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I was pecking through some new FBI statistics and found this story idea. About 430 times a year, more than once a day, officials reported that they had found a body but had no idea whose it was. All of the usual checking turned up no identification. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics:

• Between 1980 and 2004, about 10,300 unidentified human remains were reported to the National Death Index (NDI).

• Almost three-quarters of unidentified persons were reported by 5 states; Arizona, California, Florida, New York, and Texas.

• Of the 2,900 National Crime Information Center records that contained data on the manner of death, 27% were ruled homicides; 12%, accidental deaths; 7%, natural causes; and 5%, suicides.

• The majority of unidentified persons were white (70%); blacks made up 15% of unidentified persons; and race could not be determined in 13% of the cases.

What unidentified person cases have been pending the longest in your community? What have investigators tried? How hard do they try? Is there somebody who really puts a lot of effort into these cases and takes them personally? You can find a PDF of state-by-state statistics on the same site referenced above.

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More Than  One Million Juvenile Delinquents

Think about this number. A Department of Justice report says  courts with juvenile jurisdiction handled an estimated 1,660,700 delinquency cases in 2004, the latest figures available. The number of delinquency cases processed by juvenile courts increased by 44 percent between 1985 and 2004. 

It would be interesting to compare how the court system has, or has not, expanded to meet the huge challenges presented by the growth.

In 2004, 57 percent of all delinquency cases that came to juvenile court involved kids age 15 or younger, the report says. Some of the growth of juvenile crime can be attributed to a sharp rise in cases involving alcohol, nonviolent sex cases and assault.

In recent years, the number of cases handled by juvenile courts has decreased for most property offenses and increased for most public order offenses

Most serious offense	Number of cases		Percent change
	2003	2004	1995– 2004	2000– 2004	2003– 2004
Total delinquency	1,643,100	1,660,700	-7%	0%	1%
Total person	395,700	400,700	2%	6%	1%
Criminal homicide	1,800	1,700	-42%	-2%	-9%
Forcible rape	4,500	4,200	-27%	-3%	-7%
Robbery	21,400	21,100	-50%	-1%	-1%
Aggravated assault	44,000	44,600	-39%	-8%	1%
Simple assault	279,600	284,300	23%	10%	2%
Other violent sex offenses	16,100	15,800	34%	22%	-2%
Other person offenses	28,300	29,000	12%	1%	3%
Total property	615,800	603,200	-33%	-10%	-2%
Burglary	101,000	95,500	-35%	-11%	-5%
Larceny-theft	280,700	278,300	-34%	-10%	-1%
Motor vehicle theft	37,100	33,900	-37%	-7%	-9%
Arson	8,400	8,500	-26%	-8%	1%
Vandalism	96,200	96,300	-23%	-5%	0%
Trespassing	50,200	50,700	-25%	-5%	1%
Stolen property offenses	20,300	19,400	-48%	-23%	-5%
Other property offenses	21,800	20,700	-40%	-20%	-5%
Drug law violations	189,000	193,700	19%	0%	2%
Public order offenses	442,500	463,100	41%	9%	5%
Obstruction of justice	209,400	216,500	70%	5%	3%
Disorderly conduct	111,800	121,600	35%	27%	9%
Weapons offenses	37,800	41,000	-12%	8%	9%
Liquor law violations	28,300	29,000	78%	4%	3%
Nonviolent sex offenses	13,800	13,800	48%	4%	0%
Other public order offenses	41,500	41,000	5%	-11%	-1%
Violent Crime Index*	71,800	71,600	-42%	-6%	0%
Property Crime Index**	427,200	416,100	-35%	-10%	-3%

Click here to get county-by-county data.

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Big Bail Bond Players

The U.S. Professional Bail Agents says there are 14,000 commercial bail agents nationwide who represent more than 2 million defendants. A new study says in the 75 largest counties in the country, about three in five felony defendants get out of jail on bail awaiting trial.

In a new report, the Department of Justice says that between 1990 and 2004, a third of defendants out on bail were charged with more crimes before their original crime was ever disposed of in the courts. About 17 percent of the new crimes were felonies. Nearly one-fourth of all defendants on bail failed to appear in court when they were supposed to, according to the report.

Who are the big bail bond players in your town? What is their business/life like? Who are their best customers, and how often do clients skip? 

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Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.