An additional 14 percent were involved with manufacturing, 11 percent with possession, 6 percent with importation, and 5 percent with other violations, such as prescription violations. Of offenses, 13 percent were related to marijuana, 42 percent to narcotics, and 45 percent to other controlled substances. The typical drug law offender is male, about 30 years old, and more likely to be white. Compared to offenders in other crime categories, drug law offenders tend to be younger than fraud offenders and older than robbery offenders. They tend to fall between those two groups in terms of education, marital status, income, and prior record. Once apprehended, the majority of defendants were prosecuted. The conviction rate was 76 percent, and the incarceration rate was 55 percent. Offenders generally were convicted on lesser charges, received far less than the maximum sentence, and on the average, were incarcerated for only slightly more than 3 years. 4 tables.
Federal Drug Law Violators
NCJ Number
92692
Date Published
December 1984
Annotation
Analysis of 1979 integrated data base data from 10 pretrial service districts indicate that 64 percent of Federal drug law offenders were involved with some level of selling, distributing, or dispensing controlled substances.
Abstract
Date Published: December 1, 1984