State prison populations: trends and demographic analysis

Causes of Increases in Prison Populations

The United States has experienced an unprecedented increase in prison populations over the last decade, a trend that began in the 1980's. In just seven years during the last decade, prison populations rose by 58% -- from 1,726.000 to 1.1 million (SW, 1998). 1997 alone showed an increase of over 5% (SW, 1998).

Three factors play heavily into these facts: the war on drugs, longer sentences, and mandatory laws at the federal level and in many states requiring sterner sentences for repeat offenders. These changes in our approach to criminal prosecution have resulted in two significant changes in our prison system: a change in racial balance, and a prison population that now contains significantly more older prisoners than before these changes occurred.

Roach (2002) reported on years of research done by Angela Davis and others. He found persuasive evidence that Blacks receive harsher treatment from the United States Legal system than Whites, but that this does not account for all of the increase in Black populations in prisons. Black criminals actually commit more violent crimes in proportion to their population than others (Roach, 2002), so this does not represent bias. However, bias is very clear when drug offenses are examined: Blacks commit 13% of substance abuse violations, but make up 74% of those arrested under those laws.

Statistics from the Bureau of Justice Statistics support Roach's conclusion. They found that Black men were imprisoned at the rate of about 3.1 per 100,000, eight times the rate for white men. While Blacks are clearly a minority in the United States population, nevertheless, by 1996 there were 526,000 Black men in prisons compared to 510,900 White (SW, 1998). This difference was especially significant among younger incarcerated adults. Over 8% of all Black men aged 25-29 were in prison. This compared to about 2 1/2% for Hispanics and less than 1% for Whites (SW, 1998). The increase in people of color behind bars has had a long and steady rise: in 1980, 54% of those in prison were people of color, but by 2000 it had risen to 66%, although they make up only 30% of the population (Roach, 2002).

The issue of an aging prison population is related to the war on drugs because those who commit drug-related crimes tend to be repeat offenders. Pairing the war on drugs with the passage of aggressive laws requiring mandatory minimum sentences and severe penalties for repeat offenders (often called "three-strike laws," because the offender receives the markedly longer sentence after convicted for the third time) has resulted in both first offenders and repeat offenders spending longer periods of time in prison.

Federal judges as well as state judges in states with such laws find their sentencing options severely limited. Often the mandatory sentence for third-time offenders is 25 years to life, (Roach, 2002) even when the third offense is relatively mild. In the early 1990s, the federal government and 23 states boosted the mandatory-minimum sentencing idea to another level, by passing "three strikes" laws mandating prison sentences of 25 years to life for third felonies (Roach, 2002) Therefore, they are not over-represented for that type of crime. Convictions for drug-related offenses show a different pattern where Blacks are disproportionately convicted and incarcerated. Roach attributes this to over-emphasis on surveillance of minority communities for drug-related crimes (Roach, 2002).

Longer sentences are another cause of the increase in older prisoners. The effects of these changes in prosecution and sentencing have been noted by multiple states: Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina and Illinois all report a growing population of older prisoners (Brown, 2002). IN Pennsylvania, the number of prisoners over the age of 55 has risen 62% over the last decade (Brown, 2002). States such as Ohio, North Carolina and Illinois also have aging prison populations: in Ohio, 5% of the current prison population is 55 years or older, almost double what it was 10 years ago (Brown, 2002).

Imprisonment isn't the only place where numbers have jumped. In 1990, about 275,000 ex-prisoners were out on parole. By 2000, that number had jumped to about 4 million (USDJ, 2002) - a 50% increase in ten years. In spite of parole rates, the result of our increased rate of incarceration is that the United States has the dubious distinction of having the highest percentage of our population in prison: 702 per 1,000 people (Roach, 2002).