One thing that seemed to come out of it is that we are putting too
many people in prisons for too many reasons and at the rate we are
going, the cost will be prohibitive. We need to find alternatives.
Here are a few figures:
On the average, the Nation's incarcerated population grew by 7.8%
each year since 1985. During this period the state and federal
prison population grew by 8.2% annually, while the local jail
population increased by 6.9% each year.
At yearend 1985, l in every 319 US residents were incarcerated; by
midyear 1996, that rate grew to 1 in every 163.
Since 1990 correctional authorities have had to find beds for an
additional 482,238 inmates or about 1,700 new inmates each week.
During 1996 the number of female prisoners rose by 9.1%, nearly
double the increase of male prisoners (4.7%). At year end, 74,730
women were in State and Federal prisons--6.3% of inmates.
On December 31, l996, state prisons were operating at between 16% and
24% above capacity, while Federal prisons were operating at 25 % over
capacity.
We are putting more people in jail and keeping them there longer.
More prisoners are women or elderly and have drug problems, AIDS, or
other chronic health conditions. This means that the cost of running
prisons is bound to increase, even if we slow down on the number we
put in jail. Offenders who are in prison for drug-related crimes are
more likely to have serious health problems.
A major theme that came out of the forum was that we need to work
harder at rehabilitation and trying to prevent crime and people from
becoming criminals before incarceration becomes necessary. There's
no easy answer.
Anyone who has further interest in this topic will find an excellent
source at <http://sun.soci.niu.edu/~critcrim/> on the web.
Bert Cross
1448 Borah Ave.
Moscow, ID 83843
Phone: (208) 882-7660
email: bcross@uidaho.edu
Bert Cross
1448 Borah Ave.
Moscow, ID 83843
Phone: (208) 882-7660
email: bcross@uidaho.edu