By The Arizona Statistical Analysis Center

As part of the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission’s (ACJC) work as required by A.R.S. §41-2405, section A, the Commission is to: - Monitor the progress and implementation of new and continuing criminal justice legislation; - Analyze criminal justice programs created by the legislature in the preceding two years; and, - Analyze the effectiveness of the criminal code, with a discussion of any problems and recommendations for revision if deemed necessary This report is an update to the original felony code review report released in 2018 and adds an additional five-year period. ACJC’s Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) and policy staff reviewed those Arizona Revised Statutes containing a felony criminal penalty to determine the frequency of statute charges at the time of arrest across five-year, ten-year, 15-year, and 20-year periods. Staff reviewed an extract of the Arizona Computerized Criminal History (ACCH) repository, maintained at the Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS), to capture arrest charging frequency across Arizona Revised Statute criminal codes. Key Findings The resulting data span from Fiscal Year (FY) 2002 to FY 2024 for a total of 20 years provided the following key findings (see overview on page 3): 􏰀 1,557 individual statutes contain a felony criminal penalty currently enforceable by Arizona law enforcement across nearly every A.R.S. Title. This is an increase of 71 new felony charges over the last five years 􏰀 545 of the 1,557 statutes (35 percent) have no arrest charges recorded. This

includes 28 statutes passed and signed into law since 2018 with no arrest charges. 􏰀 Many A.R.S. Titles have a very high percentage of statutes with a felony penalty that have not been charged in the past 20 years: o Title 06 – Banks and Financial Institutions (4 out of 6) o Title 08 – Child Safety (2 out of 3) o Title 16 – Elections and Electors (30 out of 43) o Title 20 – Insurance (20 out of 32) o Title 32 – Professions and Occupations (86 out of 107) o Title 35 – Public Finances (8 out of 12) o Title 38 – Public Officers and Employees (16 out of 20) o Title 36 – Public Health and Safety (20 out of 31) o Title 38 – Public Officers and Employees (14 out of 20) o Title 40 – Public Utilities and Carriers (7 out of 7) o Title 41 – State Government (30 out of 39) o Title 43 – Taxation of Income (1 out of 1) o Title 44 – Trade and Commerce (63 out of 90) o Title 45 – Waters (3 out of 3) o Title 49 – The Environment (47 out of 53) Expected Outcomes The Arizona Criminal Justice Commission hopes that this report, outlining the Arizona Revised Statutes that contain a felony criminal penalty and their use over the past twenty years, will spark a dialogue among Arizona’s legislators and policymakers about the increasingly complex landscape that has been created for Arizona citizens and law enforcement to navigate regarding illegal activities. Possible activities that could occur might include: 􏰀 Convening of stakeholder groups that deal with specific issue areas to review existing statutes that contain felony penalties to determine if they are still applicable and necessary 􏰀 Review by the legislature to determine if penalties contained in one statute are duplicative of penalties contained in another (for example is A.R.S. §5-115A2, Bribe of a Racing Personnel is a class 4 felony and has not been charged in the past 20 years, but A.R.S. §13-2309, Bribery of Participants in Professional or Amateur Games, Sports, Horse Races, Dog Races, Contests is also a class 4 felony and is regularly being charged) 􏰀 Action by the legislature to repeal statutes that are determined to be duplicative or have not been utilized after a specific period of time has elapsed

Phoenix: Arizona Statistical Analysis Center, 2024. 40p.