal Justice Statistics, 2010, NCJ 239913, BJS web, December 2013). In 2012, these five districts also accounted for 53% of suspects investigated by U. S. attorneys, 54% of suspects detained prior to trial, 39% of defendants convicted, and 41% of offenders sentenced to federal prison. In 2012, about 9 in 10 defendants in cases adjudicated in U. S. district court were convicted. Ninety-one percent of felonies charged in U. S. district court were disposed by a guilty plea. Of defendants convicted, about 8 in 10 received a prison sentence. The median federal prison sentence imposed was 33 months. Between fiscal yearend 2011 and 2012, the number of persons under federal correctional control increased by 2,764 (up 0.7%). During this period, the number of federally sentenced persons in BOP confinement increased by 1,217 offenders and the number of persons under community supervision increased by 1,993. The number of persons on probation decreased from 22,866 in 2011 to 22,307 in 2012.