In the United States, someone is arrested every three seconds. This adds up to approximately 10.5 million arrests annually, 80% of which are made for low-level offenses such as drug possession, disorderly conduct, and traffic or vehicle violations.
This data comes from research conducted by VERA Institute for Justice, and is based on the national FBI Uniform Crime Report database that collects data from over 18,000 police departments in the US. However, submitting data to UCR is voluntary for law enforcement agencies; In 2018, 72.51% of Tennessee agencies provided their data, but that number drops to 66.67% when looking at Hamilton County specifically.
Jail and arrest data is a key part of understanding the criminal legal system, but in Hamilton County, that data is not available in an easily understandable format. This report, authored by the Hamilton County Community Bail Fund manager, is intended to provide an accessible and understandable tool for the average person to see who is being arrested, why arrests are being made, and what the impact of those arrests is on communities in Hamilton County.
According to 2018 data from VERA Institute of Justice’s “Arrest Trends” tool, the average rate of arrests in metropolitan counties was 2,806 arrests per 100,000 residents.
Hamilton County’s rate was almost double that: 5,444 arrests per 100,000 residents.
On average, 43 people are booked into the county jail every day.
8,295over six months.
19,882 over one year (2018)
Arrests from August 2nd, 2022 to January 31st, 2023:
THE CHARGES
This chart shows the reasons that people were arrested over the same six month period.
One third (over thirty percent) of all arrests were made for non-violent misdemeanors alone.
Only six percent of arrests were made for violent felony charges.
THE PEOPLE
We used US census data and the home ZIP code of arrestees to control for population and determine the number of people arrested per 100,000 residents, or how likely people living in each ZIP code are to be arrested.
This map shows each ZIP code in Hamilton County. Highlight different areas to see the arrest rate, number of actual arrests, and demographic information.
Arrest Rates and Average Household Income:
The data shows a strong correlation between lower incomes and higher arrest rates. Only three ZIP codes had an arrest rate of over 7,000 arrests per 100,000 residents, and each one had an average household income of less than $50,000 a year.
This trend is shown in national research as well. The Prison Policy Initiative reports that before being imprisoned, incarcerated people’s incomes were 40%-52% lower on average than those who were not incarcerated.
Arrest Rates and Population Demographics:
The analysis of racial demographics shows that, with only one exception, ZIP codes whose population was over 50% white experienced less than 3,000 arrests per 100,000 residents, while every ZIP code whose population was over 50% non-white experienced more than 3,000 arrests per 100,000 residents.
This is consistent with studies showing that white people are far less likely to be arrested than Black people and non-white people for the same crime.
THE IMPACT
Types of Pretrial Releases
After people are arrested, one-third are given unsecured bonds (or O/R bonds) and released without paying any money. However, the other 64% are required to pay bail to be released. Almost all defendants with a bond set paid a bonding company; Only two percent of people paid the full cash amount. Few people would be able to - the average cash bond amount in 2022 was $7,868.
