Posted on 11/30/2006 4:57:13 AM PST by shrinkermd
A record 7 million people _ or one in every 32 American adults _ were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department. Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to a report released Wednesday.
More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are increasing more.
Men still far outnumber women in prisons and jails, but the female population is growing faster. Over the past year, the female population in state or federal prison increased 2.6 percent while the number of male inmates rose 1.9 percent. By year's end, 7 percent of all inmates were women. The gender figures do not include inmates in local jails.
"Today's figures fail to capture incarceration's impact on the thousands of children left behind by mothers in prison," Marc Mauer, the executive director of the Sentencing Project, a Washington-based group supporting criminal justice reform, said in a statement. "Misguided policies that create harsher sentences for nonviolent drug offenses are disproportionately responsible for the increasing rates of women in prisons and jails."
From 1995 to 2003, inmates in federal prison for drug offenses have accounted for 49 percent of total prison population growth.
The numbers are from the annual report from the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report breaks down inmate populations for state and federal prisons and local jails.
Racial disparities among prisoners persist. In the 25-29 age group, 8.1 percent of black men _ about one in 13 _ are incarcerated, compared with 2.6 percent of Hispanic men and 1.1 percent of white men. And it's not much different among women. By the end of 2005, black women were more than twice as likely as Hispanics and over three times as likely as white women to be in prison.
Certain states saw more significant changes in prison population. In South Dakota, the number of inmates increased 11 percent over the past year, more than any other state. Montana and Kentucky were next in line with increases of 10.4 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively. Georgia had the biggest decrease, losing 4.6 percent, followed by Maryland with a 2.4 percent decrease and Louisiana with a 2.3 percent drop.
The United States has the highest rate of incarceration at 740 prisoners per 100,000 people.
The current rate of incarceration in the United States is higher than the Soviet Union’s in 1979, which had an incarceration rate of 660 per 100,000 people.
Canada has 115 per 100,000 people.
Malaysia has 104 per 100,000 people.
Germany has 85 per 100,000 people.
France has 95 per 100,000 people.
Turkey has 85 per 100,000 people.
Greece has 55 per 100,000 people.
I guess it would depend. If a gangbanger pops a cap in someone's ass, is that "related to the drug war"?
Politicians are so terrified of being labeled as "soft on crime" that they are unwilling to examine any solution that doesn't involve throwing people into a hole and hoping for the best.
Ignorant voters get the government (and the society) that they deserve.
49 percent.
When you imprison enough people the life inside becomes more like the life outside and the life outside becomes more like inside.
Very interesting. I admit that I hadn't considered that.
Man, I started out in such a good mood today.
Hey, this is a comforting info, just in case if you get into prison (whether by your fault or by system error)
Skimming through the titles of past colloquia, I found that certain words or their cognates occurred with conspicuous frequency, among them: race, politics and prison. My lecture today concerns each of them -- more specifically their relationship to one another.
We all know that African Americans are imprisoned disproportionately to their numbers in the general population. According to the last decennial census a black man was 7.4 times as likely to be found behind bars as was his white counterpart. In the language I'll use today, we would say that the disparity or incarceration ratio was 7.4. State-by-state, the figures varied widely from 3.1 to 29.3. But contrary to expectation, the highest disparity ratios turned up mostly in politically progressive states, while the smallest ratios were mostly found in conservative states. Though the numbers change a bit from year to year, this racial-political pattern of imprisonment endures. One of the questions I will answer today is, why?
Many here today have devoted their professional lives to eliminating racial disparities in prison and elsewhere. And most of the rest of us are philosophical allies sympathetic to this ideal. It must be disconcerting, therefore, to find the greatest black-to-white imprisonment ratios in your own ideological backyards. But be assured this is not the result of your unconscious, repressed racism, but is rather the innocent product of your goodwill -- an accidental consequence of liberal philosophy applied to criminal justice.
We have more screwed up people per 100,000.
I understand the early English settlers to the US had no jails. It was a punishment thing then too.
I used to say, back in 1972, that if you are walking down the street you are probably breaking some law.
Seven times more? Why is that?
1) Unlike most other countries, the US is not dominated by one ethnic group. Even Canada is still more or less Anglo. We used to norm and properly assimilate immigrants. We don't any more. And we don't norm in other ways either - tolerance and diversity make it impossible to enforce any norms.
2) The US, in undermining its culture, has allowed consumerism to fill the void. Consumerism can bring out anti social and criminal behavior.
3) The criminal justice system still cycles people in and out, and lets many criminals off the hook. This breeds a culture of acceptability of crime.
4) Our prisons allow gangs, jailhouse imams and other liberal ills. This breeds crime organizations and violence. Even many European prisons are far more controlled than ours.
I could go on and on with this, I think you get the idea.
No, you are just wrong.
[...] tolerance and diversity make it impossible to enforce any norms.
India has several official languages, nationalities and religions.
India has 24 prisoners per 100,000 people versus 740 prisoners per 100,000 people in USA.
US, in undermining its culture, has allowed consumerism to fill the void. Consumerism can bring out anti social and criminal behavior.
I am not sure how to measure consumerism but Netherlands are quite consumerist. They have 65 prisoners per 100,000 people versus 740 prisoners per 100,000 people in USA.
The criminal justice system still cycles people in and out, and lets many criminals off the hook. This breeds a culture of acceptability of crime.
Swedish system is very lenient. Sweden has 65 prisoners per 100,000 people too.
Even many European prisons are far more controlled than ours.
Which ones?
No, the real reasons are War on Drugs, Puritan traditions, wide spread love of punishment, rewarding prosecutors for number of convictions and immunity from liability for false charges, ease of fabricating evidence. Plea bargaining and rewards for false witnesses.
And very important reason is the PRIVATIZATION of prisons and turning them into source of profit.
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