Nat'l African American Drug Policy Coalition-
Greater Los Angeles Chapter
| NAADPC-GLA
NAADPC - 3-Strikes Statistics
California
Disparity In Health CareThis page will try to publish the most recent statistics involving the 3-Strikes law. For the latest general CDC statistics, click here.7,234 Third Strike Cases as of September 30, 2003
Report prepared by the Data Analysis Unit of the Department of Corrections, dated November 2003.U.S. prison and jail population tops 1.8 millionFor most recent national statistics, click here.The U.S. prison and jail population was more than 1.8 million by Dec. 31, 1997 as the adult prison population grew to more than 1,244,554 the Justice Department reported August 2, 1998 (with a jail population of 567,079 as of June 30, 1997).During 1997, there was a net prison gain of 61,186 inmates during the year--very close to the annual average of 63,900 since 1990, when prison inmates numbered only 774,000. The total U.S. incarceration rate of 645 people per 100,000 population is six times to 10 times higher than in most industrial nations, the project said.Between 1990 and 1996 adult arrests for murder and rape each were down 19%; robbery arrests were down 17%; and burglary, larcenty and auto theft arrests also dropped. But drug abuse arrests rose by 28%, and aggravated assault arrests were up 8% over the siz years.Among the states, Texas had the highest incarceration rate, 717 inmates per 100,000 residents, followed by Louisiana at 672, and Oklahoma, at 617. The Lowest incarceration rates were in North Dakota, at 112 per 100,000 population, and Minnesota, at 113. LATimes, 8/3/98.The number of state and federal prisoners:
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| Level I | 14% |
| Level II | 31% |
| Level III | 34% |
| Level IV | 19% |
| Special Security | 2% |
As of June 30, 2002: Lifers, 19,874
LWOP, 1,857
condemned, 482
Males 93.8%
Females 6.2%
| Hispanic | 35.9% |
| Black | 29.9% |
| White | 28.6% |
| Other | 5.6% |
Pro-Family Advocates Newsletter: October 1997, p. 3.
California jail population has grown from 44,000 in 1989 to 72,000 in 1997.
County jails have grown from 44,000 beds in 1989 to more than 72,000 beds in 1997. County jails have state-rated capacities that technically they are required to comply with. But the counties routinely operate above that limit. Nearly half of the counties, and nearly all of the large ones, have court-ordered population caps. In many of those instances the court limits are higher than the state standards, and so become the operating norms. The average daily population in the county jails in 1996 was 6,000 more than the state-rated capacity. And that is the average population. The jails hit a one-day all-time high in 1996 of 77,163. Little Hoover Commission Report, Jan. 1998, p. 14.
There have been 42,703 2nd and 3rd strikers admitted in prison through December of 2002
| 2nd Strike | 3rd Strike | Total | |
| 1994 | 3,483 | 152 | 3,635 |
| 1995 | 9,927 | 1,000 | 10,927 |
| 1996 | 9,759 | 1,517 | 11,276 |
| 1997 (7/31/97) | 5,393 | 798 | 6,191 |
| Total (12/31/02) | 31,723** | 7,626** | 42,703 |
*As of the end of August 1997, there were about 24,600 2nd-Strikers in prison or in a community correctional facility and about 4,400 2nd-Strikers on parole.
**As of the end of August 1997, all were still incarcerated.
Paper presented by the Legislative Analysts Office and program on Oct. 14, 1997 at the Assembly Committee on Public Safety in Los Angeles.
CDC projects 2nd and 3rd Strike prison population will exceed 55,000 by 2002.
Reported in Legislative Analyst's Office paper on Oct. 14, 1997 at the Assembly Committee on Public Safety in Los Angeles.
Nearly 75% of 2nd Strikes and 50% of 3rd Strikes are for nonviolent and non-serious offenses
The most common second-strike offenses are possession of a controlled substance, petty theft with a prior theft, and second degree burglary.
The most common third-strike offenses are robbery and first degree burglary (both are considered violent or serious offenses), followed by possession of a controlled substance, second degree burglary, and possession of a weapon.
Reported in Legislative Analyst's Office paper on Oct. 14, 1997 at the Assembly Committee on Public Safety in Los Angeles.
Over 40% of 2nd and 3rd Strikers are from Los Angeles County
2nd and 3rd Strikers are being sent to prison in numbers that are not necessarily reflective of each county's general prison commitment patterns. The differences are primarily the result of variations in charging practices of prosecutors and sentencing practices in courts.
| Selected Counties | Total Prison Population | 2nd Strikers | 3rd Strikers |
| Alameda | 3.0% | 1.5% | 1.6% |
| Kern | 3.6% | 3.6% | 5.1% |
| Los Angeles | 32.3% | 42.2% | 40% |
| Orange | 5.2% | 5% | 4.7% |
| Riverside | 5.8% | 5.4% | 4.1% |
| Sacramento | 4.5% | 4.3% | 6.1% |
| San Bernadino | 6.7% | 4.8% | 6.2% |
| San Diego | 8.0% | 10.4% | 8.3% |
| San Francisco | 1.4% | .6% | 0.5% |
| Santa Clara | 3.9% | 3.8% | 5.2% |
Reported in Legislative Analyst's Office paper on Oct. 14, 1997 at the Assembly Committee on Public Safety in Los Angeles.
More than 600,000 in California prisons, jails, probation or parole.
At any one time, California agencies have within their jurisdiction more than 600,000 people--about 1/3 of those behind bars and the rest on probation or parole. Little Hoover Commission Report, Jan. 1998, p. 14.
Increase in nation's prison population grew by 55,876 between 1995 and 1996 and California responsible for more than 12,000 of that increase.
Little Hoover Commission Report, Jan. 1998, p. 16.
24 of 57 county jail systems in California have court-ordered population caps.
Of the 57 county jail systems, 24 counties (collectively responsible for 70 percent of jail inmates) have court-ordered population caps on at least one of their facilities. In 1996, more than 325,000 county jail inmates--nearly 900 a day--were released before completing their sentence or were released prior to coming to trial because jailers needed to make room for more serious inmates. Little Hoover Commission Report, Jan. 1998, p. 17.
Prison system faces serious housing gap
The Legislative Analyst's Office states that the total state prison population will increase substantially in the coming years, in large part because of the 3-Strikes law. Based on the most recent projections, the prison system will exhaust all available space by late 2000 and there will be a shortage of more than 70,000 beds to house the projected inmate population by 2006.
| Capacity of Funded Prisons |
June 2006 Inmate Population |
Projected Housing Gap in 2006 |
|
| Women | 13,203 | 17,560 | -4357 |
| Men: | |||
| Reception | 20,526 | 28,298 | -7,772 |
| Level I | 26,890 | 50,643 | -23,753 |
| Level II | 40,929 | 46,907 | -5,978 |
| Level III | 39,928 | 59,777 | -19,849 |
| Level IV | 26,225 | 36,035 | -9,810 |
| Special Housing | 3,030 | 3,045 | -15 |
| Totals | 170,731 | 242,265 | -71,534 |
Reported in Legislative Analyst's Office paper on Oct. 14, 1997 at the Assembly Committee on Public Safety in Los Angeles.
Most common "Strike" charges are drugs, theft and burglary.
According to statistics complied by Michael Judge, the L.A. County public defender, the most common "strike" charges are drugs (30%), theft (16%) and burglary (15%). Violent and serious crimes account for only about 1/4 of all third strikes. Louis Carillo, opinion piece, LATimes.
California state prison population at 181% of capacity.
The California state prison population has increased from 22,500 in 1979 to 138,000 in 1996 and is approximately at 181% of Department of Corrections design capacity. The Department of Corrections predicts that by early 1998, all available prison bed space will have been exhausted, and the normal delivery of inmates to state prison from counties will have to be severely restricted to the most serious felons. Even upon completion of one of the most ambitious prison construction programs in history (over $6 billion) the California prisons will be more overcrowded in 5 years than they are today. Letter from Barbara Lee's Office, 1997.
However, see how the capacity figures by the CDC can change as they cram more prisoners into smaller places.
Unemployment rate would increase 1 and 2 percentage points if inmates turned loose.
Another reason politicians want to lock up people: If the 1.6 million inmates in U.S. prisons and jails were let loose on the job market, the unemployment rate would jump between 1 and 2 percentage points, economists say. LA-Times, 10/9/96.
June 30, 1995 national statistics show state and federal prisons held 1.02 million people.
From 1990 to 1995 corrections officials built 213 prisons. (168 stated and 45 federal). As of June 30, 1995, state or federal correctional facilities held 1.02 million people, up from 715,649 in 1990 reported the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Approximately one in four state correctional facilities was under court order or consent decree to limit population or address specific confinement conditions. by 1995, about half the state and federal prisons were more than 20 years old, and almost 40% of the inmates were incarcerated in facilities built since 1985.
The statistics of inmates as a percentage of the population also rose. In 1990, prisons held 293 per every 100,000 Americans. by 1995 had risen to 409 inmates per 100,000, and figures already released this year put 1996's number at 427 per 100,000. OCRegister, 9/8/97.
Breakdown by offenses for 2nd and 3rd strikes shows most strikes for nonviolent and non-serious offenses
| 2 Strikes | 3 Strikes | |||||
| Offense | Number of Offenses | Percent | Sentence in Years | Number of Offenses | Percent | Sentence in Years |
| Murder 1st | 0 | 0.0 | 77.0 | 181 | 2.37 | 85.0 |
| Murder 2nd | 263 | 0.8 | 26.0 | 138 | 1.81 | 39.3 |
| Manslaughter | 234 | 0.7 | 15.0 | 40 | 0.52 | 43.0 |
| Robbery | 4,380 | 13.8 | 10.0 | 1,548 | 20.0 | 44.8 |
| Assault | 2,004 | 6.3 | 6.9 | 453 | 5.94 | 44.3 |
| Rape | 205 | 0.6 | 37.2 | 140 | 1.84 | 93.1 |
| Other Sex Crime | 783 | 2.5 | 12.1 | 147 | 1.93 | 67.1 |
| Kidnapping | 150 | 0.5 | 20.7 | 90 | 1.18 | 42.5 |
| Burglary | 2,525 | .8 | 5.4 | 826 | 10.83 | 33.6 |
| Grand Theft | 697 | 2.2 | 3.2 | 120 | 1.57 | 26.0 |
| Petty Theft with Prior | 1,974 | 6.2 | 3.3 | 353 | 4.63 | 28.0 |
| Receive Stolen Property | 714 | 2.3 | 3.7 | 168 | 2.20 | 26.9 |
| Auto Theft | 1,121 | 3.5 | 3.7 | 222 | 2.91 | 36.1 |
| Forgery/Fraud | 584 | 1.8 | 3.6 | 64 | .84 | 27.5 |
| Other Property Crime | 133 | 0.4 | 3.4 | 36 | 0.47 | 27.8 |
| Drug Possession | 4,365 | 13.8 | 3.1 | 673 | 8.83 | 27.2 |
| Drug Possession for Sale | 2,101 | 6.6 | 4.9 | 295 | 3.87 | 29.3 |
| Drug Sale/Manufacture | 221 | .6 | 6.1 | 27 | .37 | 29.5 |
| Other Drug Offense | 170 | .5 | 5.9 | 45 | .59 | 30.9 |
| Weapons Possession | 1,436 | 4.5 | 4.2 | 393 | 5.15 | 43.7 |
| Other Offense | 851 | 2.7 | 4.6 | 152 | 1.99 | 41.3 |
See "'Three Strikes and You're Out': A Review of State Legislation" by John Clark, James Austin, and D. Alan Henry, National Institute of Justice, September 1997 (which can be found on the internet as a pdf file at: http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/165369.pdf . To read the pdf file, download adobe acrobat.
Sex, Age, Race and other breakdowns as of December 31, 2002
| 2 Strikes | 3 Strikes | |||
| Number | Percent | Number | Percent | |
| Total Intake | 35,077 | 82.1% | 7,626 | 17.9% |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 33,764 | 96.3 | 7,548 | 98.9 |
| Female | 1,313 | 3.7 | 78 | 1.0 |
| Age | ||||
| Under 20 | 1,111 | 7.3 | 105 | 7.1 |
| 20-29 | 7,118 | 46.7 | 636 | 43.1 |
| 30-39 | 5,197 | 34.1 | 521 | 35.3 |
| 40-49 | 1,540 | 10.1 | 170 | 11.5 |
| 50+ | 264 | 1.7 | 45 | 3.0 |
| Race/Ethnicity | ||||
| Black | 12,840 | 36.6 | 3,419 | 44.8 |
| Hispanic | 11,650 | 33.2 | 1,944 | 25.5 |
| White | 9,199 | 26.2 | 1,931 | 25.3 |
| Other | 1,388 | 3.9 | 332 | 4.3 |
| Average Sentence | 4.9 Years | 37.4 Years | ||
See "'Three Strikes and You're Out': A Review of State Legislation" by John Clark, James Austin, and D. Alan Henry, National Institute of Justice, September 1997 (which can be found on the internet as a pdf file at: http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/165369.pdf . To read the pdf file, download adobe acrobat.