MASS INCARCERATION IN THE 21 ST CENTURY Jennifer R. Wynn, Ph.D. Recommendations from a 1973 Presidential Advisory Commission on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals: No new institutions for adults should be built and existing institutions for juveniles should be closed because the prison, the reformatory and the jail have achieved only a shocking level of failure Performed catering services for large-scale banquet events (150 people). MASS INCARCERATION With 2.2 million people behind bars (1 out of every 104 adults), the U.S. has the highest rate of incarceration and highest number of prisoners than any other country in the world. 1
We Send More People To Prison For Longer Periods Of Time.. According to a new study by Pew s Public Safety Performance Project, the length of time served in prison has increased markedly over the last two decades. Prisoners released in 2009 served an average of 9 additional months in custody, or 36% longer, than offenders released in 1990. Americans in Prison, Jail, on Probation or Parole In 1980: 1 in every 90 adults was under some form of correctional supervision In 2011: 7.3 million adults (1 in 31) were under some form of correctional supervision (jail, prison, probation or parole) Performed catering services for large-scale banquet events (150 people). Does Prison Make Economic Sense? Public Safety Payoff? 1969 2009 Crime Rate = 3,680 per 100,000 population Crime Rate = 3,667 per 100,000 population Incarceration Rate = 97 per 100,000 Incarceration Rate = 508 per 100,000 2
The Crime Rate is NOT a Function of Incarceration Rate Despite $74 Billion Spent Annually on Corrections, Recidivism Remains Who Goes to Prison? Persistently High Male: 93% Performed More catering than 4 10 services offenders nationwide for large-scale banquet Non-White: events (150 people). 65% return to state prison within 3 years of release despite a massive increase in state spending on prisons, according to a 2011 report (State of Recidivism: The Revolving Door of America s Prisons, Pew Center on the States) The 3-year recidivism rate for inmates released in 1999 was 45.4% and 43.3% for those released in 2004. Under 35: 57% Substance Abuser: 75% High School Drop-Out: 65% Homeless at Time of Arrest: 12% Serious Mental Illness: 20% Prior Felony Offense: 55% Social Demographics of Prisoners Living with children at time of arrest: 45% Annual household income of less than half the poverty line: 67% Raised in single-parent home: 60% Raised in foster home/orphanage: 14% Had a family member behind bars: 50% Extraordinary Racial Disparities Incarceration Rates per 100,000 White males: 456/100,000 Hispanic males: 1,278/100,000 Black males: 3,059/100,000 Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2010 3
Incarceration Rate of Males by Race (BJS, 2010) 1.7 Million Children (1 in 43) Have a Parent in Prison 1.75 % of white children have a parent in prison or jail 3.5% of Latino children 11% of Black children Racial Disparities in Homicide Victimization: Have Black Communities Benefited from Get- Tough Policies? In 2009, blacks represented 13% of the How Did We Get Here? Politicians seized on American s appetite Performed catering services for large-scale banquet for events punishment nation s population, but 47 % of all (150 people). Lawmakers lengthened sentences, created Planned homicide and executed victims. recipes. mandatory minimums, and weakened National homicide rate = 4.76 per judicial discretion 100,000 26 states passed 3-Strikes laws For whites, homicide rate was 2.92. Correction officer unions grew in number For blacks, homicide rate was 17.90 and political influence War on Drugs We Arrest More Users than Dealers 4
We ve spent one trillion dollars on the drug war, yet the retail price of a gram of cocaine is 74% cheaper today than it was 30 years ago. Some of the 25 Countries that have Decriminalized Drug Use Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, The Russian Federation, Spain A Quiet Revolution: Drug Decriminalisation Policies in Practice Across the Globe www.release.org.uk The crime and disorder which flow from hopeless poverty, unloved children, and drug abuse can t be Performed solved catering merely by services bottomless for large-scale banquet events (150 people). Planned prisons, and executed mandatory sentencing recipes. minimums or more police. Former FBI director Louis J. Freeh Percentage of Men Aged 20 to 34 in Prison or Jail, by Race & Education, 1980 & 2008 Source: Becky Pettit, Bryan Sykes, and Bruce Western Harvard University, 2009 U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D-Va.): America s criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace....we need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long and of how we address the longterm consequences of incarceration. William Fisher, U.S. Overflowing Prisons Spur Call for Reform Commission, INTER PRESS SERVICE, May 17, 2010. 5