[Mb-civic] U.S. Prison Population Soars

[Rhaerther at aol.com]

I wonder how much  this prison population would drop if we used drug 
treatment programs for 1st  time low-level offenders, etc. instead of punishment.  
This is not a  compassionate society.  Violent criminals, white collar thieves - 
yes,  lock their ass up.  A wonder what the rate of white to black prisoners  
is?  I'm betting it doesn't represent the US population as a whole.
 
Richard Haerther
 
Updated: 07:57 PM EDT
U.S. Prison Population Soars
Study of 2003-04 Puts  Growth Rate at 900 Inmates Per Week
By SIOBHAN McDONOUGH,  AP
WASHINGTON (April 24) - Growing at a rate of about 900  inmates each week 
between mid-2003 and mid-2004, the nation's prisons and jails  held 2.1 million 
people, or one in every 138 U.S. residents, the government  reported Sunday. 
By last June 30, there were 48,000 more inmates, or 2.3  percent, more than 
the year before, according to the latest figures from the  Bureau of Justice 
Statistics. 
The total inmate population has hovered around 2 million  for the past few 
years, reaching 2.1 million on June 30, 2002, and just below  that mark a year 
later. 
While the crime rate has fallen over the past decade, the  number of people 
in prison and jail is outpacing the number of inmates released,  said the 
report's co-author, Paige Harrison. For example, the number of  admissions to 
federal prisons in 2004 exceeded releases by more than 8,000, the  study found. 
Harrison said the increase can be attributed largely to  get-tough policies 
enacted in the 1980s and 1990s. Among them are mandatory drug  sentences, 
"three-strikes-and-you're-out" laws for repeat offenders, and  
"truth-in-sentencing" laws that restrict early releases. 
"As a whole most of these policies remain in place," she  said. "These 
policies were a reaction to the rise in crime in the '80s and early  90s." 
Added Malcolm Young, executive director of the Sentencing  Project, which 
promotes alternatives to prison: "We're working under the burden  of laws and 
practices that have developed over 30 years that have focused on  punishment and 
prison as our primary response to crime." 
He said many of those incarcerated are not serious or  violent offenders, but 
are low-level drug offenders. Young said one way to help  lower the number is 
to introduce drug treatment programs that offer effective  ways of changing 
behavior and to provide appropriate assistance for the mentally  ill. 
According to the Justice Policy Institute, which advocates  a more lenient 
system of punishment, the United States has a higher rate of  incarceration than 
any other country, followed by Britain, China, France, Japan  and Nigeria. 
There were 726 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents by  June 30, 2004, 
compared with 716 a year earlier, according to the report by the  Justice 
Department agency. In 2004, one in every 138 U.S. residents was in  prison or jail; 
the previous year it was one in every 140. 
In 2004, 61 percent of prison and jail inmates were of  racial or ethnic 
minorities, the government said. An estimated 12.6 percent of  all black men in 
their late 20s were in jails or prisons, as were 3.6 percent of  Hispanic men 
and 1.7 percent of white men in that age group, the report  said. 
Other findings include: 
State prisons held about 2,500 youths under 18 in 2004.  That compares with a 
peak, in 1995, of about 5,300. Local jails held about 7,000  youths, down 
from 7,800 in 1995. 
In the year ending last June 30, 13 states reported an  increase of at least 
5 percent in the federal system, led by Minnesota, at about  13 percent; 
Montana at 10.5 percent; Arkansas at 9 percent. 
Among the 12 states that reported a decline in the inmate  population were 
Alabama, 7 percent; Connecticut, 2.5 percent; and Ohio, 2  percent. 
04/24/05 16:57 EDT
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