Federal Justice Statistics, 2017-2018

Mark Motivans, Ph.D., BJS Statistician

April 6, 2021    NCJ 254598

This report is the 32nd in an annual series based on data from BJS’s Federal Justice Statistics Program, which began in 1979. It provides national statistics on the federal response to crime for fiscal years 2017 and 2018. The report describes case-processing in the federal criminal-justice system, including investigations by U.S. attorneys, prosecutions and declinations, convictions and acquittals, sentencing, pre-trial release, detention, appeals, probation and parole, and prisons.

Highlights:

• During fiscal year (FY) 2018, federal law enforcement made 195,771 arrests, a 38% increase from the 142,008 arrests in FY 2017.
• An immigration offense was the most serious arrest offense in 56% of federal arrests in FY 2018.
• In FY 2018, the five federal judicial districts along the U.S.-Mexico border accounted for 65% of federal arrests.
• Drug Enforcement Administration arrests in FY 2018 most often involved methamphetamine (8,088 arrests), followed by heroin and opioids (7,098 arrests).

Part of the Federal Justice Statistics Series

Summary (PDF 180K)
Full report (PDF 1.5M)
Data tables (Zip format 24K)

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About the Source Data
Federal Justice Statistics Program (FJSP)

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