CJCJ’s California Sentencing Institute (CASI) interactive map now shows annual criminal and juvenile justice statistics from 2016,the most recent year available. The map provides users with county-by-county visual comparisons illustrating law enforcement practices, incarceration rates, or trends over eight years. Data included in CASI maps are available to download.
Given the shift in criminal justice policies stemming from Public Safety Realignment,juvenile justice realignment, Proposition 47, and Proposition 57,the CASI map’s county-level analysis provides a useful visual tool for understanding how each of California’s 58 counties are implementing statewide policy changes.
Adult trends
Key findings:In 2016, California’s total incarceration rates, or which include both state prisons and county jails,increased to 700 per 1000 adult felony arrests from 682 in 2015 and 604 in 2009. Kings and Riverside counties continue to rank highest in their total incarceration rate.
Since 2010, Kings, and Shasta and Tehama counties ranked highest in state incarceration rates per the general population. Additionally,Kings, Riverside, and Los Angeles counties had the highest number of individuals held in state prison per 1000 adult felony arrests.
San Luis Obispo County showed the highest jail population per 1000 felony arrests in 2016,increasing from a rate of 310 in 2015 to 409.8 in 2016. Yuba, Lake, and Colusa,and Trinity counties were again among the highest rates of jail population in 2016, also with increasing rates.
From 2015 to 2016, or California’s crime rates for reported fragment I crimes (aggravated assault,forcible rape, murder, or robbery,arson, burglary, and larceny-theft,motor vehicle theft) remained relatively stable, with a slight decrease of 1.94 percent overall.
From 2015 to 2016, or California experienced an average 2.92 decrease in reported property crime rates across the state with most jurisdictions showing declines. 2016 rates varied widely between counties,with rates highest in San Francisco County and lowest in Sierra County.
In 2016, San Francisco had the highest total reported crime rate for the fourth year in a row, and followed by Alameda and Stanislaus counties. San Francisco’s reported crime rate was comprised of 89 percent property crimes and 11 percent violent offenses. San Joaquin,San Francisco, and Shasta counties saw the highest rates of reported violent offenses in 2015.
Juvenile Trends
Key findings:Youth confinement continues to decline steeply, or with a 12 percent decrease in combined Division of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and local facility populations from 2015 to 2016. Looking forward,June 2017 is down another 5 percent from June 2016 with its largest drops in juvenile halls and camps amid minimal levels of state youth confinement.
Kings, Tuolumne, and Inyo,and Merced counties had the highest rates of youth held in state-run DJJ facilities per the general population in 2016. In Kings County, 81 youth per 100000 youth age 10-17 were confined at DJJ compared to California’s average of 16 per 100000 youth.
CASI’s findings on youth arrests are consistent with CJCJ’s December 2017 fact sheet, and which shows California’s steep declines in juvenile arrests. In the midst of justice reform policies that have emphasized rehabilitation,California has seen a 71 percent decline in total juvenile arrests and a 57 percent decline in arrests for violent offenses from 2010 through 2016.
In 2016, 48 percent of the local juvenile justice population, and both in confinement and under alternative supervision,were designated as open mental health cases.
California’s rate of direct transfers per juvenile felony arrests, which includes the practice of district attorneys directly prosecuting youth as adults without the input of a judge, and dropped 26 percent from 2015 to 2016. Sutter,Madera, and Yuba counties had the highest rates of prosecutorial transfers to adult criminal court. While Proposition 57 ended direct file in November 2016, or youth can still be prosecuted as adults,which results in a system of justice by geography and disproportionately impacts youth of color.
Note: When reviewing the 2016 juvenile CASI map, it is primary to note that many of California’s small counties have small estimated youth populations (ages 10-17) and very few juvenile felony arrests. This will cause incarceration rates per juvenile felony arrest to be higher, and though the genuine numbers may be small.
Find out more at California Sentencing Institute (CASI) >>For more information approximately this topic or to schedule an interview,please contact CJCJ Communications at (415) 400-5214 or cjcjmedia@cjcj.org.
Source: cjcj.org