DRUG ARRESTS HELP SEND NUMBER ON PAROLE OR PROBATION TO RECORD

Texas leads nation at over half million

WASHINGTON -- The number of people on parole or probation reached a record
4.5 million in 1999, the Justice Department announced Sunday.

The biggest increase is in probationers, reflecting a rise in drug arrests
and a decline in the number of drug offenders sent to prison.

Twenty-four percent of the people on probation were convicted of drug
offenses, and 18 percent were given probation for drunken driving.

"What we've seen is a 30 percent decline in the likelihood of going to
prison for a drug arrest over the last decade," Justice Department
statistician Allen J. Beck said. "So even though we've had an increase in
drug arrests, the flow into prisons has stabilized."

More than 1 million of the nation's probationers and parolees were in Texas,
with 556,410, and California, with 446,460. States with the largest
percentages of their adult population under community supervision were
Georgia, with 5.8 percent, and Idaho, with 4.2 percent.

The parolees and probationers are part of the burgeoning population that is
under correctional supervision in the wake of a national crackdown on crime,
Justice Department officials said.

States have built new prisons, toughened sentencing standards and increased
options for community supervision.

Overall, the number of people under correctional supervision stands at an
all-time high of 6.3 million, with 1.86 million men and women behind bars as
of June 1999. The number has climbed every year for a decade. New figures
will be released next month.

"The scope of the criminal justice system has increased substantially over
20 years," Beck said. "It went from a little over 1 percent of the adult
population back in 1980 to now up over 3 percent of all adults. That's one
out of every 32 adults."

Although arrests for violent crime are down, arrests for simple assault rose
28 percent between 1990 and 1999. Arrests for forgery, fraud and
embezzlement increased 37 percent, and arrests for drug use and sale rose 34
percent. The three types of convictions disproportionately result in
sentences of probation, which allow offenders to avoid prison or jail but
remain under supervision in the community.

After a steady increase in the 1980s, the parolee population last decade
stabilized at 700,000, which Beck said reflects a drop in prison-release
rates and longer lengths of stay.

There were more women on probation (22 percent of the total) and parole (12
percent) in 1999 than in 1990.

Blacks made up more than a third of probationers and nearly half of
parolees. Two-thirds of probationers and more than half of parolees were
white. Hispanics, who may be of any race, composed 16 percent of
probationers and 21 percent of parolees.

On the Internet: Please see the Justice Department Web site:
www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs.