Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Drug-Trafficking Convictions Up 50%

The number of drug-trafficking convictions in state courts rose 50% in just two years, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics reported. It also said that 41% of drug dealers convicted in 1988 were sentenced to state prisons, up from 37% two years earlier. “In 1986, about 185,000 adults were arrested for serious drug-trafficking offenses,” said Steven Dillingham, bureau director. “By 1988, the number of these arrests reached almost 290,000.” The Justice Department statistics showed about 667,000 felony convictions in state courts during 1988-89, with 340 of them for murder, 15,562 for rape, 37,432 for robbery, 37,566 for aggravated assault, 101,050 for burglary, 95,258 for larceny and 259,208 for other offenses. In the same year, 31,000 felons were convicted in federal courts.