America’s Incarcerated Population, Bigger Than Any Other Nation’s, Grew Even More Last Year
Bread for the World / CC BY-ND 2.0
A new report from the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that America’s incarcerated population — already the largest in the world — grew by 1,900 people during 2015, “reversing a 5-year decline since 2008.”
Zaid Jilani reports at The Intercept:
It’s not all bad news, though. The researchers also report that there was a decrease in overall adults supervised by the correctional systems — meaning included in community supervision or parole. In 2014, there were “about 52,200 fewer offenders than at yearend 2013.”
Their report found that just seven jurisdictions “accounted for almost half of the U.S. correctional population at yearend 2014,” with Texas topping the list with 699,300 offenders. Overall, “about 1 in 36 adults in the United States was under some form of correctional supervision at yearend 2014.”
Read more here.
— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
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