By Lea S. Gifford

BJS Statistician

With assistance from

Sue A. Lindgren

BJS Statistician

Between 1985 and 1995 expenditures

for operating the Nation’s justice

system increased from almost $65

billion to over $112 billion, an increase

of about 73% in constant 1995 dollars.

In 1995, criminal and civil justice

expenditure comprised 4.4% of all

Federal, State, and local expenditures. 

Data presented in this report are

derived from the Justice Expenditure

and Employment Extracts, a compilation from the Census Bureau's Annual

Government Finance Survey and

Annual Survey of Public Employment.

The extracts present public expenditure and employment data pertaining to

justice activities in the United States,

including police, judicial and legal

services, and correctional activities.

Compared to justice expenditures, the

Nation spent 5.6 times as much on

social insurance payments, 3.4 times

as much on education, 2.7 times as

much on national defense and international relations, 2.4 times as much on

interest on debt, 2.1 times as much on

public welfare, and 1.3 times as much

on housing and the environment. 

 ̆ Federal, State, and local governments in the United States spent

more than $112 billion in fiscal year

1995 for criminal and civil justice, an

increase of 9% over 1994.

 ̆ In 1995 the Nation spent $48.6

billion for police protection, and $39.8

billion for corrections, including jails,

prisons, probation, and parole. The

combined activities of courts, prosecution and legal services, and public

defense accounted for $24.5 billion.

 ̆ The Federal Government alone

spent more than $22 billion on criminal and civil justice in 1995, an

increase of 253% since 1985. This

included about $5.9 billion for grants

to State and local governments.

About $9 billion was spent on polic

protection and $4.2 billion on

corrections.

 ̆ State governments spent more than

$41 billion on criminal and civil justice

in 1995, 153% more than in 1985.

The majority was spent on corrections, at more than $26 billion.

 ̆ Local governments spent nearly

$59 billion on justice activities in

1995. The largest component was 

on police protection, at more than 

$35 billion.

 ̆ In October 1995 the Nation's justice

system employed almost 2 million

persons, with a total October payroll

of $5.8 billion. More than 900,000

employees worked in police protection, 401,000 were in judicial and

legal services, and 656,000 worked 

in corrections.

Highlights

$0

$20

$40

$60

$80

$100

$120

Police protection

Corrections

Judicial / Legal

Expenditure in 1995 constant dollars by all lev els

of government, 1985-95

Total justice

Billions

1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995

U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Bulletin

Federal, State, and local expenditure for the criminal and 

civil justice system, 1985-95 (in 1995 constant dollars) 

Justice Expenditure and Employment

in the United States, 1995

November 1999, NCJ-178235
The justice share of all spending

Four cents (or 4.4%) of every government dollar spent throughout the

Nation in 1995 was for justice activities:

1.8% for police protection, 1.7% for

corrections, and 0.9% for judicial and

legal services (table 1).

One of the lowest percentages of 

Federal Government expenditure was

for criminal and civil justice (1.1%). In

1995, 37.9% of Federal spending went

to social insurance, 22.2% to national

defense and international relations,

and 15.8% to interest on debt 

(figure 1).

Compared to the Federal Government,

State and local governments had

higher percentages going for justice

activities, 7.4% and 7.9% respectively.

Fifteen percent of combined State and

local dollars went to public welfare and

31% went to education. 

Of all State and local spending, 3.3%

was for police, 2.9% was for corrections, and 1.5% was for judicial and

legal service activities.

From 1994 to 1995 justice spending

increased more than total government

spending for all activities (excluding

interest on debt).

Between 1985 and 1995 per capita

expenditures across all levels of

government in 1995 constant dollars

for —

• all justice activities rose 57% to

$429.56

• police protection rose 35% to $185.13

• corrections rose 99% to $151.29

• judicial and legal rose 56% to $93.14.

Among some other government

functions during the decade —

• education increased 78%

• public welfare increased 139%

• hospitals and healthcare increased

88%

• National defense and international

relations increased 3%.

2 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1995 

Figure 1

Note: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. These figures are taken directly from the Government Finances, U.S. Bureau 

of the Census, 1996. Numbers may not match those from the Expenditure and Employment Extracts because of definitional differences.

- Not applicable.

Space research and technology 13,316 0.5 13,316 0.9 0 - 0 -

 insurance payments) 665,631 24.4 558,291 37.9 93,692 18.4 13,648 1.8

Insurance trust (social

Interest on debt 290,195 10.7 233,225 15.8 24,485 4.8 32,485 4.4

Environment and housing 150,426 5.5 57,205 3.9 20,150 4.0 73,071 9.8

 Corrections 46,158 1.7 3,065 0.2 24,091 4.7 11,766 1.6

 Judicial and legal services 24,528 0.9 5,360 0.4 7,534 1.5 11,634 1.6

 Police protection 48,618 1.8 7,563 0.5 5,735 1.1 35,320 4.8

Criminal justice, total 119,304 4.4 15,988 1.1 37,360 7.4 58,720 7.9

Transportation 99,064 3.6 10,126 0.7 48,380 9.5 40,558 5.5

Hospitals and health 136,616 5.0 26,517 1.8 49,487 9.7 56,474 7.6

Public welfare 250,356 9.2 57,246 3.9 160,421 31.6 32,689 4.4

Education and libraries 410,827 15.1 27,270 1.9 101,790 20.0 281,767 37.9

 international relations 327,231 12.0 327,231 22.2 0 - 0 -

National defense and

Total expenditure $2,723,454 100% $1,471,734 100% $508,282 100% $743,438 100%

Activity (in millions) expenditure (in millions) expenditure (in millions) expenditure (in millions) expenditure

Expenditure Percent of Expenditure Percent of Expenditure Percent of Expenditure Percent of 

Total Federal State Local

Table 1. Direct expenditure for government functions, by level of government, fiscal year 1995

1977 1983 1989 1995

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Percent

Percent of Federal Gov ernment expenditure

for selected functions, 1977-95

Social insurance

National defense / international relations

Interest on debt

Public welfare Environment / housing

Education

Criminal justice

Note: The government functions included will not sum to 100% of government spending, 

because some functions were excluded for display purposes. Figures may not match those 

from the Expenditure and Employment Extracts because of definitional differences.

Source: The Budget of the United States Government (Annual, 1977-1995). 
Changes in per capita expenditure on

corrections have been more erratic

than changes in spending on

judicial/legal services and police

between 1985 and 1995, mainly due to

the year-to-year fluctuation in capital

outlays, including the cost of prison

construction.

Between 1985 and 1995 the Federal

government increased its expenditure

on police protection by 121%,

judicial/legal services by 152%, and

corrections by 326%. The State and

local governments combined increased

their police protection expenditure by

96%, their judicial/legal services by

127%, and their corrections by 179%.

Spending by level of government

Local governments spent over half of

the Nation's civil and criminal direct

justice expenditures in 1995: almost

$59 billion, followed by State governments with $37.4 billion and the

Federal Government with $16.7 billion

(table 2).

Reflecting a change in responsibility for

criminal and civil justice, the Federal

Government had a larger average

annual increase in justice spending

from 1982 to 1995 (9%) than the State

and local governments (6.3% and 4.5%

respectively). The average annual

increase for all levels of government

between 1982 and 1995 was 5.3%.

Between 1982 and 1995, the Federal

Government increased its intergovernmental spending on justice activities by

an annual average of 24%, to $5,910

million in 1995.

Federal intergovernmental spending on

activities such as corrections and

judicial and legal services rose from

 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1995 3

Note: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. 

*Duplicative transactions between levels of government (intergovernmental transfers) are excluded from the total for all 

governments, the State total, and the local total. These intergovernmental expenditures consist of payments from 

one government to another and will show up as a direct expenditure of a recipient government. See the box on this page

for further details and see Appendix table 1 for actual dollar values.

 Average annual 5.3% 9.0% 7.0% 24.1% 6.3% 6.2% 7.2% 4.5% 4.5% 6.3%

 1982-95 107.4% 234.7% 158.3% 1959.9% 133.9% 131.0% 165.7% 85.1% 85.0% 136.6%

Percent change

1995 112,868 22,651 16,741 5,910 41,196 37,360 3,836 58,933 58,768 165

1994 106,855 19,708 15,104 4,604 38,377 34,591 3,786 57,333 57,160 174

1993 103,042 19,639 15,243 4,397 36,157 32,427 3,730 55,526 55,373 153

1992 101,542 18,866 14,649 4,216 36,550 32,777 3,773 54,265 54,115 150

1991 97,299 16,924 13,451 3,472 34,983 31,660 3,323 52,307 52,188 119

1990 91,443 14,733 11,764 2,969 32,630 29,659 2,971 50,144 50,020 124

1989 85,161 11,612 11,048 564 30,331 27,618 2,713 46,602 46,495 107

1988 80,824 10,967 10,487 480 28,296 25,871 2,425 44,727 44,466 261

1987 74,863 9,532 9,195 337 25,632 23,481 2,152 42,301 42,183 118

1986 70,057 8,636 8,420 216 24,299 22,232 2,066 39,517 39,405 113

1985 64,911 8,576 8,393 183 21,723 19,920 1,803 36,706 36,598 108

1984 60,823 8,122 8,010 112 19,673 18,106 1,567 34,816 34,707 109

1983 57,664 7,185 7,039 145 18,580 17,016 1,564 33,695 33,609 86

1982 $54,416 $6,768 $6,481 $287 $17,614 $16,171 $1,444 $31,834 $31,764 $70

constant 1995 dollars

Expenditure (in millions)

Year local direct) Total Direct ernmental Total Direct ernmental Total Direct ernmental

State, and Intergov- Intergov- Intergov-

(Federal, Federal State Local

Total*

Table 2. Total, direct, and intergovernmental justice expenditure (in 1995 constant

dollars) and percent change, by level of government, fiscal years 1982-95

What is included in total expenditure?

The expenditure data discussed in this Bulletin include direct expenditure and

intergovernmental expenditure. Intergovernmental expenditure is the sum of

payments from one government to another, including grants-in-aid, shared

revenues, and amounts for services performed by one government for another

on a reimbursable or cost-sharing basis. 

The three levels of government in the United States (Federal, State, and local)

have varying responsibilities for justice activities, and monies are often passed

between governments to reflect these responsibilities. For example, Federal

intergovernmental expenditures include grants to States, and State direct 

expenditures will include those grants. 

Therefore, to avoid double counting the sum of Federal, State, and local intergovernmental expenditures, the direct expenditure is used to calculate total

expenditure for all governments. For 1995 the total expenditure for all governments was $112,868 million (table 2).
$564 million in 1989 to almost $3 billion

in 1990 (in 1995 constant dollars).

This unusually large increase was

primarily due to the creation of the

Family Services Administration within

the Department of Health and Human

Services which gives grants to States

for child support enforcement. 

Within each category of justice activity,

the distribution of expenditure by level

of government reflects the different

responsibilities of each level (table 3):

• Police protection is primarily a local

responsibility; accordingly, local governments spent 72.7% of the total

police protection expenditure in the

country in 1995.

• Corrections is primarily a State responsibility, and the State governments

accounted for 65.6% of the Nation's

corrections expenditure.

• Overall, local police spending represented 31.3% of the Nation's total

justice expenditure, and State corrections accounted for the second largest

portion, 23.1%.

The Federal Government spent the

most on intergovernmental grants-inaid, shared revenues, and amounts

paid to other governments for

services performed. More than half of

the Federal intergovernmental expenditure was for judicial and legal services,

much of which were the grants for child

support enforcement. About half of the

State intergovernmental expenditure

and more than two-thirds of local intergovernmental expenditure were for

corrections.

State comparisons

Across the Nation, State and local

governments spent $354 per capita on

justice activities. This ranged from

$156 per capita in West Virginia to

more than $500 per capita in New York

($542), Alaska ($773), and the District

of Columbia ($1,224) (table 4).

4 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1995 

Note: Local government data are estimates subject to sampling variability. Federal Government

data are for the fiscal period beginning October 1, 1994, and ending September 30, 1995. 

The total lines for each justice activity, and for the total justice system, exclude duplicative 

intergovernmental amounts. Artificial inflation would result if an intergovernmental 

expenditure of a government were tabulated and then counted again when the recipient 

government(s) spent the amount. The intergovernmental expenditure lines are not 

totaled for the same reason.

- Not applicable.

 Intergovernmental - 285,000 1,977,969 117,428

 Direct expenditure 39,752,230 3,884,000 24,091,069 11,777,161

Correction $39,752,230 $4,169,000 $26,069,038 $11,894,589

 Intergovernmental - 3,875,000 1,141,879 44,902

 Direct expenditure 24,471,689 5,309,000 7,533,740 11,628,949

Judicial and legal $24,471,689 $9,184,000 $8,675,619 $11,673,851

 Intergovernmental - 1,750,000 716,427 2,901

 Direct expenditure 48,644,529 7,548,000 5,734,937 35,361,592

Police protection $48,644,529 $9,298,000 $6,451,364 $35,364,493

 Intergovernmental - 5,910,000 3,836,275 165,231

 Direct expenditure 112,868,448 16,741,000 37,359,746 58,767,702

Total justice system $112,868,448 $22,651,000 $41,196,021 $58,932,933

Activity governments Government governments governments

All Federal State Local

Amount (thousands of dollars) spent fiscal year 1995

Table 3. Expenditure, by level of government and justice activity, 

fiscal year 1995 

Note: These data are based on a summation

of responses from individual State and local

government agencies. Some data for 

individual governments may be for a prior

reporting period. 

51 West Virginia 156.26

50 North Dakota 162.21

49 Mississippi 180.58

48 Maine 186.62

47 Arkansas 191.65

46 Indiana 196.99

45 Kentucky 199.59

44 South Dakota 204.28

43 Nebraska 209.99

42 Montana 216.29

41 Alabama 224.17

40 Vermont 231.49

39 Missouri 234.37

38 Iowa 235.40

37 Oklahoma 236.84

36 New Hampshire 244.46

35 Tennessee 247.28

34 South Carolina 251.88

33 Idaho 265.33

32 Kansas 266.60

31 Minnesota 270.28

30 Utah 276.99

29 Louisiana 285.14

28 Pennsylvania 290.81

27 Georgia 291.09

26 Virginia 292.13

25 Wyoming 292.66

24 North Carolina 305.63

23 Oregon 310.28

22 Colorado 319.00

21 Ohio 326.39

20 New Mexico 328.44

19 Washington 328.69

18 Wisconsin 330.19

17 Illinois 331.28

16 Texas 340.30

15 Massachusetts 348.86

All State and local 353.95

14 Rhode Island 359.72

13 Michigan 362.73

12 Hawaii 381.94

11 Arizona 383.24

10 Connecticut 385.83

9 Delaware 409.25

8 Florida 436.72

7 Nevada 458.44

6 New Jersey 462.01

5 California 487.12

4 Maryland 493.47

3 New York 541.86

2 Alaska 772.66

1 District of Columbia $1,223.71

Rank State per capita

expenditure

Justice

Table 4. State and local justice

system per capita expenditure,

by State, fiscal year 1995 
In 1995 full-time equivalent employment in State and local justice

functions was 65.7 persons per 10,000

population nationally. California had

the highest number of justice employees (almost 57,000 full-time equivalent

employees). Excluding the District of

Columbia, New York had the most

justice employees per 10,000 residents

(89.3) (table 5).

The monthly average earnings of State

and local full-time equivalent justice

employees was $2,951 for October,

1995. Alaska had the highest average

earnings at $4,268. The lowest

average State and local justice system

earnings were in Arkansas ($1,951)

and Oklahoma ($1,964).

There were regional variations in State

justice expenditure. In 1995 per capita

spending for justice was —

• $428 in the South

• $425 in the Northeast

• $334 in the West

• $309 in the Midwest

In general crime rates and expenditure

are related. States with high crime

rates tend to have higher than average

expenditures and employment devoted

to criminal and civil justice. These

States include Alaska, California, and

Maryland. Other States, such as North

Dakota, West Virginia, and New

Hampshire have both low crime rates

and low justice expenditure (figure 2).

 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1995 5

Note: These data are based on a summation

of responses from individual State and local

government agencies. Some data for 

individual governments may be for a prior

reporting period. Average earnings are

computed by dividing the October payrolls by

the number of full-time equivalent employees.

Wyoming 66.6 2,315

Wisconsin 55.2 2,849

West Virginia 33.8 2,030

Washington 55.1 3,112

Virginia 62.3 2,688

Vermont 46.3 2,693

Utah 50.6 2,564

Texas 75.5 2,319

Tennessee 57.0 2,291

South Dakota 46.0 2,228

South Carolina 65.5 2,067

Rhode Island 58.7 3,727

Pennsylvania 58.3 2,794

Oregon 54.2 3,093

Oklahoma 66.2 1,964

Ohio 61.0 2,743

North Dakota 43.5 2,315

North Carolina 58.1 2,275

New York 89.3 3,797

New Mexico 73.4 2,411

New Jersey 86.5 3,516

New Hampshire 48.4 2,902

Nevada 75.7 3,468

Nebraska 51.6 2,474

Montana 47.7 2,262

Missouri 57.2 2,176

Mississippi 54.9 1,959

Minnesota 48.2 3,233

Michigan 57.6 3,193

Massachusetts 59.5 3,166

Maryland 86.6 2,891

Maine 42.9 2,501

Louisiana 69.7 2,012

Kentucky 51.9 2,155

Kansas 63.4 2,374

Iowa 45.3 2,732

Indiana 52.4 2,183

Illinois 68.2 3,258

Idaho 65.0 2,440

Hawaii 68.4 3,068

Georgia 75.7 2,219

Florida 81.8 2,827

District of Columbia 189.7 3,568

Delaware 73.9 2,938

Connecticut 63.2 3,361

Colorado 60.1 3,035

California 63.3 3,909

Arkansas 52.2 1,951

Arizona 73.4 2,727

Alaska 71.2 4,268

Alabama 51.5 2,404

All States 65.7 $2,951

State residents 1995

per 10,000 October

employees earnings

of FTE employee

Number Average

State and local 

justice systems

Table 5. Ratio of justice full-time

equivalent (FTE) employment to

resident population and average

monthly earnings, by State, October

1995 

Figure 2

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F F F

F

F

F

F

F F F

F

F

F

F

F F

F

FF FF

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F F F F

F F F

F

F F F F

F

FF

$0

$200

$400

$600

$800

0 2,000 4,000 6,000 8,000 10,000

Amount spent per State resident

for justice, 1995

Annual average number of UCR Index crimes

States with high crime rates tended to hav e higher

expenditures for criminal and civ il justice

per 100,000 residents, 1990-95

States with high crime rates tended to have higher 

expenditures for criminal and civil justice
Justice employment

In October 1995 the Nation's civil and

criminal justice system employed

almost 2 million persons, with a total

October payroll of $5.8 billion (table 6).

Local governments accounted for more

civil and criminal justice employment

than the Federal and State governments combined. Of all the Nation's

justice employees, 60% were engaged

in local justice activities.

Combined, the State and local governments employed 91.6% of all justice

system workers. The Federal Government employed 8.4% of all justice

system employees.

The distribution of corrections employees reflects State government dominance in that sector — 63% of corrections employees worked for State

governments, followed by 32.7% at the

local level and 4.3% at the Federal

level.

Because law enforcement is essentially

the responsibility of local governments,

80.9% of the Nation's police employees

were working at the local level. State

governments employed 9.9% of police

protection workers; the Federal Government, 9.3%.

The October 1995 average earnings

for Federal-level justice employees

(such as Federal law enforcement

officers, investigators, and judges) was

$4,310. The monthly average earnings

for State justice employees was $2,799

and for local justice employees it was

$2,805 (figure 3).

State and local employees’ average

earnings were similar for police protection activities ($3,141 and $2,925

respectively) and corrections ($2,569

and $2,612). State judicial earnings

(averaging $3,290 per employee ) were

higher than those of local judicial

earnings (averaging $2,585 per

employee).

6 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1995 

Note: Local government data are estimates subject to sampling variability, 

see methodology for details. Percents may not sum to 100 due to rounding.

*Payroll amounts in thousands of dollars.

 October payrolls* $1,734,978 $113,127 $1,061,69 $560,158 100 6.5 61.2 32.3

 Total employees 656,217 28,493 413,271 214,453 100 4.3 63.0 32.7

Corrections

 October payrolls* $1,211,045 $217,404 $428,295 $565,346 100 18.0 35.4 46.7

 Total employees 401,444 52,535 130,169 218,740 100 13.1 32.4 54.5

Judicial and legal

 October payrolls* $2,866,683 $389,681 $286,650 $2,190,352 100 13.6 10.0 76.4

 Total employees 926,086 86,087 91,252 748,747 100 9.3 9.9 80.9

Police protection

 October payrolls* $5,812,706 $720,212 $1,776,63 $3,315,856 100 12.4 30.6 57.0

 Total employees 1,983,747 167,115 634,692 1,181,940 100% 8.4 % 32.0% 59.6 %

Total justice system

Activity governments Federal State Local Total Federal State Local

All Percent distribution

Table 6. Employment and monthly payroll of the justice system, 

by activity and level of government, October 1995 

Figure 3

Corrections 

Judicial and legal services

Police protection

Total justice system

$0 $1,000 $2,000 $3,000 $4,000 $5,000

Average monthly earnings

Local

Federal

State

Average monthly earnings by justice activity for each level 

of government, October 1995
 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1995 7

government to another and will show up as a direct expenditure of a recipient government. See box on page 3 for further details.

governments, the State total, and the local total. These intergovernmental expenditures consist of payments from one

Note: Detail may not add to total because of rounding.

*Duplicative transactions between levels of government (intergovernmental transfers) are excluded from the total for all 

 Average annual 8.5% 12.3% 10.3% 27.9% 9.5% 9.4% 10.5% 7.7% 7.7% 9.6%

 1982-95 214.9% 408.1% 292.2% 3027.0% 255.1% 250.8% 303.4% 181.1% 180.9% 259.2%

Percent change

1995 112,868 22,651 16,741 5,910 41,196 37,360 3,836 58,933 58,768 165

1994 103,471 19,084 14,626 4,458 37,161 33,495 3,666 55,517 55,349 168

1993 97,542 18,591 14,429 4,162 34,227 30,696 3,531 52,562 52,417 145

1992 93,777 17,423 13,529 3,894 33,755 30,271 3,484 50,115 49,977 138

1991 87,567 15,231 12,106 3,125 31,484 28,493 2,991 47,075 46,968 107

1990 79,434 12,798 10,219 2,579 28,345 25,764 2,581 43,559 43,451 108

1989 70,949 9,674 9,204 470 25,269 23,009 2,260 38,825 38,736 89

1988 65,231 8,851 8,464 387 22,837 20,880 1,957 36,098 35,887 211

1987 58,871 7,496 7,231 265 20,157 18,465 1,692 33,265 33,172 93

1986 53,500 6,595 6,430 165 18,556 16,978 1,578 30,178 30,092 86

1985 48,563 6,416 6,279 137 16,252 14,903 1,349 27,462 27,381 81

1984 43,943 5,868 5,787 81 14,213 13,081 1,132 25,154 25,075 79

1983 39,680 4,944 4,844 100 12,785 11,709 1,076 23,186 23,127 59

1982 $35,842 $4,458 $4,269 $189 $11,60 $10,651 $951 $20,968 $20,922 $46

actual dollars

Expenditure (in millions)

Year local direct) Total Direct ernmental Total Direct ernmental Total Direct ernmental

State, and Intergov- Intergov- Intergov-

(Federal, Federal State Local

Total*

Appendix table 1. Total, direct, and intergovernmental justice expenditure

and percent change, by type of government, fiscal years 1982-95
8 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1995 

Note: These data do not include justice system expenditure of special districts 

and independent school districts.

Wyoming 154,321 71,463 39,566 43,292

Wisconsin 1,796,975 823,822 351,467 621,686

West Virginia 307,415 123,575 88,184 95,656

Washington 1,891,047 759,912 417,844 713,291

Virginia 2,089,240 851,783 346,128 891,329

Vermont 135,226 60,440 33,593 41,193

Utah 558,864 237,814 132,296 188,754

Texas 6,674,245 2,357,577 1,025,394 3,291,274

Tennessee 1,348,565 589,396 261,927 497,242

South Dakota 161,350 73,546 34,986 52,818

South Carolina 978,540 404,380 136,297 437,863

Rhode Island 355,765 155,700 85,694 114,371

Pennsylvania 3,670,610 1,392,650 795,188 1,482,772

Oregon 1,046,709 467,687 238,700 340,322

Oklahoma 780,477 373,681 145,892 260,904

Ohio 3,721,293 1,593,981 804,080 1,323,232

North Dakota 110,912 50,282 36,048 24,582

North Carolina 2,308,154 917,997 372,752 1,017,405

New York 10,041,919 4,312,526 1,922,326 3,807,067

New Mexico 587,885 253,994 117,049 216,842

New Jersey 3,731,148 1,765,305 858,267 1,107,576

New Hampshire 295,624 139,881 72,269 83,474

Nevada 722,649 304,550 159,667 258,432

Nebraska 367,431 172,784 74,252 120,395

Montana 194,367 88,000 50,538 55,829

Missouri 1,282,768 664,252 214,073 404,443

Mississippi 507,567 264,882 91,031 151,654

Minnesota 1,331,485 611,048 324,446 395,991

Michigan 3,555,018 1,397,323 697,364 1,460,331

Massachusetts 2,141,992 1,001,450 452,180 688,362

Maryland 2,058,791 816,840 370,098 871,853

Maine 259,903 119,693 48,750 91,460

Louisiana 1,302,973 629,703 249,038 424,232

Kentucky 828,750 354,527 176,836 297,387

Kansas 710,025 344,242 151,715 214,068

Iowa 700,505 348,514 176,124 175,867

Indiana 1,245,069 553,030 221,638 470,401

Illinois 3,980,112 2,109,244 713,322 1,157,546

Idaho 321,283 145,292 71,709 104,282

Hawaii 452,981 192,855 149,888 110,238

Georgia 2,242,421 902,064 344,256 996,101

Florida 6,432,682 2,871,260 1,110,661 2,450,761

District of Columbia 677,937 238,408 147,148 292,381

Delaware 293,434 116,334 67,028 110,072

Connecticut 1,263,588 521,593 260,729 481,266

Colorado 1,272,001 569,411 253,219 449,371

California 15,609,416 6,411,661 3,416,068 5,781,687

Arkansas 503,548 230,748 83,867 188,933

Arizona 1,657,057 712,639 382,946 561,472

Alaska 466,441 148,729 174,598 143,114

Alabama 998,970 478,061 213,553 307,356

Total $96,127,448 $41,096,529 $19,162,689 $35,868,230

State system protection and legal Corrections

Total justice Police Judicial

Expenditure in thousands of dollars

Appendix table 2. State and local justice system direct expenditures,

by activity and State, fiscal year 1995 
 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1995 9

Wyoming 3,374 3,079 3,199

Wisconsin 31,574 26,244 28,256

West Virginia 6,596 6,027 6,187

Washington 31,001 28,264 29,906

Virginia 43,137 39,926 41,255

Vermont 3,104 2,470 2,736

Utah 10,960 9,047 9,872

Texas 144,928 138,810 141,360

Tennessee 31,048 29,363 29,976

South Dakota 3,760 3,094 3,353

South Carolina 24,926 23,521 24,074

Rhode Island 6,064 5,671 5,805

Pennsylvania 76,433 65,088 70,333

Oregon 18,195 16,214 17,007

Oklahoma 22,705 21,042 21,698

Ohio 72,974 65,116 68,049

North Dakota 3,135 2,645 2,789

North Carolina 42,887 41,261 41,810

New York 173,467 158,086 162,789

New Mexico 12,653 12,016 12,363

New Jersey 71,861 62,641 68,745

New Hampshire 6,567 5,088 5,556

Nevada 12,056 11,198 11,577

Nebraska 8,944 8,150 8,454

Montana 4,636 3,863 4,150

Missouri 31,177 28,583 30,443

Mississippi 16,462 14,161 14,801

Minnesota 24,061 20,844 22,193

Michigan 58,178 52,772 55,027

Massachusetts 39,088 34,596 36,161

Maryland 35,931 33,354 35,011

Maine 6,061 4,869 5,321

Louisiana 31,299 29,168 30,278

Kentucky 22,019 18,799 20,017

Kansas 17,631 15,628 16,265

Iowa 13,828 12,122 12,866

Indiana 32,526 28,823 30,419

Illinois 85,594 78,326 81,006

Idaho 7,756 6,748 7,165

Hawaii 8,341 8,034 8,118

Georgia 56,871 53,134 54,500

Florida 119,310 113,319 115,799

District of Columbia 10,578 10,375 10,511

Delaware 5,507 5,116 5,301

Connecticut 21,878 19,950 20,712

Colorado 23,386 21,834 22,508

California 209,268 191,032 199,984

Arkansas 13,612 12,645 12,964

Arizona 31,716 30,340 30,937

Alaska 4,357 4,225 4,296

Alabama 23,212 21,200 21,901

Total 1,816,632 1,657,921 1,725,803

State Total only equivalent

Full-time Full-time

Number of justice system employees

Appendix table 3. State and local justice system employment,

by State, October 1995 
Definition of terms

Expenditure includes only external

cash payments made from any source

of monies, including any payments financed from borrowing, fund balances,

intergovernmental revenue, and other

current revenue. It excludes any intragovernmental transfers and noncash

transactions, such as the provision of

meals or housing of employees. It also

excludes retirement of debt, investment in securities, extensions of loans,

or agency transactions. Total expenditures for all government functions do

include interest payments on debt, but

the justice expenditure data do not.

Expenditure is divided into two major

categories

• Direct expenditure is all expenditure

except that classified as intergovernmental. It includes "direct current

expenditure" (salaries, wages, fees,

and commissions and purchases of

supplies, materials, and contractual

services) and "capital outlays" (construction and purchase of equipment,

land, and existing structures). Capital

outlays are included for the year when

the direct expenditure is made, regardless of how the funds are raised (for

example, by bond issue) or when they

are paid back.

• Intergovernmental expenditure is

the sum of payments from one government to another, including

grants-in-aid, shared revenues,

payments in lieu of taxes, and amounts

for services performed by one government for another on a reimbursable or

cost-sharing basis (for example,

payments by one government to

another for boarding prisoners). It

excludes amounts paid to other

governments for purchase of

commodities, property, or utility

services.

Employees are all persons on government payrolls during the pay period

including October 12, 1995. They include all paid officials and persons on

paid leave, but exclude unpaid officials,

persons on unpaid leave, pensioners,

and contractors.

Full-time employees are all persons

employed on a full-time basis, including

all full-time temporary or seasonal

workers who were employed during

this pay period.

Full-time equivalent employment

(FTE) is a statistical measure that

estimates the number of full-time

employees that could have been

employed if the reported number of

hours worked by part-time employees

had been worked by full-time employees. This statistic is calculated

separately for each function of a

government by dividing the "part-time

hours paid" by the standard number of

hours for full-time employees in the

particular government and then adding

the resulting quotient to the number of

full-time employees. 

Payroll is the gross 1-month payroll

before deductions and includes

salaries, wages, fees, and commissions paid to employees as defined

above for October 1995.

Police protection is the function of

enforcing the law, preserving order,

and apprehending those who violate

the law, whether these activities are

performed by a city police department,

sheriff's department, State police, or

Federal law enforcement agency such

as the FBI and the Drug Enforcement

Administration. Private security police

are outside the scope of the survey.

Judicial and legal services includes

all civil and criminal courts and activities associated with courts such as

law libraries, grand juries, petit juries,

medical and social service activities,

court reporters, judicial councils,

bailiffs, and probate functions. It also

includes the civil and criminal justice

activities of the attorneys general, district attorneys, State's attorneys, and

their variously named equivalents and

corporation counsels, solicitors, and

legal departments with various names.

It excludes legal units of noncriminal

justice agencies, whose functions may

be performed by a legal service department in other jurisdictions (such as a

county counsel).

Corrections involves the confinement

and rehabilitation of adults and

juveniles convicted of offenses against

the law and the confinement of persons

suspected of a crime awaiting trial or

adjudication. It includes the costs of

operation and employment for jails,

prisons, probation, parole, pardon, and

correctional administration. Data for

institutions with authority to hold prisoners beyond arraignment (usually 48

hours or more) are included in this

sector. Data for lockups or "tanks"

holding prisoners less than 48 hours

are included in "police protection."

Methodology

The justice data in this report include

the expenditures and employment of

the Federal Government, the State

governments, and a sample of county,

municipal, and township governments.

Unless otherwise noted, data for total

governmental functions and non-justice

governmental functions also include

the expenditures of special districts

and school districts, which generally do

not have justice functions.

This report is based on a compilation

of data from the Census Bureau’s

annual surveys of governmental

finances and employment. The survey

sample was selected from the 1987

Census of Local Governments and

consists of large units of government

(including all 50 States) sampled with

certainty and smaller units selected

with a probability proportional to the

unit’s expenditure or indebtedness.

The total number of local governments

in the sample is 13,035.

Certain limitations reflect the fact that

the surveys from which this Bulletin

was extracted are not designed to

obtain data on specific justice

functions. The sampling variability, or

“standard error” for each of the justice

activities is likely to be larger than for

the major categories that the surveys

were designed to estimate. Similarly,

the standard error is likely to be greater

for local governments than for Statelocal aggregates which are sampled in

part, with certainty. Specific standard

10 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1995 
errors can be found on the Census

Bureau’s website (www.census.gov).

 

Differences in functional responsibilities from State to State and government to government can affect the

comparability of expenditure and

employment data. Readers should be

generally cautious in comparing

governmental expenditures because of

this variation in the division of responsibilities. 

The data in this report are preliminary

and subject to change. They differ in

some cases from those previously

published in the Census Bureau’s

finance and employment survey

reports because of definitional differences and the more intensive review

procedures and data refinements used

for this compilation. 

The data here differ from other BJS

series which collect agency-based

employment and expenditure data

because of collection methods, units of

analysis, and data collection purposes.

These include --

Law Enforcement Management and

Administrative Statistics, Prosecutors

in State Courts and various court

statistics series, The Census of Local

Jails, The Census of State and Federal

Correctional Facilities, and the report

State Prison Expenditures, 1996.

Financial data for the Federal Government were extracted from The Budget

of the United States Government, FY

1997, Appendix. The historical finance

data may differ slightly from the justice

expenditure data found in the Expenditure and Employment Extracts because

of definitional differences.

Federal Government civilian employment data were obtained from the U.S.

Office of Personnel Management.

Statistics for State and local governments were obtained by a mail survey

including all State departments,

agencies, and institutions, and a local

central reporting office supplemented

by special mailings.

The deflation procedures to produce

constant dollars are described in

Report to the Nation on Crime and

Justice: Technical Appendix, Second

Edition, pp. 82-86. The current analysis differs from the methodology

described there in two ways. First, the

current analysis adjusted Federal

expenditures in addition to State and

local expenditures. Second, the

current methodology used October

payroll data for the collection year

rather than the fiscal year of the payroll

period. The procedures employed

were identical, using the U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of

Economic Analysis "government

implicit price deflators" separately for

total State and local expenditures and

Federal nondefense expenditures.

Trend comparisons between the data

in this report and reports covering data

for 1971-79, 1985, 1988, and 1990

from the Justice Expenditure and

Employment survey series are complicated by differences in methodology.

These differences are described in the

BJS reports for these years, and on the

BJS website. In making trend comparisons, users should limit their analysis

to one of the two sources:

• long-term trends for 1971-79, 1985,

1988, and 1990 from the Justice

Expenditure and Employment survey

series

• recent year-to-year trends from the

1980-95 Justice Expenditure and

Employment Extracts data.

A more detailed description of the

survey methodology (including sample

design and sampling errors) can be

found in the Justice Expenditure and

Employment Extracts at

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs.

 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1995 11

The Bureau of Justice Statistics 

is the statistical agency of the 

U.S. Department of Justice. 

Jan M. Chaiken, Ph.D., is director.

BJS Bulletins present the first

release of findings from permanent

data collection programs.

Lea S. Gifford and Sue A. Lindgren,

under the supervision of Steve K.

Smith, wrote this report. Marika F. X.

Litras provided statistical review.

Tom Hester and Tina Dorsey

produced and edited the report.

Jayne Robinson prepared the report

for publication.

The data extraction, editing and

tabulation for the 1995 Justice

Expenditure and Employment

Extracts were performed at the U.S.

Bureau of the Census by Carl Handy

with assistance from Victoria

Campbell and Duane Cavanaugh

under the supervision of Steve

Owens and Stephanie Brown.

November 1999, NCJ 178235

This report and others from the

Bureau of Justice Statistics are 

available through the Internet 

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/

The data from the Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts are

available from the National Archive

of Criminal Justice Data, maintained

by the Institute for Social Research

at the University of Michigan, 1-800-

999-0960. The archive may also be

accessed through the BJS Internet

site. Refer to study number 2840.