Sidra Lea Gifford

BJS Statistician

In 1999 the United States spent a

record $147 billion for police protection,

corrections, and judicial and legal

activities. The Nation’s expenditure 

for operations and outlay of the justice

system increased 309% from almost

$36 billion in 1982. Discounting inflation, that represents a 145% increase

in constant dollars. 

Local governments funded more than

half of all justice system expenses.

Another 39% of justice funding came

from the States.

Criminal and civil justice expenditures

comprised approximately 7.7% of all

State and local public expenditures in

1999. Compared to justice expenditures, State and local governments in

the United States spent almost four

times as much on education, almost

twice as much on public welfare, and a

roughly equal amount on hospitals and

healthcare (see figure on page 2).

In March of 1999 the Nation’s justice

system employed nearly 2.2 million

persons, with a total March payroll of

$7.2 billion. More than half of all

justice employees worked at the local

level (63% of whom worked in police

protection). A third were State employees (65% in corrections). The remaining 8.7% were Federal employees

more than half of whom worked in

police protection.

U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs

Bureau of Justice Statistics

Bulletin

 February 2002, NCJ 191746

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

$147 billion in fiscal year 1999 for

criminal and civil justice. 

• In 1999 the Federal government

alone spent $27 billion dollars on the

justice system. Expenditure by the

Federal government grew faster than

that for State and local governments

(514%). The Federal government

share of justice system expenditures

was 12% in 1982 compared with 19%

in 1999. 

• State governments spent $57 billion

on criminal and civil justice in 1999.

Sixty percent of State spending was

for corrections, at nearly $35 billion.

State justice expenditure has grown

approximately 9% each year since

1982.

• Local governments contributed the

most (51%) to the criminal and civil

justice system — almost $75 billion.

By far the largest component of local

expenditure was police protection, at

nearly $46 billion.

• Federal, State, and local

governments had 2.2 million justicerelated employees in 1999.

• Local governments employed the

most people for justice functions, with

about 1.3 million.

• The total number of justice employees grew 72% between 1982 and

1999, the largest growth was in State

governments (107%).

Federal, State, and local expenditure for the criminal 

and civil justice system, 1982-99

Federal, State, and local employment for the criminal 

and civil justice system, 1982-99

Highlights

0

50

100

150

Local

State

Federal

Expenditure in Percent

309%

257%

514%

growth

Total justice

393%

1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 1999

1982-99 billions of dollars

0

500,000

1,000,000

1,500,000

2,000,000

2,500,000

Local

State

Federal

Employees

Percent

72%

102%

55%

growth

Total

107%

1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 1999

1982-99

Justice Expenditure and Employment

in the United States, 1999
Data presented in this report are

derived from the Justice Expenditure

and Employment Extracts, which is

compiled 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.

Trends in spending by level of

government

Since 1982 total justice expenditures

more than quadrupled from nearly $36

billion to nearly $147 billion. The

average annual increase for all levels

of government between 1982 and 1999

was 8.1% (table 1). 

Expenditure on criminal and civil justice

reflected a change in responsibility.

The Federal government had a larger

average annual increase in justice

spending from 1982 to 1999 (10.6%)

than the State and local governments

(9.3% and 7.3% respectively).

Federal intergovernmental spending on

justice activities rose from $189 million

in 1982 to more than $5.2 billion in

1999. This increase was due to the

creation of several large grant

programs in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Such programs include:

• the Family Services Administration

within the Department of Health and

Human Services which gives grants to

States for child support enforcement

• the COPS program

2 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 

Components of 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 funds 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 1999 the total expenditure for all governments was almost $147 billion (table 1).

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.

 Average annual 8.1% 10.6% 9.6% 20.3% 9.3% 9.0% 11.9% 7.3% 7.3% 12.6%

 1982-99 308.9% 514.4% 418.8% 2674.6% 392.9% 369.1% 659.4% 256.9% 255.8% 741.3%

Percent change

1999 146,556 27,392 22,148 5,244 57,186 49,965 7,222 74,830 74,443 387

1998 135,899 22,834 19,365 3,469 49,454 45,995 3,459 70,831 70,539 292

1997 129,793 27,065 20,524 6,541 46,444 42,353 4,091 67,083 66,916 167

1996 120,194 23,344 17,480 5,864 43,803 39,903 3,900 62,970 62,811 159

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 33,175 90

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 $11,602 $10,651 $951 $20,968 $20,922 $46

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 1. Total, direct, and intergovernmental justice expenditure and percent

change, by level of government, fiscal years 1982-99
• Edward Byrne Memorial State and

Local Law Enforcement Assistance

Programs

• Local Law Enforcement Block Grants.

Between 1982 and 1999 the Federal

government increased its expenditure

on police protection by 485.5%, judicial

and legal services by 512.6%, and

corrections by 654.2%. The State and

local governments had smaller

increases in all functions (table 2).

The average annual increase was

highest for corrections, ranging from a

9.4% increase per year by the local

governments to an 11.9% increase per

year by the Federal government. 

Police protection was the justice

function with the lowest annual

increase. Among State and local

governments, the average annual

increase on police protection was only

about 7%. The Federal government

expenditure for police protection

increased by about 10% annually.

 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 3

Accounting for inflation

The Consumer Price Index (CPI), reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,

is the most commonly used indicator of inflation.1

 According to the CPI, the

increase in the average price level for all urban consumers between the base

years of 1982-84 and 1999 was 166.6%, or an annual average increase of

2.9%.

To maintain consistency in reporting, the expenditure data discussed in this

Bulletin are not adjusted for inflation. However, expenditure on all justice

functions and among all levels of government increased at a rate greater than

inflation. For example, if increases in total justice expenditure were limited to

the rate of inflation (166.6%) after 1982, expenditure in 1999 would have

been $59.7 billion, as opposed to the actual $146.6 billion. 

Justice expenditure relative to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

A common way to express the size and growth of government functions is the

ratio of expenditure to the GDP or "percent GDP."2

 In 1999 the ratio of justice

expenditure to GDP was $146.6 billion/$9,268.6 billion (1.58%). In 1982 the

percent GDP was 1.10%.

1

For more information about the CPI see the Bureau of Labor Statistics website:

<http://www.bls.gov/>.

2

For more information about the GDP see the Bureau of Economic Analysis website:

<http://www.bea.doc.gov>.

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

10.6% 10.3% 10.6% 11.9% 9.3% 7.0% 9.0% 10.2% 7.3% 6.7% 7.6% 9.4%

 Average 

 annual 

 1982-99 514.4% 485.5% 512.6% 654.2% 392.9% 239.9% 368.5% 476.1% 256.9% 221.7% 273.7% 401.4%

Percent

change

1999 27,392 14,797 8,515 4,080 57,186 9,632 12,875 34,680 74,830 45,593 14,142 15,096

1998 22,834 12,208 7,462 3,165 49,454 7,996 10,858 30,599 70,831 43,312 13,559 13,960

1997 27,065 12,518 10,651 3,896 42,353 6,670 8,567 27,117 66,916 40,974 13,079 12,863

1996 23,344 10,115 9,459 3,766 39,903 6,499 8,110 25,294 62,811 38,227 12,355 12,229

1995 22,651 9,298 9,184 4,169 41,196 6,451 8,676 26,069 58,933 35,364 11,674 11,895

1994 19,084 8,059 8,184 2,841 37,161 6,000 8,026 23,135 55,517 33,365 11,023 11,130

1993 18,591 8,069 7,832 2,690 34,227 5,603 7,820 20,803 52,562 31,733 10,283 10,546

1992 17,423 7,400 7,377 2,646 33,755 5,593 7,723 20,439 50,115 29,659 10,052 10,404

1991 15,231 6,725 6,384 2,122 31,484 5,507 6,754 19,223 47,075 28,017 9,418 9,640

1990 12,798 5,666 5,398 1,734 28,345 5,163 5,971 17,211 43,559 26,097 8,676 8,786

1989 9,674 5,307 2,949 1,418 25,269 4,780 5,442 15,047 38,825 23,672 7,682 7,471

1988 8,851 4,954 2,639 1,258 22,837 4,531 4,886 13,420 36,098 22,371 6,826 6,901

1987 7,496 4,231 2,271 994 20,157 4,067 4,339 11,691 33,265 21,089 6,230 5,947

1986 6,595 3,643 2,090 862 18,556 3,749 4,005 10,802 30,178 19,356 5,691 5,132

1985 6,416 3,495 2,129 792 16,252 3,469 3,636 9,148 27,462 17,847 5,090 4,524

1984 5,868 3,396 1,785 687 14,213 3,173 3,271 7,768 25,154 16,516 4,627 4,011

1983 4,844 2,815 1,523 606 12,785 2,963 2,950 6,873 23,186 15,276 4,361 3,548

1982 $4,458 $2,527 $1,390 $541 $11,602 $2,833 $2,748 $6,020 $20,968 $14,172 $3,784 $3,011

(in millions)

Expenditure 

Year Total protection and legal tions Total protection and legal tions Total protection and legal tions

Police Judicial Correc- Police Judicial Correc- Police Judicial CorrecFederal State Local

Table 2. Total expenditure of Federal, State, and local governments for

each justice function, and percent change, fiscal years 1982-99
Distribution of expenditure by level

of government and activity

Within each category of justice activity,

the distribution of expenditure by level

of government reflects the different

responsibilities of each level (table 3):

• Overall, local police spending represented 31.1% of the Nation's total

justice expenditure, and State corrections accounted for the second largest

portion, 23.7%.

• Police protection is primarily a local

responsibility; accordingly, local governments spent 69.8% of the total

police protection expenditure in the

country in 1999.

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

accounted for 62.8% of the Nation's

corrections expenditure.

• Judicial and legal services in the

United States were funded primarily 

by local (43.2%) and State (35.4%)

governments.

The Federal government spent the

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

paid to other governments for services

performed. About half of the Federal

intergovernmental expenditure was

for police protection, much of which

were law enforcement grants. About

half of the State and local intergovernmental expenditures were for

corrections.

4 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 

Notes: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. Local government data are estimates

subject to sampling variability. 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 - 781 3,910 157

 Direct expenditure 49,007 3,299 30,770 14,938

Corrections $49,007 $4,080 $34,680 $15,096

 Intergovernmental - 1,630 1,490 227

 Direct expenditure 32,185 6,885 11,385 13,914

Judicial and legal $32,185 $8,515 $12,875 $14,142

 Intergovernmental - 2,833 1,822 2

 Direct expenditure 65,364 11,964 7,810 45,590

Police protection $65,364 $14,797 $9,632 $45,593

 Intergovernmental - 5,244 7,222 387

 Direct expenditure 146,556 22,148 49,965 74,443

Total justice system $146,556 $27,392 $57,186 $74,830

Activity governments Government governments governments

All Federal State Local

Amount (millions of dollars) spent fiscal year 1999

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

fiscal year 1999

The justice share of State and local expenditure

Nearly 8 cents of every dollar spent by State 

and local governments in 1999 was for justice

activities. Among all State and local expenditures, 3.3% was for police protection, 2.8% for

corrections, and 1.6% for judicial and legal

services.

By comparison, 29.7% of State and local

government spending went to education, 

13.5% to public welfare, 7.3% to health and

hospitals, and 4.8% to interest on debt.

From 1977 to 1999 total State and local 

expenditures for all functions increased 401%.

• police protection rose 411% 

• corrections rose 946%

• judicial and legal rose 1,518%.

Among some other government functions 

during the same period —

• education increased 370%

• hospitals and healthcare increased 418%

• interest on debt increased 490%

• public welfare increased 510%.

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: Historical Finances, U.S. Census Bureau. 

1977 1982 1987 1992 1997

0%

10%

20%

30%

Health and hospitals

Interest on debt

Public welfare

Natural resources,

Education

Criminal and civil

Percent of State and local expenditure

justice system

parks, and recreation

1999

for selected functions, 1977-99
Expenditures by State

Across the Nation, State and local

governments spent $442.14 per capita

on justice activities. This ranged from

$227.96 per capita in West Virginia to

$1,212.27 in the District of Columbia

(table 4).

In 14 States and the District of 

Columbia the per capita expenditure

was above that of the nation as a

whole. As in 1995 (the most recent

employment and expenditure Bulletin),

West Virginia had the least per capita

justice expenditure, while New York,

Alaska, and the District of Columbia

had the highest per capita expenditure.

However, Alaska, was one of two

States in addition to the District of

Columbia whose per capita expenditure decreased after 1995. 

(See Justice Expenditure and 

Employment in the United States,

1995, NCJ 178235).

All State and local per capita justice

expenditure increased by 25%. The

State with the highest increase in per

capita expenditure since 1995 was

Wyoming, which increased 65%. 

 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 5

Note: These data are based on a summation of responses from individual State and local

government agencies. Local government data are estimates subject to sampling variability,

see Methodology for details.

51 West Virginia 228.0 87.3 55.7 85.0

50 North Dakota 243.3 102.9 66.2 74.3

49 Vermont 248.1 102.8 81.2 64.2

48 Maine 257.4 122.5 50.9 84.0

47 South Dakota 268.0 115.3 49.2 103.5

46 Arkansas 279.7 126.2 48.4 105.1

45 Mississippi 281.7 135.7 53.6 92.5

44 Indiana 283.2 124.5 50.0 108.7

43 Nebraska 284.0 128.8 54.3 100.9

42 Alabama 295.0 145.3 57.9 91.7

41 New Hampshire 299.0 141.8 69.7 87.4

40 Oklahoma 301.6 119.9 51.1 130.6

39 Kentucky 302.8 109.6 69.2 124.0

38 Iowa 314.7 135.8 82.7 96.2

37 Tennessee 323.3 151.0 70.2 102.1

36 Missouri 324.5 153.9 56.2 114.4

35 South Carolina 330.9 147.0 43.9 140.0

34 Montana 339.5 134.5 71.0 134.0

33 North Carolina 350.9 155.4 58.1 137.5

32 Kansas 355.0 161.6 74.4 119.0

31 Minnesota 363.6 166.8 85.2 111.6

30 Georgia 364.8 144.6 63.1 157.2

29 Idaho 384.2 149.1 75.7 159.3

28 Texas 387.6 148.5 60.0 179.2

27 Virginia 388.3 156.6 67.9 163.8

26 Utah 400.4 161.4 80.7 158.4

25 Rhode Island 408.1 179.2 94.7 134.2

24 Louisiana 410.7 183.3 76.3 151.2

23 Illinois 418.2 224.4 70.6 123.3

22 Washington 418.3 162.0 83.8 172.5

21 Ohio 424.2 179.4 95.6 149.3

20 Pennsylvania 424.4 171.2 79.6 173.7

19 Hawaii 429.7 182.5 136.4 110.8

18 Colorado 438.3 180.9 74.3 183.1

17 Michigan 439.3 172.3 83.2 183.7

16 New Mexico $440.6 $194.1 $85.2 $161.3

All State and local $442.1 $189.8 $89.9 $162.4

15 Wisconsin 448.6 196.6 79.3 172.8

14 Maryland 451.1 191.2 87.8 172.1

13 Connecticut 455.0 193.6 107.8 153.6

12 Oregon 463.5 184.3 74.6 204.6

11 Massachusetts 464.8 218.7 99.8 146.3

10 Arizona 472.4 201.8 105.0 165.6

9 Wyoming 482.6 189.2 100.9 192.5

8 Florida 503.1 224.2 84.0 194.9

7 New Jersey 518.4 236.6 113.9 167.9

6 Nevada 542.7 231.7 107.8 203.2

5 Delaware 561.1 194.0 109.8 257.3

4 California 602.9 240.9 169.2 192.8

3 New York 630.1 292.4 113.4 224.2

2 Alaska 724.9 283.4 195.1 246.4

1 District of Columbia $1,212.3 $592.1 $66.8 $553.4

expenditure State system protection and legal Corrections

per capita justice Police Judicial

Rank of total Total

Expenditure per capita

Table 4. State and local justice system per capita expenditure,

by State and activity, fiscal year 1999
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 in 1999 included Alaska, California, and Delaware. Other States, such

as North Dakota, West Virginia, and

New Hampshire, had both low crime

rates and low justice expenditure

(figure above).

Distribution of employment by level

of government and activity

In March 1999 the Nation's civil and

criminal justice system employed over

2 million persons, with a total March

payroll of $7.2 billion (table 5). Relative

to the entire employed population in

1999, approximately 1.6% of the

Nation's labor force worked in the

justice system. (See <http://www.bls.

gov/cps/cpsaat1.pdf>.)

Local governments accounted for more

civil and criminal justice employment

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

justice employees, 59.1% were engaged in local justice activities.

The State and local governments

employed 91.3% of all justice system

workers. The Federal Government

employed 8.7% of all justice system

employees.

The distribution of corrections employees reflects State government dominance in that sector — 63.7% of

corrections employees worked for

State governments, followed by 31.9%

at the local level and 4.3% at the

Federal level.

Because law enforcement is essentially

the responsibility of local governments,

80% of the Nation's police employees

were working at the local level. State

governments employed 9.8% of police

protection workers; the Federal Government, 10.2%.

Throughout the justice system,

approximately 58.7% of expenditures

were for payrolls (not shown in table).

The Federal government spent less on

payrolls relative to their total expenditure ($11 billion out of $27.4 billion, or

40%) than did the State and local

governments (46.4% and 64.8%

respectively.

6 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 

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$0.00

$200.00

$400.00

$600.00

$800.00

$1,000.00

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

Per capita State and local justice expenditure, 1999*

Average UCR Index crime rate in each State

per 100,000 residents, 1995-99

States with high crime rates tended to have higher

expenditures for criminal and civil justice

*Does not include direct Federal expenditure.

*The State and local per capita justice expenditure and the average Index crime rate for the

50 States and the District of Columbia (not

shown in the scatter plot graph) had a correlation coefficient of 0.635.

Notes: Detail may not add to total because of rounding. These data are based on a summation of

responses from individual State and local government agencies. Local government data are estimates

subject to sampling variability, see Methodology for details. 

 March payrolls (in millions) $2,104 $118 $1,326 $660 100 5.6 63.0 31.4

 Total employees 716,573 30,974 456,753 228,846 100 4.3 63.7 31.9

Corrections

 March payrolls (in millions) $1,540 $280 $535 $725 100 18.2 34.7 47.1

 Total employees 454,982 56,099 148,463 250,420 100 12.3 32.6 55.0

Judicial and legal

 March payrolls (in millions) $3,521 $514 $351 $2,656 100 14.6 10.0 75.4

 Total employees 1,017,922 104,096 99,686 814,140 100 10.2 9.8 80.0

Police protection

 March payrolls (in millions) $7,166 $913 $2,212 $4,042 100 12.7 30.9 56.4

 Total employees 2,189,477 191,169 704,902 1,293,406 100% 8.7% 32.2% 59.1%

Total justice system

Activity governments Federal State Local Total Federal State Local

All Percent distribution

Table 5. Employment and monthly payroll of the justice system, 

by activity and level of government, March 1999
Police protection was the activity with

the highest percentage of expenditure

going to payrolls (64.7%). The local

governments in particular spent 69.9%

of their expenditures for police protection on salaries. 

The activity with the lowest percentage

of expenditure for payrolls was corrections (51.5% for all governments).

Employment by State

In all States, 12.8% of State and local

employees worked in the justice

system. Florida had the highest

percent of justice employees

relative to employees for other

government functions (17.1%),

followed by the District of Columbia (table 6). In 1999 Florida

and the District of Columbia had

the highest rates of index crimes

in the Nation (see Crime in the

United States, 1999, FBI).

The States with the lowest

percentage of justice employees

were West Virginia and North

Dakota (less than 8% of all

 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 7

Expansion of Nation’s justice system, 1982-99 

The increase in justice expenditures over nearly 20 years reflects the

expansion of the Nation’s criminal justice system. For example, in

1982 the justice system employed approximately 1.27 million persons;

in 1999 it reached over 2 million. 

Police protection

One indicator of police workload, the FBI’s arrest estimates for State

and local police agencies, grew from 12 million in 1982 to an

estimated 14 million in 1999a

. The number of employees in police

protection increased from approximately 724,000 to over 1 million. 

Judicial and legal 

The judicial and legal workload, including civil and criminal cases,

prosecutor functions, and public defender services also expanded

during this period. Cases filed in general and limited jurisdiction State

courts went from about 86 million to 91 million in the 15-year period,

1984-99.b

 The juvenile court workload also expanded from 1 million

delinquency cases in 1982 to 1.8 million in 1998.c

 The total of judicial

and legal employees grew about 84% to 455,000 persons in 1999. 

Corrections

The total number of State and Federal inmates grew from 400,000 

in 1982 to nearly 1,300,000 in 1999.d

 This was accompanied by the

opening of over 600 Statee

 and at least 51 Federal correctional

facilities.d

 The number of local jail inmates also tripled, from approximately 200,000 in 1982 to 600,000 in 1999.d

 Adults on probation

increased from over 1.3 to nearly 3.8 million persons.d

 Overall corrections employment more than doubled from nearly 300,000 to over

716,000 during this period.

Sources:

a

Crime in the United States, 1982 (FBI, 1983) and 1999 (FBI, 2000). b

Examining the Work of State Courts, 1999-2000 (National Center 

for State Courts, 2001).

c

OJJDP Statistical Briefing Book (OJJDP, 2001). d

Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000, NCJ 190251. e

Prisoners in 2000, NCJ 188207 (BJS Bulletin, 2001), and 

1984 Census of State Adult Correctional Facilities, NCJ 105585 

(BJS report, 1987).

Note: These data are based on a summation of

responses from individual State and local government

agencies. Local government data are estimates subject

to sampling variability, see Methodology for details.

West Virginia 93,601 7,235 7.7

North Dakota 37,491 2,964 7.9

Iowa 169,788 14,233 8.4

Vermont 34,242 2,878 8.4

Maine 69,884 5,885 8.4

Wyoming 39,333 3,411 8.7

Nebraska 105,153 9,165 8.7

Minnesota 270,967 23,880 8.8

Mississippi 190,783 16,971 8.9

Alaska 48,832 4,397 9.0

Montana 51,525 4,693 9.1

Alabama 261,680 24,534 9.4

South Dakota 39,772 3,733 9.4

Idaho 73,544 7,229 9.8

Utah 120,396 11,908 9.9

New Hampshire 61,362 6,074 9.9

Kentucky 214,243 21,607 10.1

Arkansas 146,936 14,668 10.0

Indiana 312,217 32,584 10.4

Kansas 168,007 18,224 10.8

Washington 296,861 32,899 11.1

Oklahoma 195,888 21,777 11.1

Rhode Island 54,409 6,089 11.2

Tennessee 296,324 33,533 11.3

Oregon 177,507 20,850 11.7

Colorado 223,833 26,339 11.8

Wisconsin 274,226 32,274 11.8

North Carolina 436,073 51,804 11.9

South Carolina 233,745 27,862 11.9

New Mexico 114,684 13,724 12.0

Louisiana 279,974 34,256 12.2

Michigan 482,199 59,216 12.3

Virginia 372,682 46,766 12.5

Missouri 300,132 38,224 12.7

Hawaii 66,928 8,556 12.8

Georgia 452,228 57,836 12.8%

All State and local 14,761,969 1,895,845 12.8%

Texas 1,148,712 148,226 12.9

Ohio 587,859 77,486 13.2

Massachusetts 316,998 41,951 13.2

Connecticut 170,857 23,308 13.6

California 1,612,201 220,607 13.7

Pennsylvania 525,583 73,958 14.1

Illinois 614,108 86,611 14.1

Maryland 271,172 38,794 14.3

Delaware 42,821 6,250 14.6

New York 1,153,870 175,739 15.2

New Jersey 446,885 69,403 15.5

Arizona 236,330 37,458 15.8

Nevada 84,835 14,061 16.6

District of Columbia 43,208 7,385 17.1

Florida 739,081 126,330 17.1%

State and local justice of total

All State local justice

State/ Percent

Full-time equivalent employment

Table 6. State and local justice system

employment, and percent of all employment,

by State, March 1999
employees). These two States consistently have among the lowest crime

rates in the country.

California had the most State and local

employees (1.6 million) and the most

employees in the justice system (over

220,000). Vermont was the State 

with the fewest employees in State 

and local government for justice 

(fewer than 3,000) and for all functions

(approximately 34,000).

Per capita justice employment of all

State and local governments was

about 67 per 10,000 resident population in 1999. Per capita employment

was lowest in West Virginia, where

there were 40 full-time equivalent

justice employees per 10,000

residents, and highest in the District 

of Columbia where there were nearly

140 employees per 10,000 residents

(table 7). 

Vermont had the fewest State and local

sworn police per capita, with 15.5 per

10,000 residents. In the District of

Columbia, there were 65.6 sworn State

or local police officers per 10,000

residents. The District of Columbia

also had the most State and local

corrections employees (54.4 per

10,000 residents) followed by Texas

(32.8) and New York (32.4). However,

the District of Columbia had the fewest

State and local employees in judicial

and legal services (6.5) while New

Jersey had the most (24.4 per 10,000

residents).

8 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 

Note: These data are based on a summation of responses from individual State and

local government agencies. Local government data are estimates subject to sampling

variability, see Methodology for details. Population figures are from the Bureau of the

Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-25, No. 1045, July 1999.

Wyoming 494 69.0 34.0 22.8 14.1 21.0

Wisconsin 5,364 60.2 28.6 21.8 10.2 21.4

West Virginia 1,808 40.0 20.2 15.8 11.3 8.5

Washington 5,894 55.8 23.3 16.5 12.5 20.0

Virginia 7,079 66.1 25.4 19.2 9.6 31.0

Vermont 609 47.3 21.8 15.5 10.3 15.1

Utah 2,233 53.3 24.2 16.9 11.7 17.5

Texas 20,852 71.1 27.8 21.2 10.5 32.8

Tennessee 5,689 58.9 29.6 22.8 9.6 19.8

South Dakota 755 49.4 22.1 16.6 9.8 17.5

South Carolina 4,012 69.4 33.3 24.4 8.8 27.3

Rhode Island 1,048 58.1 29.2 22.7 11.8 17.2

Pennsylvania 12,281 60.2 25.0 19.9 14.2 20.9

Oregon 3,421 60.9 24.6 17.3 13.6 22.8

Oklahoma 3,451 63.1 31.6 22.9 11.1 20.4

Ohio 11,353 68.3 28.0 21.4 17.6 22.6

North Dakota 642 46.2 22.3 17.6 11.6 12.3

North Carolina 8,049 64.4 27.6 22.0 8.2 28.5

New York 18,976 92.6 44.7 38.7 15.6 32.4

New Mexico 1,819 75.4 29.3 21.3 15.9 30.2

New Jersey 8,414 82.5 39.3 28.6 24.4 18.8

New Hampshire 1,236 49.1 26.4 20.0 9.2 13.5

Nevada 1,998 70.4 30.7 19.6 16.2 23.5

Nebraska 1,711 53.6 25.9 19.2 10.4 17.2

Montana 902 52.0 24.2 16.2 11.0 16.8

Missouri 5,595 68.3 30.7 21.4 13.0 24.6

Mississippi 2,845 59.7 30.0 21.3 10.2 19.4

Minnesota 4,919 48.5 21.5 16.2 11.5 15.6

Michigan 9,938 59.6 24.9 19.5 11.5 23.2

Massachusetts 6,349 66.1 35.7 29.5 11.0 19.4

Maryland 5,296 73.3 33.2 25.3 13.1 27.0

Maine 1,275 46.2 25.6 17.8 6.6 14.0

Louisiana 4,469 76.7 34.3 26.0 15.1 27.3

Kentucky 4,042 53.5 24.1 17.6 14.2 15.2

Kansas 2,688 67.8 33.0 24.7 13.4 21.5

Iowa 2,926 48.6 23.7 17.5 10.9 14.1

Indiana 6,080 53.6 26.7 18.9 9.5 17.4

Illinois 12,419 69.7 36.4 27.3 13.2 20.1

Idaho 1,294 55.9 25.2 17.8 10.7 20.0

Hawaii 1,212 70.6 28.9 22.2 22.8 18.9

Georgia 8,186 70.7 28.2 22.7 10.9 31.5

Florida 15,982 79.0 33.3 22.6 17.2 28.5

District of Columbia 529 139.6 78.8 65.6 6.5 54.3

Delaware 784 79.7 29.8 20.9 20.1 29.8

Connecticut 3,406 68.4 30.7 24.4 12.0 25.7

Colorado 4,301 61.2 28.4 20.6 12.5 20.4

California 33,872 65.1 28.0 18.8 14.7 22.4

Arkansas 2,673 54.9 28.5 21.7 6.8 19.5

Arizona 5,131 73.0 30.8 24.2 17.7 24.6

Alaska 627 70.1 26.9 17.1 20.9 22.3

Alabama 4,447 55.2 28.1 21.9 11.1 15.9

 Total 281,375 67.4 30.2 22.7 13.3 23.9

State (thousands) system Total only and legal Corrections

1999 justice Sworn Judicial

Population Total Police protection

Full-time equivalent justice employment 

per 10,000 population, March 1999

Table 7. Per capita employment of State and local governments, 

by State and activity, March 1999 
Definition of terms

Expenditure includes only external

cash payments made from any source

of moneys, 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 March 15, 1999. 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 "parttime 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 March 1999.

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 services

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 1997

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. The total number of

local governments in the finance

sample was 13,480, and the number of

local governments in the employment

sample was 10,574.

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

 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 9
for local governments than for Statelocal aggregates which are sampled in

part, with certainty. Specific standard

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 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

2001, 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.

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

1980-99 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.

10 Justice Expenditure and Employment in the United States, 1999 

The Bureau of Justice Statistics 

is the statistical agency of the 

U.S. Department of Justice. 

Lawrence A. Greenfeld is acting

director.

BJS Bulletins present the first

release of findings from permanent

data collection programs.

Sidra Lea Gifford wrote this report

under the supervision of Steven K.

Smith. Greg Steadman provided

statistical review. Tina Dorsey and

Tom Hester produced and edited 

the report. Jayne Robinson prepared

the report for publication.

The data extraction, editing and

tabulation for the 1999 Justice

Expenditure and Employment

Extracts were performed at the U.S.

Bureau of the Census by Steven D.

Owens. 

February 2002, NCJ 191746

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.