Highlights
The top twenty states for spending on law enforcement. Correctional spending is included.
Author
Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.
Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of directing award-winning public relations (and explaining crime data) for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet.
Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of Criminology and Public affairs-University of Maryland, University College.
Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Former police officer. Aspiring drummer.
Author of ”Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization” available at Amazon and additional booksellers.
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Quotes
All quotes are edited for brevity.
Overview Of Crime Data
There is a comprehensive overview of crime data from this site, see Violent and Property Crime Rates In The U.S.
Article
MoneyGeek offers a list of state spending on law enforcement. I offer the top twenty states. See the entire list here. Disclosure: I am quoted in the article.
Key Findings:
- The U.S. spent nearly $215 billion on law enforcement, up $10 billion from the previous year.
- Nearly $129 billion was spent on policing and $86 billion on corrections.
- Washington, D.C. and Alaska spent the most on police and corrections per capita, spending around $1,300 and $1,000 per capita, respectively.
- Despite being considered tax-friendly states, Florida and Nevada spent the highest percentages of their budgets on law enforcement (7.3% and 7%, respectively).
- While Democratic states spent 39% more per capita on law enforcement, both Republican and Democratic states spent about the same percentage of their budgets on policing and corrections (5.09% and 5.07%, respectively).
Democratic and Republican State Policing and Corrections Spending
Their analysis of per capita spending found that blue states spent 39% more on policing and corrections than red states in 2020. Interestingly, red states spent about the same percentage of their state budgets on policing and corrections as blue states, with each spending 5.09% and 5.07%, respectively.
Methodology
To determine which states spend the most and least on policing and corrections, MoneyGeek reviewed expenditures for each state, including state and local (municipal and county) government expenditures using the most recent data available, which is from 2020. They used the following metrics to determine final scores and rankings:
- Per Capita Spend on Policing and Corrections (full weight, 50%): This value is calculated as the combined expenditures on policing and corrections divided by the state’s population and is scaled to a range from 0 to 100.
- Police and Corrections Spend as a Percentage of All Spend (full weight, 50%): This value is calculated as the combined policing and corrections expenditures divided by the total amounts spent by state and local governments and is scaled to a range from 0 to 100.
Police Spending Chart (click to enlarge)
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See more articles on crime and justice at Crime in America.
Most Dangerous Cities/States/Countries at Most Dangerous Cities.
US Crime Rates at Nationwide Crime Rates.
National Offender Recidivism Rates at Offender Recidivism.
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