NCJ Number
134096
Date Published
1991
Length
62 pages
Annotation
California court data for the quarter ending December 31, 1990, cover the number and category of felony convictions, dispositions, convictions by appellate district, sentencing, and the impact of drug cases on trial court volume.
Abstract
Throughout 1990, convictions for crimes against the person rose sharply; the fourth quarter showed a 26-percent increase over the same quarter in 1989, and the full year was 24 percent higher than in 1989. Property crimes also increased throughout 1990; the fourth quarter was 15 percent higher than 1989, and the entire year was 16 percent higher than 1989. Felony drug law convictions, which had shown an increase, began to decline in the last half of 1990. Regarding dispositions, the most significant change since 1985 is the increased prison commitment rate for felony drug-law violations (from 25 percent to almost 40 percent for all drug law violations). Sentencing data show no significant change in the average sentence length from quarter to quarter over the past several years. An exception is assault with a deadly weapon which shows an increase in successive quarters. The total volume of felony drug-law convictions leveled off and began to decline in the last half of 1990. 14 tables