Used for decades, base rates provide an estimate of justice system involvement, per individual, for a given jurisdiction’s population and can potentially save law enforcement, court, and correctional resources when used in discretionary court, parole, and probation decisions.
NIJ funded a study that sought to provide general population base rates using data gathered from state courts and two national data sets collected to track arrest and prison admission. In that study, researcher computed three definitions of system involvement – arrests, charges, and prison admission.
Findings provide estimates for the likelihood of justice involvement broken down by gender, race/ethnicity, age, state, crime type, and a variety of key indicators.
The interactive data below results from that study. Analysis of this data is discussed in final report from the NIJ-funded Criminal Justice Base Rate Project. We invite you to explore the uses of the base rate calculations developed.