NCJ Number
82037
Date Published
1980
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This report provides a brief description of court commitments to the Massachusetts county facilities (houses of correction) during 1979.
Abstract
Information is included concerning the operating expenditures as well as statistics regarding institution of commitment, month committed, present offense, sentence, age at commitment, sex, marital status, and last school grade completed. During 1979, a total of 4,612 individuals were sentenced to county facilities, an increase of 9 percent over the number of commitments in 1978. Over half of the commitments were sentenced to three institutions: Billerica (20 percent), Worcester (18 percent), and Deer Island (13 percent). Most of the commitments were for nonperson offenses, and the single most common offense for which persons were sentenced was burglary (17 percent). Nearly half of the sentences were for 3 months or less. The median age for commitments to houses of correction is 23 years old. Most of the commitments were male and most were white. Only 19 percent were married at the time of their incarceration. The median last grade completed was 11th grade, while about one-third of the commitments had graduated from high school. (Author summary modified)