According to a representative study done by the United States Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics based on data collected from the 75 largest counties in the U.S., two thirds of all felonies committed in the United States were for drug or property (theft) related offenses in 2004. Under Ohio’s tier system of felony classification, most drug and property related offenses are classified as felony IV’s and V’s or ‘lower level’ felonies.
Table One- National Norms
| Number of felony defendants in the 75 largest counties in 2004 | Number of defendants charged with property related crimes | Percentage of defendants charged with property related crimes | Number of defendants charged with drug related crimes | Percentage of defendants charged with drug related crimes |
| 57,497 | 17,595 | 30.6% | 21,080 | 36.7% |
Ohio’s violent crime rate is considerably lower than that of the national average. All most all of the felony arrests made here are drug or property related.
Table Two- Ohio Averages
| Number of people estimated to be living in Ohio in 2007 *according to the United States Census Bureau; Only a 1% change since 2000 | Total number of all arrests reported to the FBI in 2005 | Approximant number of adult- aged 18 and over- arrests | Percentage of adults arrested for all crimes | Percentage of arrests made for violent crimes | Percentage of arrests made for property related crimes | Percentage of arrests made for drug related crimes | Percentage of arrests made for less serious or less frequently occurring crimes |
| 11,466,917 | 287,987 | 240,000 | 83% | 3% | 12% | 13% | 72% |
Because crime rates tend to fluctuate from year to year and Ohio is still perfecting its reporting techniques, it is difficult to pin down the exact numbers of crimes committed here. Assuming that the same types of crimes are committed at about the same rate each year, we can come to an approximate average. Tables Three and Four show the most recent statistics available. According to this data, we can safely assume that approximately 65,000 individuals are arrested and charged with a ‘lower level’ crime in Ohio every year.
Table Three- Ohio Lower level Crime Averages
| Total number of all arrests reported to the FBI in 2005 | Percentage of arrests made for property related crimes in 2005 | Approximate number of people arrested for property related crime | Percentage of all arrests made for drug related crimes | Approximate number of people arrested for drug related crimes |
| 287,987 | 12% | 34,500 | 13% | 37,400 |
Table Four- Ohio Drug Crime Averages
| Approximate number of people arrested for drug related crimes in 2005 | Percentage of drug arrests involving possession *arrests for which data was available in 2004 | Approximate number of people charged with a possession related crime | Percentage of drug arrests for a trafficking related crime *arrests for which data was available in 2004 | Approximate number of people charged with a trafficking related crime |
| 37,400 | 87% | 32,500 | 13% | 4,800 |
Youth crime rates for violent and property related crimes peak at age 18 according to the 2005 study, “State of Crime and Justice in Ohio” (p.65). This is significant because many of the 34,500 plus people who were charged with relatively minor property related felony offenses were under or near 18 years old at the time of the crime- a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by legislatures. Here in Ohio, we recognize that children are not capable of adult decision making. As of October 9th 2006, all juvenile records are required to be expunged after five years.
Further, according to the U.S Department of Justice, 38 percent of those arrested in 2004 were ‘new’ defendants with no prior conviction record. (Felony Defendants in Large Urban Counties- Table 7) Using this data as a marker, we can conclude that approximately 22,800 people are charged with their first low- level felony conviction each year in Ohio.
Finally, of the 287,972 arrests made in Ohio in 2005, 70 percent or 201,580 of the arrests made were for less serious crimes than those already discussed. If 38 percent of those arrests are ‘new’ arrestees then, 76,600 people were arrested and charged with less serious crimes. According to this data approximately 99,000 people are arrested and charged with ‘new’ minor felony or misdemeanor charges each year in Ohio.
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