NCJ Number
152587
Date Published
1994
Length
27 pages
Annotation
This report presents the results of a survey of international rates of incarceration for 1992-93.
Abstract
The findings show that Russia has now surpassed the United States to become the world leader in its rate of incarceration, with 558 citizens per 100,000 population in its prison system. The rise of organized crime, political instability, and the transition to an uncertain economic future have all influenced crime rates and the use of imprisonment. With 1.3 million Americans behind bars, the U.S. rate of incarceration is 519 per 100,000, second in the world among the 52 nations covered in this survey. The U.S. rate has increased by 22 percent since 1989, and is generally five to eight times the rate of most industrialized nations. A racial breakdown of the U.S. inmate population shows that African-Americans are incarcerated at a rate that is more than six times that of whites. Black males in the United States are incarcerated at more than four times the rate of black males in South Africa, 3,822 per 100,000 versus 851 per 100,000. The cost of incarceration nationally in the United States is estimated at $26.8 billion annually. Estimated costs of incarceration for African-American males are $11.6 billion annually. The number of African-American males in prisons and jails in the United States (583,000) is greater than the number of African-American males enrolled in higher education. Drug, property, and public order offenders accounted for 84 percent of the 155-percent increase in new court commitments to State prison from 1980 to 1992, and violent offenders accounted for only 16 percent of the increase. 7 tables and 1 figure