Headline of the Week Weak
Filed under: Headline of the Week
"More than 1 in every 100 Americans now behind bars"
It's not just Paris, Lindsay and Nicole! CLICK HERE to read the shocking article accompanying this headline.
More than 1 in every 100 Americans now behind bars
For the first time in history, more than one in every 100 American adults is in jail or prison, according to a new report tracking the surge in inmate population and urging states to rein in corrections costs with alternative sentencing programs.
The report, released today by the Pew Center on the States, said the 50 states spent more than $49 billion on corrections last year, up from less than $11 billion 20 years earlier. The rate of increase for prison costs was six times greater than for higher education spending, the report said.
Using updated state-by-state data, the report said 2,319,258 adults were held in U.S. prisons or jails at the start of 2008 — one out of every 99.1 adults, and more than any other country in the world.
The steadily growing inmate population "is saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime," said the report.
Susan Urahn, managing director of the Pew Center on the States, said budget woes are prompting officials in many states to consider new, cost-saving corrections policies that might have been shunned in the recent past for fear of appearing soft in crime.
"We're seeing more and more states being creative because of tight budgets," she said in an interview. "They want to be tough on crime, they want to be a law-and-order state — but they also want to save money, and they want to be effective."
The report cited Kansas and Texas as states which have acted decisively to slow the growth of their inmate population. Their actions include greater use of community supervision for low-risk offenders and employing sanctions other than reimprisonment for ex-offenders who commit technical violations of parole and probation rules.
"The new approach, born of bipartisan leadership, is allowing the two states to ensure they have enough prison beds for violent offenders while helping less dangerous lawbreakers become productive, taxpaying citizens," the report said.
While many state governments have shown bipartisan interest in curbing prison growth, there also are persistent calls to proceed cautiously.
"We need to be smarter," said David Muhlhausen, a criminal justice expert with the conservative Heritage Foundation. "We're not incarcerating all the people who commit serious crimes — but we're also probably incarcerating people who don't need to be."
According to the report, the inmate population increased last year in 36 states and the federal prison system.
The largest percentage increase — 12 percent — was in Kentucky, where Gov. Steve Beshear highlighted the cost of corrections in his budget speech last month. He noted that the state's crime rate had increased only about 3 percent in the past 30 years, while the state's inmate population has increased by 600 percent.
The Pew report was compiled by the Center on the State's Public Safety Performance Project, which is working directly with 13 states on developing programs to divert offenders from prison without jeopardizing public safety.
"For all the money spent on corrections today, there hasn't been a clear and convincing return for public safety," said the project's director, Adam Gelb. "More and more states are beginning to rethink their reliance on prisons for lower-level offenders and finding strategies that are tough on crime without being so tough on taxpayers."
The report said prison growth and higher incarceration rates do not reflect a parallel increase in crime or in the nation's overall population. Instead, it said, more people are behind bars mainly because of tough sentencing measures, such as "three-strikes" laws, that result in longer prison stays.
"For some groups, the incarceration numbers are especially startling," the report said. "While one in 30 men between the ages of 20 and 34 is behind bars, for black males in that age group the figure is one in nine."
The nationwide figures, as of Jan. 1, include 1,596,127 people in state and federal prisons and 723,131 in local jails — a total 2,319,258 out of almost 230 million American adults.
The report said the United States is the world's incarceration leader, far ahead of more populous China with 1.5 million people behind bars. It said the U.S. also is the leader in inmates per capita (750 per 100,000 people), ahead of Russia (628 per 100,000) and other former Soviet bloc nations which make up the rest of the Top 10.
Re: Claire – since when was someone breaking the law a civil rights abuse? Pull your head out of your ass.
Re: M – uhhh…why should someone who flouted societies laws be accepted back with open arms with fulls rights and privileges immediately? Oh and once you do get out, you can get your record expunged and regain your voting PRIVILEGES after a certain number of years, they aren't gone and lost forever.
As far as the tougher to get a job thing, well…a thief probably shouldn't be hired at a retail store until he/she gets their record expunged, no? It's not an automatic deal breaker in many cases (and it's illegal to make it one in cases where it's not a real threat to business like an office setting)
Oh and minus the illegals in jail from the population and you'll see about a 20% reduction in those numbers.
Why does no one talk about Lohan's face looking even more screwed up lately???
mmmm k
Re: kkk 4 life – CURSE YOU AND MAY ALL HARM COME TO YOU FOR HATING
Re: Bateman – YOU STUPID DEVIL-SO DECEIVED YOU ARE, YOU DONT EVEN KNOW WHATS GOING ON WITH THE WORLD AND WHATS HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCENES-AND IM NOT GOING TO TELL YOU. LET THE IGNORANT REMAIN IGNORANT AND THE BY THE WAY CURSE YOU AND DIE SOONER. THANKS
Thats interesting.
Here is a better one.
4 out of 7 Blacks are in Jail.
5 out of 11 Mexicans are in jail.
Where is the KKK when you need them?
paris hilton is such a trendsetter!
how many of these people are illegal imigrants? A LOT! Stop the american invasion!!!! they are ruining our country!
This is just another example that there is something seriously wrong with the way we are running our country.
THIS IS BEC. AMERICAN'S BECAME IDIOTS AND MEAN!
OTHER COUNTRIES USED TO LOOK UP TO AMERICA.
NOW, OTHER COUNTRIES ARE ASHAMED WE SHARE THIS PLANET WITH THESE DUMBASSES!
AMERICAN'S ARE MEAN SPIRITED. THEY BASH THEIR OWN, WHAT CAN U EXPECT? IT'S TIME TO WAKE UP SCALY SKINNED WHITE ASSES!
2.3million is 76% of New Zealand's population
Re: jamez – hahha, stop trying to blame americas problems on other races. ADMIT IT YOU AMERICANS ARE STUPID AND DON'T EVER WANT TO BE PROVED WRONG
is that supposed to be lindsay? it doesnt look like her too much. other wax figures look a lot better than that
Why, don't you think that drug abusers are not dangerous to their children, wifes, etc. Government don't want to pay for their treatment, as well.
Drug abusers beat their relatives, steal and so on. They are dangerous and whose gonna stop them?
One major problem, LEGALIZE MARIJUANA!!!!!!!! On a recent trip to California, I almost tried to find Perez @ the Coffee Bean, we simply were just too busy running around and seeing the sights, I found out that prescription marijuana is not only legal, but fairly easy to get…..think anxiety, etc. Now, as a person who used to smoke very regularly, I do not anymore, but I do have acid reflux. When I am having a few drinks, usually beer, I find that a simple small one hit, helps tremendously, and allows me to continue hanging into the evening without running home, and laying in a curled up baby position. Point being, I have heard that many people suffering from various disease's, and pain, benefit greatly from the relief of using marijuana. I honestly guess I am way out of the loop, because I never even knew that it was legalized, it feels as though it was kinda under the radar. Well, if Cali can do it, what about the rest of the good ol USA?
I think not only would the crime rate go down, but we do not have to give our hard earned tax dollars to pay for people who have been convicted of weed possesion, or distribution, etc. While, I strongly advise against allowing it legal for everyone, especially minor's, I think the subject holds some weight, and would be a major improvement in our system.
Thanks, and talk amongst yourselves, lol!!!
Just wait till it's one in fifty.
Maybe now people will vote for candidates who are for prison reform. And for those of you who don't give a shit about this kind of stuff well you never know when it's going to be you who is receiving a prison sentence from a judge with all the corrupt cops out there and the public defenders who are one promotion away from being D.A.'s
I read in a Readers digest that 12% ( a few years ago) of the US population were black and that 40% of 12% have been or ARE in prison bat as we all know it's because they were slaves 400 years ago thats why they are mostly criminals and it's my fault. Guess what…I NEVER owned a slave nor did my mom …grandmother…great grandmother etc…so i don't own ANYONE shit!!! Stop killing each other and in general fucking whining about being black..NOT African American…I used to live in Africa and my friends you AIN'T Africans. They were some of the hardest working and nicest people I ever met. Africans have pride learn that if you want to be like them.
Re: PrettyBaby76 –
Pretty Baby, you might want to check your statistics. The U.S. actually has much lower crime rate than those other countries you are talking about. Probably because we put the criminals in Jail.
AMERICA LISTEN!!!! This is DISGUSTING! WE are AMERICA! WE should be determining these incarceration rates and not turning this over to whomever we think is "better " than ourselves. 1 in 100 people? wtf that's better odds than the lottery this is GEORGE BUSH'S legacy FIGHT THE POWER
the WAR ON DRUGS IS LOSING!!!!
most are in for bullshit drug charges and probations violations, once someone is in the system it's ahrd for them to get jobs so thye turn back to crime, also, they don't get proper treatment in jail, they just warehoused. People getting `10 years for weed people getting 30 for selling rock. bullshiy
Ticketing, fines, and in some states imprisonment are run as for-profit ventures for the state. Why o you think police have quotas for busts? Because the busts create incoming revenue for the state, whether it's parking tickets, drunk driving fines, or worse. Now, too, some states have found a way to run prisons as break-even institutions and are working towards for-profit prisons. Did you know that inmates in the state of California are "privileged" enough to be allowed to work for certain corporations at discount wages to the corporation(i.e., slavery) with corporate "sponsorship" being provided to the prison? Consider too the prison banking and canteen system. Prisoners can only spend money held by the prison at the prison canteen. Esentially, prisons are banks to prisoners, and they have a genuinely cornered market. Do you think they invest the money they hold for the prisoners? I bet they do.
Add to that a highly organized, extremely vocal prison workforce. Take a look at the benefits package and retirement pensions of prison workers–some of the best in the country. It is absolutely in their interests to grow prisons and grow prison budgets. Of course, it's not all the state's fault. I have a friend whose brother is a mess. He's a Cali gangster from a family of gangsters. The entire family history includes going to prison, and everyone just accepts that. I don't know how you fix generations of institutionalization, absence, and violence.
and you know what's worse? your country has built many more "super jails" that are sitting empty…what are they waiting for, kids?…
Because america is a shit hole full of thick inbreds.
FINALLY, theres some debate here between the bright young stars who r interested in not only their wallet makeup mags and mirror!!GO USA!!!.I live in Holaand Europe where qwe dont punish people enough and I can tell you we r being subdued by the immigrants streaming in and killing and robbin this great little nation to shame,so please continue sentence folks heavily,cos if ya dont..oh boy…except drugs ofcourse,we can smoke here and buy our drugs in coffeshops and theres no problems actually,more with bingedrinkin 14year old sobs with attitude and rich single mam households.get high and get down!!
Re: Bateman –
Please don't even take it there. There are more black men in college than there are in prison. Google it.
Re: Bateman –
Please don't even take it there. There are more black men in college than there are in prison. Google it. Not to mention, that cops have a racial prejudice. I was headed to work one evening, wearing a suit, walking with two other well-dressed black men, and we got stopped and searched. Why, you ask? I don't know and they sure in the heck didn't say when I asked. Except that we were "suspicious characters". No crimes had been commited in that area though– I checked. So how am I, a 5 ft 4 black girl that's well dressed suspicious?
Thats why they should stop putting people in prison for petty crimes, such as marijuana use and/or possession. War on Drugs? What a waste of millions of dollars! Our country needs to learn how to take some hints from our friends overseas.
Re: oh my eyes – I"ll ready this damn article. Its good to hear NEWS not celebrity GOSSIP all the time. THANK YOU PEREZ FOR PUTTING THIS ON YOUR WEBSITE. ITS REFRESHING! This is a HUGE problem in America. Wish the Government would do somehting about it…
This is so ridiculous. Imagine incarcerating people for silly things like drugs or drunk driving so that politicians look "tough"…Even worse are the stats for young AfAm males, its a setup for racism and abuse
I have to say that I think that we should make the jail system harder. They used to have "the chain-gang" type imprisonment. People who did wrong weren't kept inside with A/C and cable T.V. with three warm meals a day and free health care and education. I mean, if it was like it used to be back in the day….maybe everyone would walk a little straighter line. I have actually heard stories of homeless people going to intentionally commit crimes just to have a place to sleep and food to eat. Make jail a place that people don't wanna go to!!! And in my personal opinion….I am tired of seeing our young, bright soldiers risking there lives in our war just because they want to provide themselves with a better future by getting education benefits from being in the military. I say we send some of these murders and rapists over there…make them earn their keep!!
If the drug laws would change there would be a lot less people in prison. However, I would like to address the issue that you all keep letting people make comments like #23 on this your website. Every time I read the comments its always someone on hear using the N word and you never try to sensor those type of comments. It is amazing that you keep allowing those type of statements on your website. I for one will stop coming on here if you don't feel the need for all of your readers to be respected. I never see a racial slur for any other race nor do you allow homosexual bashing on here. Yet it never fails that there is someone on here calling someone the N word. With America potentialy at a place where we could have the First African American national candidate isn't it time your website did a better job screening what is being said!
What is Lindsay Lohan's wax figure doing wearing Paris Hilton's clothes?
jail rox alright. it will rox your ass wide open.
she looks like a man
TLDR
#24 Jen said "Please continue to post "smart" news stories amongst the celebrity dirt. Hopefully, a few of them will take time to look at the bigger picture in the world"
I say ditto!
Re: oh my eyes – Me.
Re: Pookie –
Dear Pookie,
It's your own fault. Only white trash take their baby daddies to court. Everyone else works it out without the government's involvement. Sadly, you breeded.
Love,
People Who Have Self Respect and Don't Rely on Men to Support Them
iz dat Ali Lohan or Lindsay Lohan b/c idk on who it iz ?! will some1 tell me!!!!
wow this is retarded.
i'm glad jen spoke up and started some discussion, i was getting the same feeling.
Come on Perez, now that you have a HUGE audience. Try twisting it a little. You have the ability to show news like this. You got to realize your power right now. You should have some kind of standard, like 2 solid news for every 3 popstar blubs… that would be significant, and you'll probably reach a lot of people who will see this side to you and respect you that much more because we all know you started from scratch. Good luck. Please keep this up.
This doesn't surprise me. You can be locked up for just about anything here.