Pubdate: Fri, 29 Feb 2008
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Copyright: 2008 The Vancouver Sun
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: James Vicini, Reuters
Note: Access the report at 
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_detail.aspx?id=35904
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?159 (Drug Courts)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?247 (Crime Policy - United States)

MORE AMERICANS BEHIND BARS THAN EVER

A Report Finds One In 100 U.S. Adults Is In Custody, Highest Ratio In World

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The United States incarcerates more people 
than any other country in the world and for the first time in the 
nation's history, more than one in every 100 American adults is 
confined in a prison or jail, according to a report released Thursday.

The report by the Pew Center on the States said the American penal 
system held more than 2.3 million adults at the start of the year.

The far more populous nation of China ranked second with 1.5 million 
behind bars, with Russia a distant third with 890,000. The U.S. 
figure is about seven times that for Canada.

"Beyond the sheer number of inmates, America also is the global 
leader in the rate at which it incarcerates its citizenry, outpacing 
nations like South Africa and Iran," according to the report.

Tough sentencing laws, record numbers of drug offenders and high 
crime rates have contributed to the United States having the largest 
prison population and the highest rate of incarceration in the world, 
criminal justice experts say.

The latest report tracked similar findings on the U.S. prison 
population by the Justice Department and various private groups. A 
report in November by a criminal justice research group found the 
number of people in U.S. prison had risen eight-fold since 1970.

The new report said that the national prison population has nearly 
tripled between 1987 and 2007.

"The number of people behind bars in the United States continued to 
climb in 2007, saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they 
can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on 
recidivism or overall crime," it said.

States last year spent more than $44 billion on corrections, the 
report said, six times more than they spent for higher education.

The report said the current prison growth has not been driven mainly 
by a parallel increase in crime or a corresponding surge in the 
nation's population.

"Rather, it flows principally from a wave of policy choices that are 
sending more lawbreakers to prison and, through the popular 
'three-strikes' measures and other sentencing enhancements, keeping 
them there longer," it said.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom