Below find the number of people incarcerated for each type of crime as well as the percent of people imprisoned for each type of crime under both state and federal jurisdictions from 2014 through 2020, which are the most recently available numbers from the Bureau of Justice Statistics of the Department of Justice.
Number of Sentenced Prisoners under State Jurisdictions
Total
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| 1,316,409 | 1,298,159 | 1,288,466 | 1,273,674 | 1,249,700 | 1,221,288 | 1,043,705 |
Violent Crimes
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Total Violent Crimes | 696,900 | 707,900 | 710,900 | 709,700 | 693,300 | 710,800 | 651,800 |
| Murder* | 171,700 | 177,600 | 182,400 | 182,200 | 177,700 | 162,900 | 157,000 |
| Negligent Manslaughter | 17,100 | 17,500 | 17,300 | 18,800 | 18,600 | 19,200 | 18,600 |
| Rape/Sexual assault | 162,800 | 161,900 | 164,800 | 167,000 | 162,700 | 167,800 | 161,500 |
| Robbery | 168,600 | 171,400 | 168,800 | 163,300 | 155,000 | 151,000 | 130,800 |
| Aggravated/Simple Assault | 134,400 | 135,700 | 135,400 | 137,100 | 135,900 | 165,700 | 144,600 |
| Other | 42,200 | 43,800 | 42,100 | 41,200 | 43,500 | 165,700 | 39,300 |
*Includes non-negligent manslaughter.
Property Crimes
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Total Property Crimes | 249,900 | 234,000 | 226,100 | 214,100 | 199,700 | 186,700 | 141,100 |
| Burglary | 132,600 | 126,000 | 121,300 | 115,800 | 106,500 | 100,500 | 79,800 |
| Larceny/Theft | 47,000 | 47,700 | 44,000 | 37,600 | 38,700 | 37,000 | 26,400 |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 11,100 | 9,400 | 9,600 | 10,800 | 10,200 | 10,300 | 7,000 |
| Fraud | 29,700 | 24,700 | 25,900 | 25,000 | 22,400 | 19,100 | 12,900 |
| Other | 29,500 | 26,200 | 25,200 | 24,900 | 21,900 | 19,800 | 15,000 |
Drug Crimes
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Total Drug Crimes | 206,300 | 197,200 | 190,100 | 183,900 | 176,300 | 171,300 | 131,600 |
| Possession | 46,000 | 44,700 | 45,300 | 46,800 | 46,500 | 46,700 | 33,700 |
| Other* | 160,300 | 152,500 | 144,800 | 137,100 | 129,900 | 124,600 | 97,800 |
*Includes trafficking, other drug offenses, and unspecified drug offenses.
Public Order Crimes
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Total Public Order Crimes | 152,800 | 153,100 | 153,100 | 157,600 | 153,100 | 145,000 | 109,100 |
| Weapons | 51,100 | 50,500 | 54,400 | 57,800 | 58,000 | 48,900 | 38,600 |
| DUI/DWI | 27,900 | 25,300 | 24,600 | 22,800 | 21,400 | 20,800 | 15,000 |
| Other* | 73,900 | 74,400 | 74,100 | 77,000 | 73,800 | 75,300 | 55,500 |
*Includes court offenses; commercialized vice, morals, and decency offenses; liquor-law violations; probation and parole violations; and other public-order offenses.
Other/Unspecified Crimes
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Total Other/Unspecified Crimes* | 10,600 | 8,900 | 8,200 | 8,300 | 7,300 | 7,500 | 6,800 |
*Includes juvenile offenses and other unspecified offense categories.
Number of Sentenced Prisoners under Federal Jurisdiction
Total
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| 185,917 | 172,554 | 172,554 | 162,904 | 158,107 | 144,553 | 142,298 |
Violent Crimes
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Total Violent Crimes | 13,700 | 13,400 | 13,400 | 12,800 | 12,212 | 11,303 | 10,547 |
| Homicide* | 2,800 | 2,800 | 2,800 | 2,700 | 2,663 | 2,551 | 2,426 |
| Robbery | 6,900 | 6,600 | 6,600 | 6,000 | 5,521 | 4,448 | 4,448 |
| Sexual Abuse | —– | —– | —– | 1,300 | 1,321 | 1,278 | 1,261 |
| Other | 4,000 | 4,000 | 4,000 | 2,700 | 2,707 | 2,516 | 2,412 |
*Includes murder and both negligent and non-negligent manslaughter.
Property Crimes
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Total Property Crimes | 11,200 | 10,600 | 10,600 | 9,200 | 8,400 | 6,819 | 5,950 |
| Burglary | 400 | 400 | 400 | 300 | 292 | 254 | 224 |
| Fraud* | 8,800 | 8,300 | 8,300 | 7,300 | 6,637 | 5,295 | 4,552 |
| Other** | 2,000 | 1,900 | 1,900 | 1,700 | 1,471 | 1,270 | 1,174 |
*Includes embezzlement, fraud, forgery, and counterfeiting.
**Includes larceny, motor-vehicle theft, arson and explosives, transportation of stolen property, and other property offenses.
Drug Crimes
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Total Drug Crimes* | 92,000 | 81,900 | 81,900 | 76,700 | 73,210 | 67,438 | 66,474 |
*Includes trafficking, possession, and other drug offenses. More than 99% of federal drug offenders were sentenced for trafficking.
Public Order Crimes
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Total Public Order Crimes | 67,500 | 65,900 | 65,900 | 63,600 | 63,691 | 58,503 | 58,894 |
| Immigration* | 14,900 | 13,300 | 13,300 | 9,200 | 8,324 | 5,764 | 5,975 |
| Weapons | 30,200 | 28,800 | 28,800 | 28,800 | 29,327 | 28,210 | 28,537 |
| Other** | 22,400 | 23,800 | 23,800 | 25,600 | 26,040 | 24,529 | 24,382 |
*Includes illegal entry, smuggling and importing non-U.S. citizens, and holds for immigration officials.
**Includes regulatory offenses; tax-law violations; bribery; perjury, contempt, and intimidation in U.S. courts; national-defense offenses; escape; racketeering and extortion; gambling; sexual offenses, excluding sexual abuse; offenses involving liquor, traffic, wildlife, and environmental matters; and all other public-order offenses.
Other/Unspecified Crimes
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | |
| Total Other/Unspecified Crimes | 1,400 | 900 | 900 | 600 | 594 | 490 | 433 |
Sources
Jennifer Bronson and E. Ann Carson, “Prisoners in 2017,” bjs.ojp.gov, Apr. 2019
E. Ann Carson and Elizabeth Anderson, “Prisoners in 2015,” bjs.ojp.gov, Dec. 2016
E. Ann Carson, “Prisoners in 2016,” bjs.ojp.gov, Jan. 2018
E. Ann Carson, “Prisoners in 2018,” bjs.ojp.gov, Apr. 2020
E. Ann Carson, “Prisoners in 2019,” bjs.ojp.gov, Oct. 2020
E. Ann Carson, “Prisoners in 2020,” bjs.ojp.gov, Dec. 2021
E. Ann Carson, “Prisoners in 2021,” bjs.ojp.gov, Dec. 2022
