Crime in California


This article refers to crime in the American state of California.

State statistics

In 2008, there were 1,265,920 crimes reported in California, including 2,142 murders, 8,903 rapes and 1,080,747 property crimes. In 2004, the California Board of Corrections reported 1,279,758 bookings, or administrative records of those arrested, in jails throughout California.
In 2014, 1,697 people were victims of homicides. 30% of homicides were gang-related, 28% were due to an unspecified argument, 9% were domestic, and 7% were robbery related. The rest were unknown. In 2017 the violent crime rate in California rose 1.5% and was 14th highest of the 50 states.
YearPopulationIndexViolentPropertyMurderForcible rapeRobberyAggravated
assault		BurglaryLarceny
theft		Vehicle
theft
196015,717,204546,06937,558508,5116162,85918,79618,796143,102311,95653,453
197019,953,1341,264,85494,7411,170,1131,3767,00545,08345,083349,788682,811137,514
198023,532,6801,264,854210,2901,633,0423,41113,693102,766102,766545,138913,070174,834
199029,760,0211,965,237311,0511,654,1863,55312,688182,602182,602400,392951,580302,214
200033,871,6481,266,714210,5311,056,1832,0799,78560,249138,418222,293651,855182,035
201037,338,1981,146,072164,133981,9391,8098,33158,11695,877228,857600,558152,524
201639,250,0171,176,866174,7961,002,0701,93010,14954,789104,375188,304637,010176,756

By location

Los Angeles

In 2010, Los Angeles reported 293 homicides. The 2010 number corresponds to a rate of 7.6 per 100,000 population. Murders in Los Angeles have decreased since the peak year of 1993, when the homicide rate was 21.1.

Bakersfield

On 12 September 2018, a shooting rampage was witnessed in Bakersfield, where a man killed five people and then took his life as well. The mass shooting is considered to be the third deadliest gun violence in the US in 2018.

San Bruno

The mother, biological-father and step-father of a 15-year-old girl were jailed for allegedly mistreating and kidnapping a 17-year-old African American boy found in their daughter's closet. San Bruno Police booked them for hate crime.

Legal Procedure

As one of the fifty states of the United States, California follows common law criminal procedure. The principal source of law for California criminal procedure is the California Penal Code, Part 2, "Of Criminal Procedure."
Every year in California, approximately 150 thousand violent crimes and 1 million property crimes are committed. With a population of about 40 million people, approximately 1.2 million arrests are made every year in California. The California superior courts hear about 270,000 felony cases, 900,000 misdemeanor cases, and 5 million infraction cases every year. There are currently 130,000 people in state prisons and 70,000 people in county jails. Of these, there are 746 people who have been sentenced to death.

Policing

In 2008, California had 509 state and local law enforcement agencies. Those agencies employed a total of 126,538 staff. Of the total staff, 79,431 were sworn officers.

Police ratio

In 2008, California had 217 police officers per 100,000 residents.

Capital punishment laws

The death penalty is applied in California. Governor Gavin Newsom suspended the use of the death penalty in March 2019.