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.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom