TRENDS IN U.S. CORRECTIONS FACT SHEET: TRENDS IN U.S. CORRECTIONS Sentencing Project

the
Sentencing
Project
FACT SHEET: TRENDS IN U.S. CORRECTIONS
TRENDS IN U.S. CORRECTIONS
U.S. State and Federal Prison Population, 1925-2012
2012: 1,570,400
1,600,000
1,400,000
1,200,000
1,000,000
800,000
600,000
400,000
200,000
2012
2008
2004
2000
1996
1992
1988
1984
1980
1976
1972
1968
1964
1960
1956
1952
1948
1944
1940
1936
1932
1928
1925
0
Source: Bureau of Justice Statistics Prisoners Series.
International Rates of Incarceration, 2012/2013
716
U.S.
492
Rwanda
475
Russia
274
Brazil
147
Spain
130
Australia
China
121
Canada
118
Austria
98
France
98
79
Germany
73
Denmark
67
Sweden
India
30
Imprisonment Rate Per 100,000 People
Source: Walmsley, R. (2013). World Population List, 10th Ed. Essex: International Centre for Prison Studies.
The Sentencing Project • 1705 DeSales Street NW, 8th Floor • Washington, D.C. 20036 • sentencingproject.org
1
the
Sentencing
Project
FACT SHEET: TRENDS IN U.S. CORRECTIONS
MASS INCARCERATION
StateViolent
& Federal
Prison Property
Population
by Offense
Drug
Immigration Weapons
The United States is the world's leader in incarceration FEDERAL (2012) 0.7%
with 2.2 million people currently in the nation's prisons
Other 5.9%
or jails — a 500% increase over the last forty years.
9.6%
Changes in sentencing law and policy, not changes in
36.9%
Weapons
crime rates, explain most of this increase. These trends
15.3%
have resulted in prison overcrowding and fiscal burdens
on states to accommodate a rapidly expanding penal
Immigration
system, despite increasing evidence that large-scale
12.1%
incarceration is not an effective means of achieving
public safety.
5.9%
State Expenditures on Corrections, 1985-2012
Violent
60
53.3
Billions of Dollars
50
Drug
50.6%
Property
Public Order
Other
18.3%
36.4
30
53%
26.1
20
16.9
10
Other
Property
42.3
40
0
Public Order
10.6%
51.4
Violent
Drug
1.4%
STATE (2011)
Other Pu
16.8%
6.7
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2012
Source: National Association of State Budget Officers
(1985-2012). State Expenditure Report Series. Washington,
D.C.: National Association of State Budget Officers.
Source: Carson, E.A. and Golinelli, D. (2013). Prisoners
in 2012. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics;
Carson, E.A. and Sabol, W.J. (2012). Prisoners in 2011.
Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Population Under Control of the U.S. Corrections System, 1980 & 2012
1980
2012
3,942,800
1,483,900
1,118,097
851,200
744,500
319,598
Prison
182,288
Jail
220,438
Parole
Probation
Source: Glaze, L. E. and Herberman, E.J. (2011). Correctional Populations in the United States, 2012. Washington,
D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics; Corrections: Key Facts at a Glance. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The Sentencing Project • 1705 DeSales Street NW, 8th Floor • Washington, D.C. 20036 • sentencingproject.org
2
the
Sentencing
Project
FACT SHEET: TRENDS IN U.S. CORRECTIONS
DRUG POLICY
Number of People in Prisons and Jails for
Drug Offenses, 1980 and 2011
1980
225,200
2011
1980: 41,000 drug offenders
2011: 501,500 drug offenders
181,700
94,600
19,000
17,200
4,700
State Prisons
Federal Prisons
Jails
Sources: Carson, E.A. and Sabol, W.J. (2012). Prisoners
in 2011. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics;
Mauer, M. and King, R. (2007). A 25-Year Quagmire:
The War on Drugs and its Impact on American Society.
Washington, D.C.: The Sentencing Project.
Sentencing policies of the War on Drugs era
resulted in dramatic growth in incarceration for
drug offenses. Since its official beginning in
1982, the number of Americans incarcerated for
drug offenses has skyrocketed from 41,000 in
1980 to half a million in 2011. Furthermore, harsh
sentencing laws such as mandatory minimums
keep drug offenders in prison for longer periods
of time: in 1986, released drug offenders had
spent an average of 22 months in federal prison.
By 2004, federal drug offenders were expected
to serve almost three times that length: 62
months in prison.
At the federal level, prisoners incarcerated
on a drug conviction make up half the prison
population. At the state level the number of drug
offenders in prison has increased eleven-fold
since 1980. Most of these people are not highlevel actors in the drug trade, and most have no
prior criminal record for a violent offense.
Number of People in Federal Prisons for Drug Offenses, 1980-2012
Drug Offenders
Total Offenders
190,641
196,574
166,173
131,739
83,669
56,909
85,579
97,472
99,426
74,276
46,667
35,555
24,297
22,037
4,749
1980
9,491
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2012
Sources: Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics Online; Carson, E.A. and Golinelli, D. (2013). Prisoners in 2012.
Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The Sentencing Project • 1705 DeSales Street NW, 8th Floor • Washington, D.C. 20036 • sentencingproject.org
3
the
Sentencing
Project
FACT SHEET: TRENDS IN U.S. CORRECTIONS
WOMEN
Number of Women in State and Federal Prisons, 1980-2012
The number of women in
prison, many of whom are
incarcerated for drug offenses,
has been increasing at a rate
50 percent higher than men
since 1980. Women in prison
often have significant histories
of physical and sexual abuse,
high rates of HIV, and substance
abuse problems. Women’s
imprisonment in female-headed
households leads to children
who suffer from their mother’s
absence and breaks in family
ties.
Federal prisons
State prisons
120,000
112,797 113,605
107,518
100,000
93,234
80,000
68,468
60,000
43,845
40,000
20,000 13,258
0
1980
23,099
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
2012
Source: Carson, E.A. and Golinelli, D. (2013). Prisoners in 2012. Washington,
D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Highest and Lowest State Incarceration Rates (per 100,000), 2012
Overall (National = 480)
State
Women (National = 63)
State
Rate
HIGHEST
Rate
HIGHEST
Men (National = 910)
Louisiana
893
Mississippi
717
State
Alabama
650
HIGHEST
Rate
Oklahoma
127
Oklahoma
648
Louisiana
Idaho
126
Texas
601
Mississippi
1,370
Kentucky
114
LOWEST
Alabama
1,234
Arizonaa
101
Maine
145
Oklahoma
1,178
Louisiana
101
Minnesota
184
Texas
1,121
Rhode Islandb
190
LOWEST
15
Massachusettsc
200
Maine
276
Massachusetts
15
New Hampshire
211
Minnesota
344
Maine
20
North Dakota
New York
22
Rhode Island
376
New Jersey
23
New Hampshire
396
LOWEST
Rhode Island
b
c
1,720
372
b
a = Prison population is custody count.
b = Prisons and jails form one integrated system.
c = Includes persons sentenced to one year or more in prison and held in county jails.
Source: Carson, E.A. and Golinelli, D. (2013). Prisoners in 2012 - Advance Counts. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice
Statistics.
The Sentencing Project • 1705 DeSales Street NW, 8th Floor • Washington, D.C. 20036 • sentencingproject.org
4
the
Sentencing
Project
FACT SHEET: TRENDS IN U.S. CORRECTIONS
Rate of Incarceration per 100,000, by Gender,
Race, & Ethnicity, 2012
White
Black
Latino
2,841
RACIAL DISPARITIES
More than 60% of the people in prison today are people
of color. Black men are six times more likely to be
incarcerated than white men and 2.5 times more likely
than Hispanic men. For black men in their thirties, 1 in
every 10 is in prison or jail on any given day.
People in State and Federal Prisons, by Race and
Ethnicity, 2012
8.4%
White: 500,604
1,158
22.0%
33.1%
Black: 551,154
463
49
115
Hispanic: 332,202
64
Women
Men
Source: Carson, E.A. and Golinelli, D. (2013).
Prisoners in 2012. Washington, D.C.: Bureau of
Justice Statistics.
Other: 127,521
36.5%
Source: Carson, E.A. and Golinelli, D. (2013). Prisoners in 2012.
Washington, D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Lifetime Likelihood of Imprisonment
All Men
White Men
Black Men
Latino Men
1 in 9
1 in 17
1 in 3
1 in 6
All Women
White Women
Black Women
Latina Women
1 in 56
1 in 111
1 in 18
1 in 45
Source: Bonczar, T. (2003). Prevalence of Imprisonment in the U.S. Population, 1974-2001. Washington, D.C.:
Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The Sentencing Project • 1705 DeSales Street NW, 8th Floor • Washington, D.C. 20036 • sentencingproject.org
5
the
Sentencing
Project
FACT SHEET: TRENDS IN U.S. CORRECTIONS
LIFE SENTENCES
The number of prisoners serving life sentences continues to grow even while serious, violent crime has
been declining for the past 20 years and little public safety benefit has been demonstrated to correlate
with increasingly lengthy sentences. The lifer population has more than quadrupled since 1984. One in
nine people in prison is now serving a life sentence and nearly a third of lifers have been sentenced to
life without parole.
Number of People Serving Life Without Parole
Sentences, 1992-2012
Number of People Serving Life Sentences,
1984-2012
49,081
50,000
159,520
40,174
127,677
40,000
132,000
142,727
33,633
30,000
69,845
34,000
20,000
12,453
10,000
1992
2003
2008
2012
1984
1992
2003
2005
2008
2012
Source: Nellis, A. (2013). Life Goes On: The Historic Rise in Life Sentences in America. Washington, D.C.: The
Sentencing Project.
YOUTH
Number of Youth Held in Adult Prisons and Jails, 1985-2011
Updated September 2014
Youth in Adult Prisons
Youth in Adult Jails
15,000
12,000
9,000
6,000
3,000
0
1985
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
There has been a troubling
shift in the nation’s responses
to at-risk youth over the past
25 years. The creators of
the juvenile justice system
originally viewed it as a system
for providing prevention,
protection, and redirection to
youth, but it is more common
for youth today to experience
tough sanctions and adult-type
punishments instead. While
reforms are underway in many
jurisdictions, there remains
an urgent need to reframe
our responses to youth
delinquency.
Sources: Austin, J., Johnson, K. D., & Gregoriou, M. (2000). Juveniles in
Adult Prisons and Jails: A National Assessment. Washington, D.C.: Bureau
of Justice Assistance; Bureau of Justice Statistics Prison and Jail Inmates
at Midyear Series; Bureau of Justice Statistics Prisoner Series. Strom, K. J.
(2000). Profile of State Prisoners under Age 18, 1985-1997. Washington,
D.C.: Bureau of Justice Statistics.
The Sentencing Project • 1705 DeSales Street NW, 8th Floor • Washington, D.C. 20036 • sentencingproject.org
6