Americans in Jail and Prison—More Americans are Locked Up than in Any Country-Drugs, Jail and Health
Posted: Thursday, April 21, 2011
by Steve Kovacs
The Kovacs Perspective
This quarter I am teaching a college course entitled, Introduction to Corrections. When teaching, we use the latest textbooks, which is a great way to keep up on the latest research and findings in our fields, which for me are criminal justice, security, and investigation. The first thing I taught to my new Corrections class was about the United States having the highest reported incarceration rate in the world and the reasons why. There are interesting dynamics to this whole area and I’ll share some of these facts with you here. But before talking about the specifics of America’s lock-up rate, it must be mentioned that serious crime has consistently declined in the U.S. throughout the 1990’s and continuing into the 21st century. Crime rates are about 20 % lower today than in 1980. Now let’s talk about our off the charts incarceration rates using statistics:
The reasons:
Source: Corrections in the 21st Century, Fifth Edition, 2011--Frank Schmalleger, John Ortiz Smykla--2011
- The U.S. has about 5 percent of the worlds population and it holds almost 25 percent of the worlds reported prisoners (some countries do not report their incarceration rates).
- The U.S. rate of incarceration is currently around 756 inmates per every 100,000 residents. That rate is about five times the worldwide rate of 158 per 100,000 residents.
The reasons:
- Get tough-laws
- The war on drugs
- Reluctance to release inmates early (lawsuits, public outcry)
- More inmates under control of the system causes more supervision violations (parole and probation violations) and thus more inmates are sentenced or returned to prison. Note: Probation is up almost 300% since 1980.
Source: Corrections in the 21st Century, Fifth Edition, 2011--Frank Schmalleger, John Ortiz Smykla--2011
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Top-level comments on this article: (3 total)Interesting statistics you share here Steve.Yes Dave they are eye opening and kinda shocking.
Thanks, Steve
A very wise man once wrote this article!;-) I'm going to take my stab in the dark here and suggest what might help is to use the last 2 or 3 years of high school education for those not interested in higher learning, have that money go towards vocational training so at least they'll have an honest way to make a living and the training necessary to participate in a professional position, helping both their confidence and therefore their relevancy to their communities, which might help stem the tide of rebels without a cause that so frequently wind up entangled in our penal system...oh, along with your excellent suggestion by the way.:-)I think you were the one I got the idea from regarding considering the drug problem as a medical issue. It is the best solution I have come across and again, I think that came from you. Good idea regarding targeted vocational training too I think, but what do we train them in--what is paying decent now? I think we have to get manufacturing back. Also, when you call a service center, we often connect to another country--our people can't offer service for American Express or some other company? Fundamental changes need to be initiated and I don't see any politician on the horizon that has serious core changes in these areas planned or the ability to make them work. Never know someone may show up on a white horse and save the day...at least save the day for lots of people without much hope.
Thanks sir and I look forward to more of your ideas that may make me a little better and smarter.
Steve
I've noticed more and more people going to prison indeed. And you know what's sad? That I see all of the truly dangerous people running loose while other people are put in prison for something they didn't do, or some silly law that makes no sense, or a small amount of marijuana.
Do you know how many child molesters, and rapists I know for a fact live in my town? Way more than one. The police don't care. They bust people for the smallest amount of marijuana, but when a man goes around raping children (everyone knows he's doing it here, some even make jokes about him) he doesn't even get arrested. He's still not in jail and he's preying on the little girls here. People have reported it, but the police say there is no proof, etc. He's not the only one, this town is full of people like that. But you know what is scary? Our cops are doing the same thing.
Great article, Steve, thank you for sharing!Hi Sydney,
If you think the cops are dropping the ball call the news media--local TV is good if you don't have a great newspaper. Where I'm from--starting about 3 years ago, our local newspaper became unbiased and goes for the truth no matter what and has been in the forefront of busting dirty politicians and dirty law enforcement...let the media know whenever you feel the powers that be are doing wrong. Investigative reporters are doing great jobs in many places.Thanks for writing and my best to you...
Steve
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