Note: We previous looked at this type of data for Michigan and South Carolina as well.
California’s Open Justice website breaks down arrests by race and gender for 2014 through 2023.
The first thing we find is that arrest numbers for every race, gender, and crime category has been falling since 2014. Meanwhile, murder rates have increased in the state. California’s 2021 homicide rate was the highest since 2007. Fewer overall arrests does seem to reflect an overall reduction in crime, but rather California’s extreme soft-on-crime policies. It simply takes more to get arrested than it used too.
California 2014 – 2023
Category: ave arrests per year (ave population per year, ave rate per year)/em
Black male violent crime: 18,361 (1,268k, 14.48 per 100k)
Non-Black male violent crime: 63,749 (18,239k, 3.50 per 100k)
Black female violent crime: 5,393 (1,292k, 4.17 per 100k)
Non-Black female violent crime: 17,771 (18,317k, 0.97 per 100k)
Black male total felony: 48,966 (1,268k, 38.62 per 100k)
Non-Black male total felony: 192,534 (18,239k, 10.56 per 100k)
Black female total felony: 12,268 (1,292k, 9.50 per 100k)
Non-Black female total felony: 49,491 (18,317k, 2.70 per 100k)
2023 California Homicide Arrest Rates (per 100k)
From California Department of Justice 2023 Homicide Report
Black Male: 25.9
Latino Male: 8.0
Black Female: 4.5
White Male: 2.7
Other Male: 1.9
Latino Female: 0.7
White Female: 0.6
Other Female: 0.2
Here is a graphic that can be shared on social media:
