Drug-Related Felony Processing in Nevada (2016–2023): Trends in Arrest, Conviction, and Structural Exposure

Drug-related criminal justice involvement has increasingly been recognized as a structural factor influencing public health and socioeconomic outcomes, particularly among individuals with substance use disorders. While incarceration has been widely studied, less attention has been paid to felony-level criminal processing in cases where conviction or incarceration does not occur. This study was conducted as a narrative review and descriptive analysis of public health and criminal justice system data using publicly available administrative data from the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office of Analytics, to examine longitudinal patterns in drug-related arrests, drug-related convictions, and felony drug convictions in Nevada from 2016 through 2023. From 2016 to 2023, drug-related arrests represented between 11.9% (5,403 of 45,247) and 19.6% (6,758 of 34,502) of arrests that ultimately resulted in conviction, with 3,129 of 16,049 (19.5%) reported in 2023. During the same period, drug-related convictions accounted for between 10.2% (3,775 of 37,107) and 15.2% (7,401 of 48,570) of total convictions, including 2,115 of 16,049 (13.2%) in 2023. Beginning in 2020, arrest proportions were higher than conviction proportions within adjudicated cases. The percentage of felonies attributable to drug-related offenses rose from 17.3% (1,385 of 7,991) in 2016 to 41.3% (896 of 2,170) in 2023. Similarly, the proportion of drug-related convictions classified as felonies increased from 19.2% in 2016 to 42.4% in 2023. Among forensically involved individuals between fiscal years 2021 and 2023, 45.4% (816 of 1,798) self-reported drug use, and 34.2% (465 of 1,361) had a documented drug-related arrest. Together, these findings indicate sustained exposure to felony-level criminal processing within adjudicated populations without proportional increases in conviction severity or incarceration. When considered alongside established evidence documenting employment and earnings disadvantages associated with felony conviction status, these patterns underscore the importance of examining criminal justice system contact beyond incarceration metrics and highlight the structural implications of felony-level processing for long-term socioeconomic and health trajectories.