Characteristics of New Commitments to the Facilities of the Department of Correctional Services in 1979

• NCJ Number: 76850
• Author(s): J Bassett
• Date Published: Unknown
• Length: 65 pages
• Corporate Author: New York State Dept of Correctional Services
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Statistics
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: New York State Department of Correctional Services series, vol 14, no. 1.

Annotation

This report presents selected characteristics of offenders admitted to New York State Department of Correctional Services custody as court commitments during calendar year 1979.

Abstract

Characteristics addressed include reason for commitment, county of commitment, maximum and minimum sentence, education on commitment, dangerous drug usage, prior adult criminal record, marital status, and ethnic group. Report materials are based on information provided by the department's computerized inmate file. During the year there were 7,571 commitments to department facilities; 96.3 percent were males, and 3.7 percent were females. The median age at time of commitment was 25 years for males and 27.3 years for females. Felony convictions accounted for 94.9 percent of male commitments, while the remaining 5.1 percent were youthful offender commitments. Among females, 97.1 percent were felons, and 2.9 percent were youthful offenders. Dangerous drug offenses accounted for 22.9 percent of all female commitments, followed by robbery at 21.9 percent. Robbery was the largest single crime category for males at 33.6 percent, with burglary at 16.2 percent being the next highest. Slightly over 63 percent of all commitments were from New York City, with an additional 12 percent from the suburban New York City area. Slightly over 50 percent of male commitments had maximum sentences of less than 5 years compared to 52.7 percent of female commitments. Maximum terms of life imprisonment were imposed on 18.6 percent of the females and 9.8 percent of the males. No specific minimum term was set by the court for 31.3 percent of all male commitments and for 38.7 percent of all female commitments. Over 70 percent of those committed during the year had failed to finish high school. Slightly less than 11 percent of all male commitments had no prior adult criminal record. Among female commitments, 23.7 percent had no prior adult criminal record, while over 40 percent had prior local or State commitments. Extensive tables and graphs are provided. (Author abstract modified)