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