Muskie School of Public Service

2008 Maine Crime and Justice Data Book

March, 2009

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Purpose of the Data Book

• Presents a portrait of crime and justice trends– using the most recent data available for Maine.

• Produced in collaboration with– Maine Department of Corrections,– Maine Department of Public Safety, – Maine Judicial Branch, – Maine Criminal Justice Commission

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Data Sources• All reported crime, arrests, and clearance rates

from the Maine Department of Public Safety’s annual Crime in Maine publication;

• Court data provided by the Maine Administrative Office of the Courts;

• Corrections data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Maine Department of Corrections and;

• Recidivism data from the Maine Department of Corrections.

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Chapters

• Index Crimes• Arrests and Clearances• Courts and Corrections• Maine’s Adult and Juvenile

Recidivism Outcomes** New Chapter

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Index Crimes in Maine

Index Crimes = Violent Crimes (murder, including non-negligent manslaughter; forcible rape; robbery; and aggravated assault) and Property Crimes (burglary; larceny-theft; motor vehicle theft; arson).

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Limitations

• Crime Data is two years old

• Descriptive in nature, not explanatory

• Cannot answer why certain crimes are rising or falling.

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Violent Crimes

• Maine’s violent crime rate continues to be four times below the national average.

• For the first time, Maine’s rate of rape matches the national average of 30 per 100,000 people.

• The rate of domestic violence assaults in Maine increased (3.9% between 2006 and 2007) 49.7% between 1998 and 2007.

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Property Crimes

• Property crime comprised 94.7% of all index crimes in Maine in 2007

– the highest proportion in the country.

• Property crime in Maine declined 11.6% between 1998 and 2007.

– During this time, all categories of property crime except arson declined.

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Arrests and Clearances in Maine

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Arrests: Drugs

• Over the last decade, arrests for drug abuse violations have increased 23.2%.

• More than three quarters (78.3%) of all drug arrests involved possession violations

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Arrests: Females

• For the 10th consecutive year, there was an increase in arrests of females.

• In 2007, females represented 25.2% of all arrests of adults in Maine– the highest percentage recorded.

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Courts and Corrections

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Adult IncarcerationsState Number of

InmatesState Inmates per

100,000

North Dakota 1,416 Maine 159

Wyoming 2,084 Minnesota 181

Vermont 2,145 North Dakota 221

Maine 2,222 New Hampshire 222

New Hampshire 2,943 Rhode Island 235

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Increase in Prison Population

• The number of female prisoners increased 141.3% from 1998 to 2007.

• The overall prison population increased 31.4% in this time.

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Lowest State Expenditures 2007State Corrections as

Percent of Total

Expenditures

State Corrections as Percent of

Total General Fund

West Virginia 1.0% Minnesota 2.6%

Alabama 1.5% Alabama 2.9%

New Mexico 1.8% Hawaii 3.7%

North Dakota 1.9% New Mexico 4.0%

Maine 2.0% Connecticut, Massachusetts

4.1%

Maine 4.6%

United States 3.4% United States 6.7%

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Maine’s Adult and Juvenile Recidivism Outcomes

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Adult Probation Recidivism Rates

2004 2005 2006

Risk Level N % N % N %Administrative 85 10.1% 51 10.5% 34 8.6%

Low 48 29.3% 45 22.5% 114 20.4%

Moderate 574 22.0% 437 23.2% 385 24.1%

High 139 33.8% 121 36.7% 187 43.7%

Maximum 18 48.6% 25 48.1% 34 53.1%

Total 864 21.3% 679 23.0% 754 24.8%

•The One-Year Recidivism Rate of Maine probationers has not increased significantly over the past three years.

One-Year Recidivism Rates by Risk Category and Cohort

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Re-incarceration

• Overall, 58.1% of prisoners released in 2004 have been re-incarcerated.

• Average time to re-incarceration was less than 2 years.– The time to re-incarceration was shorter for

males (462 days) than for females (582 days).

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

Juvenile Recidivism

• The recidivism rate for the 2005 juvenile cohort was 27%.

• Among the eight states that use a similar definition of recidivism (i.e. “re-adjudication” of a previously adjudicated youth), the collective recidivism rate for these states was 33% in 2005, 6% higher than Maine’s rate (27%).

Muskie School of Public Service Maine Statistical Analysis Center

• The Maine Crime and Justice Data Book was produced to further the SAC’s mission to provide criminal justice information to the general public and policy makers in Maine.

All data are available on the Maine Statistical Analysis Center Website on March 31, 2009 at:

http://muskie.usm.maine.edu/justiceresearch