Report - Tracking the Size of America's Justice System
Prison population lowered in recent years, still well above historical levels
A recent report from the Council on Criminal Justice tracking the size of America's prison population makes note that incarceration rates in recent years have declined, though still remain well above historical rates, especially when compared to the 1960's and 1970's.
The nation’s incarceration rate peaked at 1,000 inmates per 100,000 adults during the three-year period between 2006 and 2008, declining steadily since then. The number of prison and jail inmates in the U.S. has also decreased in recent years, though not as sharply as the incarceration rate, which takes population change into account.
The coronavirus pandemic certainly contributed to the decline at the start of this decade. Additionally, violent and property crime rates have declined sharply in recent decades. As crime has declined, so have arrests: The nationwide arrest rate has fallen steadily over the long term.
Changes in criminal laws, as well as prosecution and judicial sentencing patterns, also likely play a role in the declining incarceration rate and number of people behind bars. In late 2018, for example, then President Donald Trump signed a law aimed at reducing the federal prison population, the First Step Act. In its first year, the law led to shorter sentences for thousands of federal offenders and earlier release dates for many others, according to a 2020 report from the U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Despite these downward trends, the U.S. still has the highest incarceration rate in the world, according to the World Prison Brief, a database maintained by the Institute for Crime & Justice Policy Research at the University of London. The database compares incarceration rates across more than 200 countries and territories using publicly available data for each jurisdiction.
In addition to its high rate of incarceration, the U.S. also has the largest overall number of people behind bars. With more than 2 million jail and prison inmates, the U.S.’s total incarcerated population is significantly greater than that of China (approximately 1.7 million) and Brazil (about 760,000), though data limitations in China and other countries make direct comparisons with the U.S. difficult.
Read the dull report; "The Footprint - Tracking the Size of America's Criminal Justice System."
