NCJ Number
151711
Date Published
1992
Length
62 pages
Annotation
This study examined the number and characteristics of offenders who were found to be active in more than one State in the 1980s.
Abstract
Based upon a follow-up of a sample of 108,580 prisoners discharged from State prisons in 11 States during 1983, substantial mobility was detected through the use of State and Federal fingerprint records of arrests and prosecutions. Overall, approximately 31 percent of the sampled offenders had arrests in different States during the period preceding their imprisonment or within 3 years following prison discharge in 1983. Approximately 13 percent of all offenders, who had acquired approximately 1.6 million arrest charges over their criminal careers, had been arrested in at least two States. More than one State had fingerprint records from the arrests of 44 percent of the white inmates and 28 percent of the black inmates before their imprisonment. After prison discharge in 1983, within 3 years approximately 14 percent of whites and 8 percent of blacks were rearrested in at least one other State. Hispanic prisoners, similar to black offenders, were found to be less mobile than non-Hispanics. The pervasiveness of multi-state arrests increased with age. Also, offenders with a high school diploma tended to have more arrests in multiple States than offenders without high school diplomas. Both prerelease and post-release mobility varied substantially across individual States. For most offense categories, prisoners with prior arrests in more than one State served longer prison terms than prisoners with arrests in a single State only. 21 tables