U.S. prisonersVS. the rest of the world
Asof June 30, 2008 there were about 2.3million prisoners being held in federal or state prisons or in local jailsin the United States.
· The United States has the largestprison population and the highest rate of incarceration in the world due totoughsentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high crime rates
· According to the drug policy alliance, the UnitedStates has 5% of the world’s population, and 25% of the world’s incarceratedpopulation.
· In 2008 there were an estimated 509 prisoners per 100,000 U.S.citizens
· As of 2006, 7 millionpeople or 1 in every 32 AmericanAdults were either behind bars, on probation, or on parole in the UnitedStates.
· The Criminal Justice Legal Foundation believes thatthe drug offenders, particularly non-violent offenders are clogging our JusticeSystem when in reality our Justice System has much too strict mandatorysentencing laws, resulting in overly large numbers of non-violent offendersbeing sent to jail to serve time.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/prisons.htm
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Prison_System/Prison_System.html
Where are our priorities at?
· According to the Justice Policy Institute, "From 1984 to 1994, California built 21prisons, and only one state university...the prison system realized a 209%increase in funding, compared to a 15% increase in state university funding."
· And "The U.S. has both the largest prisonpopulation and the highest rate of incarceration in the world, including Chinaand Russia. The U.S. incarcerates people at a rate more than 15 times that ofJapan, and its prison population is more than eight times that of Italy,France, the UK, Spain, and Australia combined."
· Finally, the National Criminal Justice Commissionstated in 1996 that, "Increases in prison spending [in the U.S.] averagetwice as high as increases in education spending."
Is there a relationship between race and percentageof jail populations that are white/black/latino?
· At midyear 2008, there were 4,777 black male inmates per 100,000 black males held in state and federalprisons and local jails
o Comparedto 1,760 Hispanic male inmates per100,000 Hispanic males
o And 727white male inmates per 100,000 white males.
· Lifetime chances of a black man going to prison are18.6%
o Hispanics (10%)
o Whites (3.4%)
sparknotes: just some wild stats about how many people our dumbass country puts in jail.
EndFragment
