Adult Corrections Population Hits Record

[RedEarth]

WASHINGTON - A record 6.9 million adults were incarcerated or on probation or parole last year, nearly 131,000 more than in 2002, according to a Justice Department (news - web sites) study.



Put another way, about 3.2 percent of the adult U.S. population, or 1 in 32 adults, were incarcerated or on probation or parole at the end of last year.


A record 4.8 million adults were on probation or parole in 2003, about 73,000 more than the year before. About 70 percent of adults involved in federal, state or local corrections systems fall into this category. The states of California and Texas together accounted for about 1 million.


The number of adults on parole after serving a prison sentence rose by 3.1 percent from 2002 to 2003, to more than 774,500 people. That compares with an average annual rise of about 1.7 percent since 1995 for those on parole, a figure that has been increasing at a much slower rate than those in jails (4 percent a year), in prison (3.4 percent) and on probation (2.9 percent).


Since 1995, states around the country have increased the use of mandatory parole after prison release and cut down on use of discretionary releases overseen by parole boards, the report says

more....

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&e=3&u=/ap/20040726/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/corrections_population

[bleedingheart]

1. I would like to see the stats on how many of them are drug convictions

because it would probably be shocking..

[IA_Seth]

8. Release them!

Holding people for marijuana cultivation, distribution, or use is ridiculous. How can we advertise beer on TV and lock up marijuana users in the same society.

Legalize it. Tax it if you have to. This strain on our prison system can not last.

[0007]

11. Building prisons and running 'em are big business

It employees people and is very lucrative.

Google "Private prisons for America"

[Zorra]

9. Here are the stats:

http://november.org/graphs/

It is no secret that punitive drug laws fuel this terrible rush to imprisonment. By studying drug law convictions over the past twenty years, researchers have produced alarming figures. The number of people sent to jail or prison for drug law violations increased more than tenfold. One in four prisoners in the United States is serving time for a drug law violation. In the federal system, these people make up 55% of the prison population. (Prior to 9/11, when there were less immigration and national security detainees, drug war prisoners were nearly 60% of the federal prison population.)

http://www.november.org/thewall/wall/wall.html

[Mike Niendorff]

18. Another kick for November.org

The November Coalition is an outstanding group. I highly recommend them, on both a political and a personal level. Any DUers unfamiliar with them would do well to check out their site.


MDN

[KareBear]

2. At some point you have to ask yourself

whether it is the people being governed by the laws, or the laws themselves that are wrong. For that many people to be considered criminals maybe its a clue that the laws on the books do NOT match the needs of the current society.

[TahitiNut]

3. Here's an interesting correlation ...

[daleo]

14. Indeed, an interesting graph

It appears to say that life is held to be cheap now, as it was in the first half of the 1900s. There is still a ways to go to get back to the depression, though. Executions seem to have fallen a bit, now that Bush is no longer governor of Texas.

[colonel odis]

4. the ultimate cheap labor n/t

[shawn703]

5. Does someone in prison receive unemployment?

I know this is not really on-topic, but I was wondering how an increase in the prison population might affect unemployment numbers.

[skippythwndrdog]

6. Inmates are not factored in the UI numbers

They're not eligible for UI payments, either. UI boards view incarceration as a voluntary quit because the choice to commit the crime laies with the claimant.

[TahitiNut]

7. "Institutionalized" people are not 'unemployed.'

Parolees and probationers, however, would be counted if not employed and seeking a job.

[Rex]

10. 1 in 32 adults! No crisis here folks...we got terrorists to worry about.

This gummit sux, I want a refund!

[Minstrel Boy]

12. 6.9 million is the population of Honduras.

And that's just not right.

[Stockholm]

22. It´s also around 78 percent of the population of Sweden! n/t

[AirAmFan]

13. Incarceration spending has risen 2.5X faster than education

spending since 1977, according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. Thanks for your post. Looking down the page of press releases at the link in the yahoo article and clicking through brought me to a pdf linked at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/jeeus01.htm :

"From 1977 to 2001 total State and local expenditures for all functions increased 485%.

police protection rose 470%
corrections rose 1101% ...

Among some other government functions during the same period

education increased 448%
hospitals and healthcare increased 482%
interest on debt increased 543% ..."

[daleo]

15. And this doesn't even include Iraq!

n/t

[donheld]

16. let's add eight more to that Population

how about adding: Bush, Cheney, Powell, Asscroft, Rumsfeld, Rice, Perle, Wolfowitz

[TroubleMan]

17. I'd like to see stats on the income level of these people also.

Our justice system is "Guilty until proven wealthy" or "Innocent until proven poor." Take your pick. From what I've seen, it's more of the first.

[Mike Niendorff]

19. Reminds me of a Ted Rall cartoon I saw a while back:

Frame 1 : young black teen is led into court.
Frame 2 : "Your honor, for purposes of this trial, we intend to try the defendant as an adult".
Frame 3 : "So be it."
Frame 4 : bailiff hangs sign around teenager's neck, reading "Adult".
Frame 5 : middle-aged white guy is led into court, facing embezzlement charges.
Frame 6 : "Your honor, for purposes of this trial, we intend to try the defendant as an 85-year-old white woman ..."


MDN

[whistle]

20. Well, there is going to be another increase of several...

...hundred more adults from the Bush administration and various favored corporations like Haliburton next year when the democratically controlled White House and congress begin making these bastards pay for all they've done in the past 3 1/2 years.

[ze_dscherman]

21. It's also a world record

The U.S. has the highest per capita prison population world wide.