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