Is crime increasing or decreasing? What part of the population is in the corrections system? How many police are there?
Explore data on crime rates, gun background checks, the corrections system, and local police forces.
USAFacts categorizes government budget data to allocate spending appropriately and to arrive at the estimate presented here. Most government spending on crime and justice occurs at the state and local levels.
Government revenue and expenditures are based on data from the Office of Management and Budget, the Census Bureau, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Each is published annually, although due to collection times, state and local government data are not as current as federal data. Thus, when combining federal, state, and local revenues and expenditures, the most recent year for a combined number may be delayed.
Focus | Key actors | Responsibilities |
|---|---|---|
Crime prevention | FBI, Drug Enforcement Agency | Investigate crimes and enforce federal laws |
Justice system | Department of Justice | Investigate and prosecute criminals for federal crimes |
Corrections | Bureau of Prisons | Manage federal prison system |
Focus |
|---|
Crime prevention |
Justice system |
Corrections |
The FBI is the primary source of national crime data. Local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily submit crime data to the FBI. However, data after 2020 is limited because of a change in reporting systems.
Violent crimes refer to criminal offenses that involve force or the threat of force. The four violent crimes are murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. Property crimes involve taking property or money without force or threat of force. Examples include burglary, larceny or theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The FBI's definition of crime types can be found here.
Violent crimes and property crimes are not shown on the same line chart so trends in both can be seen individually.
People in the correctional population have been arrested, convicted, or sentenced for criminal offenses and are under government supervision. There are two categories of corrections: incarceration and community supervision.
People under incarceration are in government care and custody at one of two types of institutional facilities. Jails house people awaiting court dates and are usually run by local law enforcement. Prisons house people after conviction and are under the authority of state departments of corrections or the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Some jails and prisons are privately operated.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics publishes data on the US corrections population regularly.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics provides correctional population rates based on demographic characteristics.
The Census Bureau conducts an annual survey of state and local government employees, including job types. That includes police officers who have power of arrest.
The information shown excludes federal employees with policing powers.
Combining the Census Bureau's annual dataset on government employment with its population data can help determine the number of police officers with the power of arrest in the US and its states compared to the overall population. The data featured here represents full-time equivalent workers, a calculation that combines the amount of time worked by part-time workers with the amount of time full-time workers are on the job.
The information shown excludes federal employees with policing powers.
The FBI oversees the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), which is used by licensed firearms sellers to conduct background checks on buyers. If the background check finds that the buyer is ineligible to buy a gun, primarily due to a criminal record, local law enforcement is notified. Since it launched in 1998, more than 400 million background checks have been processed. All states participate in the program.
While background checks can indicate trends in gun buying, the data does not represent the number of guns sold because background checks are used in varying ways based on state laws and shopping scenarios.