Saturday, December 17, 2011
The U.S. prison population, the world’s largest, got a little smaller last year, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The total number of inmates in U.S. prisons from 2009 to 2010 decreased by 9,228, the first such decline since 1972.
Federal correctional facilities had 1,653 fewer prisoners, while state prisons saw their collective total fall by 10,881. Half of the states reported decreases in their prison populations, with the largest drops by percentage occurring in Rhode Island (down 8.6%) and Georgia (down 7.9%).
According to the report, “About half (51%) of federal inmates in 2010 were serving time for drug offenses, 35% for public-order offenses (largely weapons and immigration), and less than 10% each for violent and property offenses.”
A total of 1,605,127 people were in state or federal custody, 93% of whom were men.
-Noel Brinkerhoff, David Wallechinsky
Prisoners in 2010 (Paul Guerino, Paige Harrison, and William Sabol, Bureau of Justice Statistics) (pdf)
Sentencing Reform Reduces Prison Population without Increasing Crime (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
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