Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 2, 1994 TAG: 9406020069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
In a report Wednesday on inmate populations at the end of 1993, the Justice Department said the incarceration rate for prisoners sentenced to more than a year also set a record- 351 per 100,000 residents.
For several years, the United States has been locking up a larger portion of its people than any other nation. In 1992, 455 out of every 100,000 Americans were in prison or jail; South Africa under its old government was next, at 311 per 100,000.
"Inmate populations have quadrupled in 20 years, but I don't know anyone now who feels safer than 20 years ago," said Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project.
"The politics of the crime bill shows the data don't have much impact on the debate," said Mauer, whose foundation-supported group advocates alternatives to imprisonment.
House and Senate crime bills, now headed for compromise negotiations, would stiffen the penalties for dozens of crimes and provide billions of additional dollars for prison construction.
The war on drugs produced stiffer federal and state sentences for drug and violent crimes.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics attributed half the growth from 1980's total population of 329,821 to increases in the number of drug criminals entering prison.
Other findings from the report:
The federal prison system is 36 percent over capacity, and state systems operate at between 18 percent and 29 percent over capacity.
The highest incarceration rates were for black males, 2,678 per 100,000, compared with 372 for white males, 143 for black females and 20 for white females.
by CNB