A remarkable visual tool created by The Sentencing Project shows key developments in the criminal justice system going back to 1925. However, most information found in the factsheet’s colorful charts and graphs contain data that is more recent.
Those interested in finding out which states have the highest, and lowest, incarceration rates, or the likelihood of imprisonment based on race, for example, can find such information at their fingertips in this highly informative compilation of facts on key issues.
Highlights of Trends in U.S. Corrections include:
The rate of incarceration from 1925 to 2010 rose from under 200,000 to 1,600,000
Fifty-one percent of federal inmate are incarcerated for a drug offense, compared to 17.8 percent of state inmates
The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, exceeding Rwanda, Russia and China, countries known for their poor criminal justice policies
The risk of being incarcerated in one’s lifetime is one in nine for American males, with that risk rising dramatically to one in three for Black males, and one in eighteen for Black females
Louisiana has the highest rate of inmates at 867 per 100,000, while New Hampshire has the least, with 209 per 100,000
Oklahoma has the highest incarceration rate of females with 130 per 100,000. The national average for incarcerated women is 47 per 100,000
The number of inmates serving a sentence of life without parole skyrocketed from 12,453 twenty years ago to 41,095 in 200
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While the number of juveniles held in adult facilities has fallen since its peak of over 14,000 in 1998, the number is still alarmingly high with close to 10,000 juveniles housed in adult jails and prisons in 2010
Source: The Sentencing Project
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