Criminal Justice System Costs and Estimated Cost of Marijuana Arrests,
by State (2005)
  Criminal Justice System Costs Arrests
Est.
Marijuana Costs*
State
Total
Police
Courts
Corrections
Total
Marij.
Pct.
Alabama $1,765,367 $822,770 $336,293 $606,304 254,227 12,271 4.83% $85,267
Alaska $558,219 $206,207 $153,532 $198,480 39,004 1,102 2.83% $15,798
Arizona $3,581,052 $1,532,631 $771,212 $1,277,209 329,411 20,419 6.20% $222,025
Arkansas $1,146,416 $481,336 $207,985 $457,095 169,953 6,345 3.73% $42,761
California $29,450,956 $12,289,948 $7,317,119 $9,843,888 1,516,095 60,638 4.00% $1,178,038
Colorado $2,513,087 $1,188,091 $431,507 $893,489 270,572 11,396 4.21% $105,801
Connecticut $1,960,617 $836,912 $543,710 $579,995 140,518 7,548 5.37% $105,285
Delaware $590,447 $237,639 $134,792 $218,016 39,342 2,839 7.22% $42,630
District
of Columbia		 $634,610 $414,394 $55,840 $164,376 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Florida $11,390,481 $5,635,563 $2,007,927 $3,746,991 n/a n/a n/a n/a
Georgia $4,476,829 $1,727,427 $900,890 $1,848,512 504,176 32,081 6.36% $284,726
Hawaii $682,836 $267,943 $244,459 $170,434 56,169 1,163 2.07% $14,135
Idaho $647,020 $260,742 $135,544 $250,734 78,713 3,024 3.84% $24,846
Illinois $6,526,452 $3,581,163 $1,217,029 $1,728,260 253,015 n/a n/a n/a
Indiana $2,394,928 $1,052,019 $389,218 $953,691 293,118 17,411 5.94% $142,259
Iowa $1,129,395 $533,305 $269,343 $326,747 124,399 6,508 5.23% $59,067
Kansas $1,214,959 $582,298 $268,149 $364,512 105,171 6,313 6.00% $72,898
Kentucky $1,705,483 $670,527 $366,793 $668,163 326,044 21,947 6.73% $114,779
Louisiana $2,507,754 $1,059,879 $502,077 $945,798 331,937 24,055 7.25% $181,812
Maine $487,911 $216,130 $94,095 $177,686 54,237 3,147 5.80% $28,299
Maryland $3,593,535 $1,494,492 $639,024 $1,460,019 307,975 22,089 7.17% $257,656
Massachusetts $3,450,625 $1,571,230 $842,575 $1,036,820 158,738 9,583 6.04% $208,418
Michigan $5,684,404 $2,270,047 $1,156,615 $2,257,742 353,380 19,378 5.48% $311,505
Minnesota $2,477,165 $1,185,984 $573,372 $717,809 234,496 12,425 5.30% $131,290
Mississippi $1,058,371 $515,076 $185,049 $358,246 184,819 12,974 7.02% $74,298
Missouri $2,428,347 $1,158,883 $428,746 $840,718 367,413 20,989 5.71% $138,659
Montana $440,563 $180,901 $103,263 $156,399 29,852 1,255 4.20% $18,504
Nebraska $728,447 $298,621 $141,893 $287,933 96,854 7,305 7.54% $54,925
Nevada $1,732,683 $783,325 $393,471 $555,887 155,687 5,606 3.60% $62,377
New
Hampshire		 $517,945 $252,949 $111,330 $153,666 115,351 3,413 2.96% $15,331
New
Jersey		 $6,024,649 $2,834,889 $1,333,485 $1,856,275 377,533 21,719 5.75% $346,417
New
Mexico		 $1,163,355 $474,801 $228,099 $460,455 113,945 3,328 2.92% $33,970
New York $15,432,626 $7,372,812 $3,180,072 $4,879,742 832,122 73,761 8.86% $1,367,331
North
Carolina		 $3,711,725 $1,679,125 $514,426 $1,518,174 535,572 25,085 4.68% $173,709
North Dakota $224,184 $99,843 $57,137 $67,204 31,980 1,285 4.02% $9,012
Ohio $6,030,402 $2,633,113 $1,539,382 $1,857,907 376,860 23,320 6.19% $373,282
Oklahoma $1,490,938 $626,545 $267,559 $596,834 159,635 12,041 7.54% $112,417
Oregon $2,081,654 $909,513 $338,286 $833,855 151,716 7,720 5.09% $105,956
Pennsylvania $6,661,757 $2,389,763 $1,412,847 $2,859,147 502,733 23,771 4.73% $315,101
Rhode
Island		 $612,194 $291,386 $144,677 $176,131 40,096 2,078 5.18% $31,712
South
Carolina		 $1,568,950 $745,729 $244,843 $578,378 236,443 18,084 7.65% $120,025
South Dakota $278,200 $124,487 $61,383 $92,330 26,535 1,186 4.47% $12,436
Tennessee $2,494,342 $1,175,231 $489,303 $829,808 331,130 19,516 5.89% $146,917
Texas $10,673,087 $4,576,321 $1,818,638 $4,278,128 1,113,901 61,564 5.53% $590,222
Utah $1,208,834 $514,238 $274,603 $419,993 130,152 3,852 2.96% $35,781
Vermont $285,894 $134,392 $54,837 $96,665 16,028 855 5.33% $15,238
Virginia $3,798,217 $1,616,525 $639,664 $1,542,028 313,956 16,162 5.15% $195,608
Washington $3,303,500 $1,288,901 $659,477 $1,355,122 284,693 12,188 4.28% $141,390
West
Virginia		 $647,563 $224,055 $180,912 $242,596 60,773 3,599 5.92% $38,336
Wisconsin $3,090,640 $1,357,664 $527,377 $1,205,599 420,138 16,483 3.92% $121,153
Wyoming $461,401 $147,675 $76,504 $237,222 37,865 1,992 5.26% $24,270

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Notes:

All cost data is expressed in $1000s.

*The estimated costs of marijuana arrests is derived on a share basis. The cost is estimated by mulitplying the percentage of marijuana arrests by the total criminal justice system costs. This method of estimating the criminal justice costs of drug abuse offenses is used by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) in their estimates of the overall costs of drug abuse. It is a very general estimation procedure that does not take into account the differences in the amount of resources required to arrest, prosecutre, and incarcerate offendes who have committed various crimes. This estimation procedure is based on an imperfect assumpiton that all arrests place a similar burden on the criminal justice system. While all arrests do share certain general costs, there are many factors that distinguish the costs of arrests for different crimes. Also, this estimation procedure does not take into account the reduced costs of states that issue citations for some marijuana possession offenses involving small personal use quantities.

Because of the general nature of the estimnation of the costs of marijuana arrests used in this table, it is recommended that reference to these figures include information on what percentage of total arrests are represented by marijuana arrests and an explanation of the estimation procedure. For example, "Marijuana arrests account for __ % of all arrests in this state. Total criminal justice costs in this state are %_____ , and at this percentage the cost of marijuana arrests is estimated at $_________."

Sources:

Bureau of Justice Statistics, Criminal Justice Expenditure and Employment Extracts Program (CJEE), Table 4. Justice system expenditure, by character, State, and type of government, fiscal year 2005.

Uniform Crime Reporting Program

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