NCJ Number
170092
Date Published
July 1998
Length
10 pages
Agencies
BJS
Publication Series
Publication Type
Statistics
Annotation
Based on a 1996 survey that sampled 308 chief prosecutors from the estimated 2,343 prosecutors that try felony cases, this report provides data on the personnel of prosecutors' offices, populations served, prosecutor salaries, caseloads, and budgets for prosecution.
Abstract
In 1996 State court prosecutors' offices employed approximately 71,000 attorneys, investigators, and support staff. The staff total had increased 25 percent from 1992 to 1996. Approximately three-fourths of all offices reported employing full-time prosecutors compared to approximately half of all offices in 1990. On average, offices with a part-time chief prosecutor had the smallest staff size, lowest percentage of staff members working full-time, and the smallest budgets. Almost half of all offices reported the use of DNA evidence during plea negotiations or felony trials. DNA evidence was used most often for sex offenses (43 percent), followed by murder and manslaughter (28 percent), and aggravated assault (4 percent) cases. Over three-fourths of all offices indicated having proceeded against juveniles in criminal court. An estimated 27,000 juveniles were proceeded against in criminal court by prosecutors' offices in 1996. Thirty percent of all staff employed by prosecutors' offices nationwide worked in the 34 largest offices, which each serve 1 million or more residents. nearly three-fourths of offices serving districts of 1 million or more reported that an assistant prosecutor was threatened or assaulted. Approximately half of the prosecutors' offices that represented districts of 1 million or more had a specialized unit or designated attorney who handled juvenile cases in criminal court. 15 tables
Date Created: December 17, 2009