Record-High Ratio of Americans in Prison
More than one in 100 adult Americans is in jail or prison, an all-time high that is costing state governments nearly $50 billion a year, in addition to more than $5 billion spent by the federal government... With more than 2.3 million people behind bars at the start of 2008, the United States leads the world in both the number and the percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving even far more populous China a distant second, noted the report by the nonpartisan Pew Center on the States.
The ballooning prison population is largely the result of tougher state and federal sentencing imposed since the mid-1980s. Minorities have been hit particularly hard: One in nine black men age 20 to 34 is behind bars...
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3 comments:
Why do so many Americans hate Americans? Also congrats to Fung on being part of the 8 out 9 black males between 20-34 who have not been caught.
At least we're beating the Chinese in something...
in related news...
News Item: "Immigrants, including both legal and illegal immigrants, are far less likely than the average U.S. citizen to commit serious crime, according to a California report . . ."
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