Los Angeles, California - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced the release of four annual reports on crime and juvenile justice in California. The reports, Crime in California 2014, Hate Crime in California 2014, Homicide in California 2014 and Juvenile Justice in California 2014, show an overall drop in crime rates in the state.

The annual crime reports provide law enforcement agencies and communities with statewide data on crime levels in their communities.

Crime in California, 2014

Crime in California, 2014 reports statistics on crime that occurred in the state in 2014. The report presents statistics for reported crimes, arrests, dispositions of adult felony arrests, adults placed on probation, full-time criminal justice personnel, citizens’ complaints against peace officers, domestic violence related calls for assistance, and law enforcement officers killed or assaulted.

• The homicide rate decreased 4.3 percent in 2014; total of 1,697 homicides in the state
• The robbery rate decreased 10.0 percent in 2014; total of 48,650 robberies in the state
• The aggravated assault rate increased 2.4 percent in 2014; total of 91,681 aggravated assaults in the state
• There were a total of 1,212,845 arrests in the state in 2014; the lowest since 1969
• There were 9,397 rapes reported in 2014
• In 2014, the California Department of Justice initiated collection of rape data utilizing the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program’s revised definition of rape. Under previous crime reports, data was only collected and reported on “forcible rape,” which did not account for all instances of rape, including those committed against male victims. In 2013, the FBI revised the definition from “forcible rape” to “rape,” defined as penetration without the consent of the victim. Since an updated definition was adopted this year, 2014 data is not comparable to data reported in previous years.

All police agencies and district attorney’s offices in California submit crime statistics to the California Department of Justice, which is then compiled into a yearly report. These rates are calculated to describe the number of crimes reported for every 100,000 persons within a population.

Hate Crime in California, 2014

Hate Crime in California, 2014 reports statistics on hate crimes that occurred in the state in 2014. These statistics include the number of hate crime events, specific hate crime offenses, victims of hate crime, and suspects of hate crimes. Key highlights include:

• Hate crime offenses decreased 8.7 percent
• Hate crime events decreased 12.2 percent
• Hate crime events involving a race/ethnicity/national origin bias decreased 15.7 percent

All police agencies and district attorney’s offices in California submit hate crime statistics to the California Department of Justice, which is then compiled into a yearly report. 

Homicide in California, 2014  

Homicide in California, 2014 contains information about the crime of homicide and its victims, including demographics data on victims, persons arrested for homicide, persons sentenced to death, peace officers killed in the line of duty, and justifiable homicides. Key highlights include:

• Homicides decreased 2.8 percent in 2014; there were 1,697 homicides reported statewide in 2014
• In cases where the murder weapon was identified, 70.4 percent involved a firearm
• Five peace officers were feloniously killed in the line of duty
• There were 152 justifiable homicides as reported by local law enforcement; 116 committed by a peace officer and 36 committed by a private citizen

All police agencies and district attorney’s offices in California submit homicide statistics to the California Department of Justice, which is then compiled into a yearly report. 

Juvenile Justice in California, 2014

Juvenile Justice in California, 2014 provides insight into the juvenile justice process by reporting the number of arrests, referrals to probation departments, cases filed with juvenile courts, and dispositions for juvenile and adult courts. Key highlights include:

• In 2014, there were 86,823 juvenile arrests in California with 80.4 percent referred to probation departments, 18.5 percent counseled and released and 1.1 percent turned over to another agency  
• Juvenile probation departments received 101,531 cases in 2014 with 88.8 percent coming from law enforcement referrals; of those 0.5 percent (474) resulted in direct file into adult court

Law enforcement agencies, probation departments and Superior Courts submit juvenile justice statistics to the California Department of Justice, which is then compiled into a yearly report.