One in 100 Adult Americans are in Prison

A Pew report released yesterday states that 2,319,258 Americans were in jail or prison at the start of 2008.   That’s slightly more than one out of every 100 adults.

Spending on corrections has risen in the last 20 years from 11 billion dollars per year to 49 billion dollars last year.  According to the report, the rate of increase for corrections spending was six times higher than the rate of increase for spending on higher education.

This is a national scandal.  We now lead the entire world in the number of people incarcerated — regardless of whether one measures our leadership by incarcerations per capita or by absolute numbers.

According to the Pew report, the main reason so many Americans are behind bars is because of “get tough on crime” measures such as “Three strikes laws” that lead to longer prison stays.   I might also speculate that we are sending people to prison who simply do not deserve to be there.  For instance, according to a “Talk of the Town” article in the February 25th New Yorker,  more than 40,000 people are in jail for marijuana offenses.

I’m all in favor of tough sentences for violent criminals but I do not believe tough sentencing should be an often used option for most non-violent criminals.  That’s to say, I would agree to sending a non-violent professional house burglar to prison, but locking up people who’s only offense is to possess pot — or even harder drugs — seems borderline insane.  Perhaps the best way to deal with the drug problem is to medically treat addicts for their addictions rather than to incarcerate them.

At least that’s my thinking on it.  What’s yours?