State Felony Drug Convictions Soared From 1986 to 1990, BJS Report Shows

DRUG TRAFFICKING April 1993

Both the absolute and relative number of individuals convicted of felony drug crimes by state courts soared from 1986 to 1990, according to a recently released report by the U.S. Department of Justice (Patrick Langan and John Dawson, "Felony Sentences In State Courts, 1990," Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, March 1993).

More than twice the number of men and women were convicted of felony drug crimes in state courts in 1990 than in 1986, with approximately 168,000 men and women convicted in 1990. Drug trafficking convictions made up only 13 percent of all state felony convictions in 1986, but soared to 20 percent of all such convictions by 1990. Nationwide, the increase in felony drug trafficking convictions accounted for 37 percent of the total increase in felony convictions.

Copies of the report (NCJ-140186) are available from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, Box 6000, Rockville, Maryland 20850. The telephone number is 1-800-732-3277. News organizations may get graphical data from the report in spreadsheet files on diskette by calling (202) 307-0784.