Posted on 11/08/2004 5:08:50 PM PST by huac
"The continuing increase in the prison population, despite a drop or leveling off in the crime rate in the past few years, is a result of laws passed in the 1990's that led to more prison sentences and longer terms..."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The continuing increase in the prison population, despite a drop or leveling off in the crime rate in the past few years, is a result of laws passed in the 1990's that led to more prison sentences and longer terms, said Allen J. Beck, chief of corrections statistics for the department's Bureau of Justice Statistics and an author of the report.
At the end of 2003, there were 1,470,045 men and women in state and federal prisons in the United States, the report found. In addition, counting those inmates in city and county jails and incarcerated juvenile offenders, the total number of Americans behind bars was 2,212,475 on Dec. 31 last year, the report said.
The report estimated that 44 percent of state and federal prisoners in 2003 were black, compared with 35 percent who were white, 19 percent who were Hispanic and 2 percent who were of other races. The numbers have changed little in the last decade.
Statistically, the number of women in prison is growing fast, rising 3.6 percent in 2003. But at a total of 101,179, they are just 6.9 percent of the prison population.
Alfred Blumstein, a criminologist at Carnegie Mellon University, said one of the most striking findings in the report was that almost 10 percent of all American black men ages 25 to 29 were in prison.
Such a high proportion of young black men behind bars not only has a strong impact on black families, Professor Blumstein said, but "in many ways is self-defeating." The criminal justice system is built on deterrence, with being sent to prison supposedly a stigma, he said. "But it's tough to convey a sense of stigma when so many of your friends and neighbors are similarly stigmatized."
In seeking to explain the paradox of a falling crime rate but a rising prison population, Mr. Beck pointed out that F.B.I. statistics showed that from 1994 to 2003 there was a 16 percent drop in arrests for violent crime, including a 36 percent decrease in arrests for murder and a 25 percent decrease in arrests for robbery.
But the tough new sentencing laws led to a growth in inmates being sent to prison, from 522,000 in 1995 to 615,400 in 2002, the report said.
Similarly, the report found that the average time served by prison inmates rose from 23 months in 1995 to 30 months in 2001.
Among the new measures were mandatory minimum sentencing laws, which required inmates to serve a specified proportion of their time behind bars; truth-in-sentencing laws, which required an inmate to actually serve the time he was sentenced to; and a variety of three-strikes laws increasing the penalties for repeat offenders.
In the three states with the biggest prison systems, California, Texas and Florida, the number of newly admitted inmates grew last year, but the number of those released either fell or remained stable, Mr. Beck said.
Several states with small prison systems had particularly large increases in new inmates, led by North Dakota, up 11.4 percent, and Minnesota, up 10.3 percent.
New York had a 2.8 percent decrease in new inmates, reflecting the continued sharp fall in crime in New York City, Mr. Beck said.
Over all, Mr. Beck said, the prison population is aging. Traditionally the great majority of inmates are men in their 20's and early 30's, but middle-aged inmates, those 40 to 54, account for about half of the increase in the prison population since 1995, he said.
This is a result both of the aging of the general American population and of the longer sentences, Mr. Beck said.
But the number of elderly inmates is still small, despite longer sentences and more life sentences. Those inmates 65 and older were still only 1 percent of the prison population in 2003."
When the geniuses at the NYT's aren't openly advocating liberal agendas, sandbagging GWB43+1 or contemplating his assassination, acting as the media arm of the DNC or generally acting in a shameless partisan fashion, they focus their considerable intellect on this conundrum: the more criminals you place in prison, the more the crime rate drops. And these are the people who question the intelligence of red state America? I can't decide of these people are really so incredibly clueless, or if this is a veiled attack on the judicial system which has locked up so many potential Democratic voters
When the geniuses at the NYT's aren't openly advocating liberal agendas, sandbagging GWB43+1 or contemplating his assassination, acting as the media arm of the DNC or generally acting in a shameless partisan fashion, they focus their considerable intellect on this conundrum: the more criminals you place in prison, the more the crime rate drops. And these are the people who question the intelligence of red state America? I can't decide if these people are really so incredibly clueless, or if this is a veiled attack on the judicial system which has locked up so many potential Democratic voters.
I saw this on James Taranto's Best of the Web. Hysterical. Very droll. These Times ppl are certifiable. Michael Savage may be crazy but he's right: liberalism is a mental disorder.
When you jail criminals, crime drops. Get it, NYT???
can we say DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH or timmahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Next: Despite low crime in Wyoming, guns abound!!!
This is just baffling. I don't get it. You mean if all the criminals are behind bars, there won't be any more crime? We'll have to outsource our crime! Just think of the devastating effect on the economy! All those jobs lost! Women and minorities will be hit hardest! Oh the humanity!
YES..I rememberd that also.the same old crap..what really irks me are all the crocodile tears about the "petty crimes" triggering the three strikes laws..well.studies have show that a petty thief commits maybe 100 crimes..usually to support a drug habit..for every ONE he gets arrested for...each of those "petty crimes".say, breakig into a car, to steal a radio..which he then sells for a $5 bag of crack...may cost the victim $500 or so out of pocket..PLUS a higher insurance premium in the future PLUS a day or more lost pay to do all teh paperwork and get the thing fixed..and these victims are the poor people in the same neighbirhood..
It consists of one variation or another of this observation: "the prison population continues to rise even while crime rates are decreasing."
Think of all the fun one can have with variations on this theme. Here's one example:
"Many Americans continue to use run their furnaces during the winter, even though the average indoor temperature is approximately 70 degrees, even on the coldest days."
The idea is to make it sound like the fact that prison populations are up at the same time that crime rates are down is some sort of cruel irony, a sick joke that is only a symptom of a dysfunctional society in which everyday life is a series of absurd contradictions.
(steely)
You are to late with this one. One liberal has already stated that even though crime was down across the US, gun ownership had risen. I forget which paper it was but it was in there last week. Wish I had the link, but I don't
The crime rate is dropping because the criminals are all LOCKED UP, you ninny!
I remember that now.
Okay, here's one: Despite fewer drownings, boaters still carry life vests.
Another one: Despite reduction in food borne illness, restaurant workers continue to wash hands after using the bathroom!!
The NYT is not the only one. The LAT also has difficulty understanding that more criminals in jail mean less crime. The LAT believes the criminals in prison are a result of the prison guards union.
Since the US has closed so many mental hospitals since the 1960's, I wonder if the combined prison/mental hospital population in the 50's is closely equivalent to the prison population ratio of today? Just thinking out loud.
As for the 10% of black males being/having been in prison, I think it is a product of welfare. These boys grew up without the positive influence of fathers. A woman can raise a baby to a boy, but she can't make a man out of the boy. Black, White, Brown Yellow, all boys need a father, an influential adult male, to become men. Welfare keeps these men children, even at 40+ years old.
"DESPITE Drop in Crime, an Increase in Inmates "
Liberal logic at work in the media. No wonder so few Americans listen to them.
A good example of why I believe that crime is the cause of poverty, not the other way around.
Future NYT front page story:
Despite the popularity of abortion in Democrat households, the number of young Democrats continues to decline.
Despite fewer motorcycle accident head injuries, helmet wearing has increased.
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