NCJ Number
137208
Date Published
1992
Length
46 pages
Annotation
This analysis of the impact of Federal legislation regarding armed career criminals focused on the legislation's effect on crime, criminal behavior and the improvement of investigative techniques.
Abstract
The Armed Career Criminal Act of 1984 gave the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms a major opportunity to remove career criminals from society by requiring mandatory imprisonment of at least 15 years for anyone possessing a firearm who has 3 previous State or Federal convictions for a violent felony or serious drug law offense or both. As of February 1, 1991, a total of 471 offenders were convicted and sentenced as career criminals under this law. The research used data from these offenders, a survey of 258 law enforcement officials in all 50 States, interviews with 100 imprisoned armed career criminals, an analysis of 12 career criminal programs, and a review of recent research. Results revealed that each career criminal committed about 3 crimes per week or 160 crimes per year and, therefore, that incarceration at a cost of $45,000 per year saved $323,000 per year per career criminal inmate. This analysis does not include the physical and psychological harm inflicted on victims. Findings indicated that aggressive enforcement of the Federal law has had both a cost benefit and a deterrent effect. Photographs, figures, notes, index, and 26 references