Persons Arrested
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Download Arrests for Drug Abuse Violations Table
Definition
The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program counts one arrest for each separate instance in which a person is arrested, cited, or summoned for an offense. The UCR Program collects arrest data on 28 offenses, as described in Offense Definitions. (Please note that, beginning in 2010, the UCR Program no longer collected data on runaways.) Because a person may be arrested multiple times during a year, the UCR arrest figures do not reflect the number of individuals who have been arrested; rather, the arrest data show the number of times that persons are arrested, as reported by law enforcement agencies to the UCR Program.
Important note about rape data
In 2013, the FBI UCR Program initiated the collection of rape data under a revised definition and removed the term “forcible” from the offense name. The UCR Program now defines rape as follows:
Rape (revised definition): Penetration, no matter how slight, of the vagina or anus with any body part or object, or oral penetration by a sex organ of another person, without the consent of the victim. (This includes the offenses of rape, sodomy, and sexual assault with an object as converted from data submitted via the National Incident-Based Reporting System.)
Rape (legacy definition): The carnal knowledge of a female forcibly and against her will.
For tables within this publication that present data for 2014 only or provide a 2-year trend, the rape figures are an aggregate total of the data submitted based on both the legacy and revised UCR definitions. For 5- and 10-year trend tables, the rape figures for the previous year (2010 or 2005) are based on the legacy definition and the 2014 rape figures are an aggregate total based on both the legacy and revised definitions. For this reason, a percent change is not provided.
Data collection-juveniles
The UCR Program considers a juvenile to be an individual under 18 years of age regardless of state definition. The program does not collect data regarding police contact with a juvenile who has not committed an offense, nor does it collect data on situations in which police take a juvenile into custody for his or her protection, e.g., neglect cases.
Overview
- Nationwide, law enforcement made an estimated 11,205,833 arrests in 2014. Of these arrests, 498,666 were for violent crimes, and 1,553,980 were for property crimes. (Note: the UCR Program does not collect data on citations for traffic violations.) (See Table 29.)
- The highest number of arrests were for drug abuse violations (estimated at 1,561,231 arrests), larceny-theft (estimated at 1,238,190), and driving under the influence (estimated at 1,117,852). (See Table 29.)
- The estimated arrest rate for the United States in 2014 was 3,512.7 arrests per 100,000 inhabitants. The arrest rate for violent crime (including murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) was 156.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the arrest rate for property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson) was 490.2 per 100,000 inhabitants. (See Table 30.)
- Two-year arrest trends show violent crime arrests declined 0.8 percent in 2014 when compared with 2013 arrests, and property crime arrests decreased 2.7 percent when compared with 2013 arrests. (See Table 36.)
- Arrests of juveniles for all offenses decreased 8.5 percent in 2014 when compared with the 2013 number; arrests of adults decreased 3.4 percent. (See Table 36.)
- More than 73 percent (73.3) of the persons arrested in the nation during 2014 were males. They accounted for 79.8 percent of persons arrested for violent crime and 61.8 percent of persons arrested for property crime. (See Table 42.)
- In 2014, 69.4 percent of all persons arrested were white, 27.8 percent were black, and the remaining 2.8 percent were of other races. (See Table 43.)
Expanded arrest data
Expanded data about arrests include information about the age, gender, and race of the arrestees. These data are available in the following tables:
Age: Tables 32, 34, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 44, 46, 47, 50, 52, 53, 56, 58, 59, 62, 64, and 65
Gender: Tables 33, 35, 37, 39, 40, 42, 45, 48, 51, 54, 57, 60, 63, and 66
Race: Tables 43, 49, 55, 61, and 67
Arrests Table
Arrests for Drug Abuse Violations
Percent Distribution by Region, 2014
| Drug abuse violations | United States total |
Northeast | Midwest | South | West | |
| Total1 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | |
| Sale/Manufacturing: | Total | 16.9 | 21.4 | 17.8 | 16.9 | 13.8 |
| Heroin or cocaine and their derivatives | 5.8 | 12.0 | 3.7 | 5.2 | 3.9 | |
| Marijuana | 5.2 | 5.6 | 8.1 | 4.5 | 4.3 | |
| Synthetic or manufactured drugs | 1.9 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 3.5 | 0.5 | |
| Other dangerous nonnarcotic drugs | 4.1 | 2.4 | 4.8 | 3.8 | 5.1 | |
| Possession: | Total | 83.1 | 78.6 | 82.2 | 83.1 | 86.2 |
| Heroin or cocaine and their derivatives | 17.0 | 18.6 | 10.1 | 13.9 | 24.1 | |
| Marijuana | 39.7 | 44.0 | 52.0 | 49.6 | 17.1 | |
| Synthetic or manufactured drugs | 4.8 | 3.6 | 4.8 | 7.2 | 2.5 | |
| Other dangerous nonnarcotic drugs | 21.5 | 12.4 | 15.2 | 12.4 | 42.5 |
1Because of rounding, the percentages may not add to 100.0.
What you won't find on this page
- Clearance data for violent crimes and property crimes.
- The number of persons who were convicted, prosecuted, and/or imprisoned. The UCR Program does not collect this information.
Roll over table numbers for table titles.
Table 29
Table 30
Table 31
Table 32
Table 33
Table 34
Table 35
Table 36
Table 37
Table 38
Table 39
Table 40
Table 41
Table 42
Table 43
Table 44
Table 45
Table 46
Table 47
Table 48
Table 49
Table 50
Table 51
Table 52
Table 53
Table 54
Table 55
Table 56
Table 57
Table 58
Table 59
Table 60
Table 61
Table 62
Table 63
Table 64
Table 65
Table 66
Table 67
Table 68
Table 69
