Tracking Enforcement Rates in Prince George’s County, MD 2006-2018

This report was produced through the Research Network on Misdemeanor Justice (the “Research Network”), a project of the Data Collaborative for Justice. The Research Network is comprised of researcher-practitioner partnerships in seven jurisdictions committed to producing data, research and scholarly work on misdemeanor enforcement trends. The goal of the Network is to inform policy at the local and state levels as well as a national discourse on the role of misdemeanor enforcement in supporting public safety, trust and confidence in the criminal justice system, and racial equity.

This report presents trends in enforcement actions in Prince George’s County, Maryland, from 2006 through 2018. Three specific categories of enforcement are examined here, including felony arrests, misdemeanor arrests, and criminal citations, but with an emphasis on misdemeanor arrests. This report describes trends in overall enforcement rates, by the types of offenses subject to enforcement, as well as by the age, gender, and race and ethnicity of individuals who were arrested or cited.

Key Findings:

  • In PG county overall, misdemeanor arrest rates declined by 38%, felony arrest rates declined by 51%, and criminal citation rates declined by 75%.
  • Men and women experienced a 59% decline in overall enforcement rates.
  • Young men and women (14-15-year-olds, 16-17-year-olds, and 18-20-year-olds) uniformly experienced significant declines in enforcement rates.
  • Declines in white enforcement rates generally outpaced the declines in black and Hispanic enforcement rates in more recent years.