Crime in California

Crime in California refers to crime occurring within the U.S. state of California.

State statistics

In 2019, there were 1,096,668 crimes reported in California including 1,679 murders, 14,720 rapes and 915,197 property crimes.[1]: 9  In 2019, there were 1,012,441 arrests of adults and 43,181 arrests of juveniles in California.[1]: 20 

In 2014, 1,697 people were victims of homicides. 30% of homicides were gang-related, 28% were due to an unspecified argument, 9% were domestic, and 7% were robbery related. The rest were unknown.[2] In 2017 the violent crime rate in California rose 1.5% and was 14th highest of the 50 states.[3]

Number of crimes per 100,000 persons in 2004 (crime rates)[4]
Violent crime rates Property crime rates Total Rank
Population Violent crime Homicide Rape Robbery Serious assault Property crime Burglary Larceny Motor vehicle theft
35,893,799 551.8 6.7 26.8 172.1 346.3 3,419.0 685.1 2,030.1 703.8 11,970.8 26
YearPopulationIndexViolentPropertyMurderRape[note 1]RobberyAggravated
assault		BurglaryLarceny
theft		Vehicle
theft
196015,717,204546,06937,558508,5116162,85918,79618,796143,102 311,956 53,453
197019,953,1341,264,85494,7411,170,1131,3767,00545,08345,083349,788 682,811 137,514
198023,532,6801,264,854210,2901,633,0423,41113,693102,766102,766545,138 913,070 174,834
199029,760,0211,965,237311,0511,654,1863,55312,688182,602182,602400,392 951,580 302,214
200033,871,6481,266,714210,5311,056,1832,0799,78560,249138,418222,293 651,855 182,035
2010 37,338,198 1,146,072 164,133 981,939 1,809 8,331 58,116 95,877 228,857 600,558 152,524
2016 39,250,017 1,176,866 174,796 1,002,070 1,930 10,149 54,789 104,375 188,304 637,010 176,756
2017 39,613,045 1,173,972 178,553 986,769 1,829 14,724 56,609 105,391 176,638 641,804 168,327
2018 39,825,181 1,126,387 176,866 940,998 1,739 15,500 54,312 105,315 164,540 621,288 155,170
2019 39,959,095 1,096,668 173,205 915,197 1,679 14,720 52,050 104,756 151,596 622,869 140,732

By location

Los Angeles
Main article: Crime in Los Angeles

In 2010, Los Angeles reported 293 homicides.[5] The 2010 number corresponds to a rate of 7.6 per 100,000 population. Murders in Los Angeles have decreased since the peak year of 1993, when the homicide rate was 21.1 (per 100,000 population).[6]

Further information: Criminal procedure in California

As one of the fifty states of the United States, California follows common law criminal procedure. The principal source of law for California criminal procedure is the California Penal Code, Part 2, "Of Criminal Procedure."

Every year in California, approximately 150 thousand violent crimes and 1 million property crimes are committed.[7] With a population of about 40 million people, approximately 1.2 million arrests are made every year in California.[7] The California superior courts hear about 270,000 felony cases, 900,000 misdemeanor cases, and 5 million infraction cases every year.[8] There are currently 130,000 people in state prisons[9] and 70,000 people in county jails.[10] Of these, there are 746 people who have been sentenced to death.[11]

Policing
Further information: List of law enforcement agencies in California

In 2018, California had 531 state and local law enforcement agencies. Those agencies employed a total of 130,451 staff. Of the total staff, 79,038 were sworn officers (defined as those with general arrest powers).[12]

Police ratio

In 2018, California had 200 police officers per 100,000 residents.[12]

Capital punishment laws
Further information: Capital punishment in California

The death penalty (also known as capital punishment) is legal in California,[13] although Governor Gavin Newsom issued a moratorium on the use on March 13, 2019.[14] The last execution was issued for Clarence Ray Allen on January 17, 2006, through lethal injection.

Organized crime

Organized crime in California involves the criminal activities of organized crime groups, street gangs, criminal extremists, and terrorists in California.[15] Traditional organized crime are in the form of Cosa Nostra (LCN), Sicilian Mafia, and Camorra. Eurasian criminal networks specialize in white-collar crime, fraud, prostitution and human trafficking. Crime cells from Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe impact public safety and the state's economy.

Gangs

Gangs in California are classified into three categories: criminal street gangs, prison gangs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs. Gang operations usually include "assault, auto theft, drive-by shooting, illegal drug and narcotic manufacturing, drug and narcotic trafficking, forgery, fraud, home invasion robbery, identity theft, murder, weapons trafficking, witness intimidation, and violence against law enforcement."

Terrorism

Domestic criminal extremists include various racial supremacy groups. International terrorists include Al-Qaeda, Hamas, Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), and Jamaat ul-Fuqra (JUF).

Notable incidents

See also

General:

Footnotes
  1. In 2014, the crime of "forcible rape" was changed to "rape." The definition was expanded to include both male and female victims and reflects the various forms of sexual penetration understood to be rape.

References
  1. "Crime in California" (PDF). State of California Department of Justice - OpenJustice. 2020-07-01. Archived (pdf) from the original on 2020-08-03. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  2. Bulwa, Demian (July 4, 2015). "By the numbers: Who got killed, and why, in California last year". SFGATE.
  3. "Crime Trends in California". Public Policy Institute of California. Retrieved 2019-11-13.
  4. "US Census Bureau, median household income by state 2004". Archived from the original on 2006-06-28. Retrieved 2006-07-01.
  5. 2010 California offenses known to law enforcement FBI. Retrieved August 10, 2012
  6. "Crime Rates in Los Angeles County 1985-2019". Los Angeles Almanac. Archived from the original on May 7, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  7. "2015 California Attorney General Report" (PDF).
  8. "2015 California Judicial Council Court Statistics Report" (PDF).
  9. "California Department of Corrections Office of Research, Population Reports". Archived from the original on 2018-05-15. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  10. Lofstrom, Magnus; Martin, Brandon (February 2021). "California's County Jails". Public Policy Institute of California.
  11. These are the 746 inmates awaiting execution on California's death row, Los Angeles Times, Paige St. John & Maloy Moore, August 24, 2017. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
  12. "Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, 2018 – Statistical Tables" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. October 2022. p. 5. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 18, 2023.
  13. "Facts about capital punishment - the death penalty". religioustolerance.org. Archived from the original on July 13, 2017. Retrieved April 13, 2017.
  14. Arango, Tim (2019-03-12). "California Death Penalty Suspended; 737 Inmates Get Stay of Execution". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  15. "Organized Crime in California, 2005 Report to the California Legislature" (PDF). California Department of Justice. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 28, 2023.

Further reading
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