From the Sentencing Project (http://www.sentencingproject.org):
This year marks the 50th year since the U.S. prison population began its unprecedented surge, documents a new report by The Sentencing Project. “Mass Incarceration Trends” highlights the growth in state and federal prison populations since the early 1970s, and its far-reaching effect on families, communities, and society as a whole.
Report findings include:
- Nearly two million people are living in prisons and jails instead of their communities. Compare this figure to the early 1970s when this count was 360,000 people.
- Black men are six times as likely to be incarcerated as white men and Latinx men are 2.5 times as likely.
- One in 7 people in prison has a life sentence.
- 4.6 million Americans are barred from voting due to laws restricting this right for those with felony convictions.
The social, moral, and fiscal costs associated with the large-scale, decades-long investment in mass imprisonment cannot be justified by evidence of its effectiveness. Misguided changes in sentencing law and policy – not crime – account for the majority of the increase in correctional supervision.
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