Pubdate: Fri, 28 May 2004 Source: Watertown Daily Times (NY) Copyright: 2004 Watertown Daily Times Contact: http://www.wdt.net Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/792 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/ashcroft.htm (Ashcroft, John) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/prison.htm (Incarceration) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?199 (Mandatory Minimum Sentencing) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/racial.htm (Racial Issues) PRISON POPULATION GROWING Crime Rate Down, But 1 In 75 Incarcerated WASHINGTON (AP) - America's prison population grew by 2.9 percent last year, to almost 2.1 million inmates, with one of every 75 men living in prison or jail. The inmate population continued its rise despite a fall in the crime rate and many states' efforts to reduce some sentences, especially for low-level drug offenders. The report issued Thursday by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics attributes much of the increase to get-tough policies enacted during the 1980s and 90s such as mandatory drug sentences, "three-strikes-and-your out" laws for repeat offenders, and "truth - -in-sentencing laws." That restrict early releases. Whether that's good or bad depends on whom you asked. "The prison system just grows like a weed in the yard," said Vincent Schiraldi, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, which pushes for a more lenient system. But Attorney General John Ashcroft said the report shows the success of efforts to take hard-core criminals of the street. "It is no accident that violent crime is at a 30 year low while prison population is up," Ashcroft said. Violent and recidivist criminals are getting tough sentences while law-abiding Americans are enjoying unprecedented safety. There where 715 inmates for every 100,000 U.S. residents at midyear in 2003, up from 703 a year earlier, the report found. The U.S. incarceration rate tops the world, according to The Sentencing Project, another group that promotes alternatives to prison. That compares with a rate of 169 per 100,000 residents in Mexico, 116 in Canada and 143 for England. In 2003, 68 percent of prison and jail inmates were members of racial or ethnic minorities, the government said. An estimated 12 percent of all black men in their 20s were in jails or prisons, the report said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom