Persons Arrested

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Arrests for Drug Abuse Violations Table

Definition

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program counts one arrest for each separate instance in which a person is arrested, cited, or summoned for an offense. The UCR Program collects arrest data on 28 offenses, as described in Offense Definitions. (Please note that, as of 2010, the UCR Program no longer collects data on runaways.) Because a person may be arrested multiple times during a year, the UCR arrest figures do not reflect the number of individuals who have been arrested; rather, the arrest data show the number of times that persons are arrested, as reported by law enforcement agencies to the UCR Program.



Important note about rape data



In 2013, the UCR Program initiated the collection of rape data under a revised definition and removed the term “forcible” from the offense name. The UCR Program now defines rape as follows:

Rape (revised definition): Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim. (This includes the offenses of rape, sodomy, and sexual assault with an object as converted from data submitted via the National Incident-Based Reporting System.)

Rape (legacy definition): The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will. For tables within this publication that present data for 2018 only or provide a 2-year trend, the rape figures are an aggregate total of the data submitted based on both the legacy and revised UCR definitions. For 5- and 10-year trend tables, the rape figures for the previous year (2014 or 2009) are based on the legacy definition and the 2018 rape figures are an aggregate total based on both the legacy and revised definitions. For this reason, a percent change is not provided.



Data collection–juveniles



The UCR Program considers a juvenile to be an individual under 18 years of age regardless of state definition. The program does not collect data regarding police contact with a juvenile who has not committed an offense, nor does it collect data on situations in which police take a juvenile into custody for his or her protection, e.g., neglect cases.



Overview



Nationwide, law enforcement made an estimated 10,310,960 arrests in 2018. Of these arrests, 521,103 were for violent crimes, and 1,167,296 were for property crimes. (Note: the UCR Program does not collect data on citations for traffic violations.) (See Table 29.)

The highest number of arrests were for drug abuse violations (estimated at 1,654,282 arrests), driving under the influence (estimated at 1,001,329), and larceny-theft (estimated at 887,622). (See Table 29.)

The estimated arrest rate for the United States in 2018 was 3,152.6 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants. The arrest rate for violent crime (including murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) was 159.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the arrest rate for property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) was 361.2 per 100,000 inhabitants. (See Table 30.)

Two-year arrest trends show violent crime arrests increased 0.2 percent in 2018 when compared with 2017 arrests, and property crime arrests decreased 7.1 percent when compared with 2017 arrests. (See Table 36.)

Arrests of juveniles for all offenses decreased 11.0 percent in 2018 when compared with the 2017 number; arrests of adults decreased 2.1 percent. (See Table 36.)

Nearly 73 percent (72.8) of the persons arrested in the nation during 2018 were males. They accounted for 79.1 percent of persons arrested for violent crime and 63.1 percent of persons arrested for property crime. (See Table 42.)

In 2018, 69.0 percent of all persons arrested were White, 27.4 percent were Black or African American, and the remaining 3.6 percent were of other races. (See Table 43.)

Expanded arrest data



Expanded data about arrests include information about the age, gender, race, and ethnicity of the arrestees. These data are available in the following tables:

Age: Tables 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 46, 47, 50, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 62, 64, and 65

Gender: Tables 33, 35, 37, 39, 40, 42, 45, 48, 51, 54, 57, 60, 63, and 66

Race and Ethnicity: Tables 43, 49, 55, 61, and 67



Arrests Table

Arrests for Drug Abuse Violations

Percent Distribution by Region, 2018

Drug abuse violations United

States

total Northeast Midwest South West Total 1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 Sale/Manufacturing: Total 13.6 15.9 12.8 15.9 9.4 Heroin or cocaine and their derivatives 4.4 8.6 3.0 4.2 3.1 Marijuana 3.3 3.9 4.3 3.9 1.5 Synthetic or manufactured drugs 1.8 1.2 0.8 3.5 0.4 Other dangerous nonnarcotic drugs 4.0 2.2 4.7 4.3 4.4 Possession: Total 86.4 84.1 87.2 84.1 90.6 Heroin or cocaine and their derivatives 20.2 19.0 12.7 13.5 34.5 Marijuana 36.8 48.9 45.8 44.8 13.4 Synthetic or manufactured drugs 4.3 3.5 4.6 5.9 2.6 Other dangerous nonnarcotic drugs 25.0 12.8 24.1 19.8 40.1

1 Because of rounding, the percentages may not add to 100.0.

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