Arrests in the U.S. Fall by a Quarter Since Pandemic's Start, Study Shows

A new report by the Council on Criminal Justice, released on Thursday, reveals that arrests in the U.S. have dropped 25% since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

According to the report's main researcher, Dr. Stephanie Kennedy, who serves as the policy director at the council, adult arrest numbers have not rebounded from their significant decrease in 2020. Her research included an analysis of data stretching as far back as 1980 and projects forward to 2024, with the expectation that 2025's data will become available next fall.

Changing Gender Dynamics in Arrest Rates

The analysis highlights a shift where, although males still represent a majority of arrests, the percentage of arrests involving females is on the rise. In 2024, females accounted for 31% of juvenile arrests and nearly 27% of adult arrests.

Kennedy advises caution in interpreting these numbers, stressing that they reflect a sharp decline in male arrests rather than a surge in female arrests. She notes that female arrest rates have actually decreased considerably since their peak in 2009, experiencing a 42% reduction by 2024.

Conversely, male arrests climaxed in 1989 and have seen a 66% reduction by 2024. Researchers point out that men and women typically interact with the criminal justice system through different circumstances; men are more often arrested for violent crimes, while women tend to be involved due to issues related to trauma and survival.

Despite these declines in arrest rates, the number of incarcerated women has spiked by over 600% since 1980, rising from around 26,000 then to over 186,000 in 2023, as reported by The Sentencing Project.

Since 2020, incarceration rates for women have accelerated at a faster pace compared to men, with the jail population growing by 33% for women and only 17% for men. In 2023, over a million women were under the criminal justice system's supervision.

Patterns in Juvenile and Drug-Related Arrests

Despite high-profile cases of juvenile carjacking, overall, juvenile arrest numbers have continued to drop from 2019 levels, continuing a trend dating back to around 2008.

Kennedy expressed surprise at the ongoing decline in juvenile arrests, which dropped from 19% of total arrests in 1980 to 7% by 2024. The report notes that different youth groups had varied outcomes: while violent and property-related crimes increased for both boys and girls, drug-related arrests fell for boys but rose for girls. Furthermore, arrest spikes post-2020 were noticeably higher for Black and Asian youth.

Drug-related arrests, overall, have plummeted, with the national drug offense rate in 2024 sitting at half of its 2019 level. In 2006, drug offenses saw 1,537 arrests per 100,000 adults, a stark contrast to 591 per 100,000 in 2024.

Kennedy attributes some of this downturn to legislative changes that have lessened the penalties for many drug offenses, aligning legal consequences more closely with societal shifts.

Conversations with law enforcement reveal that officers often choose arrests only when deemed absolutely necessary.

Rodney Harrison, a CBS News analyst and former police commissioner, reinforces this by explaining that law enforcement hesitates with low-level drug arrests due to judicial bottlenecks. Arresting someone for a minor infraction often results in their release before an officer's shift ends.