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WASHINGTON, March 15 (UPI) _ For all the
credit being claimed for a falling crime rate, the population of U.S. prisons continues
to grow.
According to a Justice Department report
released Sunday there are 1, 277,866 prisoners in federal and state prisons and 592,462
in city and county jails. The total nearly 1.9 million inmates _ the highest ever
_ represents an increase of 4.4 percent _ more than 75,000 prisoners.
Crime rates, as reported by the government,
have dropped each of the last seven years but the prison population continues to
grow because of longer jail terms handed down by judges. Also contributing is that
the government does not include drug arrests in the national crime statistics, but
drug offenses account for the greatest increase as a cause of incarcerations from
1980-96.
Louisiana, with 709 prisoners for every
100,000 in population, has the highest incarceration rate followed by Texas, Oklahoma,
Mississippi and South Carolina. Minnesota, which has an incarceration rate of 117
prisoners for each 100,000 in general population, was lowest followed by Maine, North
Dakota, Vermont and New Hampshire.
Blacks make up 41.2 percent of the prison
population, compared to 41. 3 percent for whites. However, comparing the overall
U.S. population figures for blacks and whites, the latest figures show that blacks
are six times more likely than white to be imprisoned.
The report, based on a count of inmates
last June 30, was issued by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report says the
percentage of Americans in prisons has doubled since 1985 and the overall figure
of nearly 1.9 million is more than five times the figure of 330,000 for 1972.
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Copyright 1999 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
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