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THE SORRY FACTS ON U.S. PRISONS
[From Senator James Webb]
The United States has the highest reported incarceration rate in the
world. While the United States currently incarcerates 750 inmates per
100,000 persons, the world average rate is 166 per 100,000 persons.
Russia, the country with the second highest incarceration rate,
imprisons 624 per 100,000 persons. Although crime rates have decreased
since 1990, the rate of imprisonment has continued to increase.
Growth in the prison population is due to changing policy, not increased
crime. Many criminal justice experts have found that the increase in
the incarceration rate is the product of changes in penal policy and
practice, not changes in crime rates. Changes in sentencing, both in
terms of time served and the range of offenses meriting incarceration,
underlie the growth in the prison population.
Changes in drug policy have had the single greatest impact on criminal
justice policy. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 created mandatory
minimum sentences for possession of specific amounts of cocaine. The Act
instituted a 100-to-1 differential in the treatment of powder and crack
cocaine, treating possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine the same as
possession of 500 grams of powder cocaine. Crack cocaine is typically
consumed by the poor, while powder cocaine, a significantly more
expensive drug, is consumed by wealthier users. Mandatory minimum
sentences for low-level crack-cocaine users are comparable (and harsher
in certain cases) to sentences for major drug dealers.
The composition of prison admissions has also shifted toward less
serious offenses, characterized by parole violations and drug offenses.
In 2005, four out of five drug arrests were for possession and one out
of five were for sales. The crime history for three-quarters of drug
offenders in state prisons involved non-violent or drug offenses.
The prison system has a disproportionate impact on minority communities.
African Americans, who make-up 12.4 percent of the population, represent
more than half of all prison inmates, compared to one-third twenty years
ago. Although African Americans constitute 14 percent of regular drug
users, they are 37 percent of those arrested for drug offenses, and 56
percent of persons in state prisons for drug crimes. African Americans
serve nearly as much time in federal prisons for drug offenses as whites
do for violent crimes.
The U.S. prison system has enormous economic costs associated with
prison construction and operation, productivity losses, and wage
effects. In 2006, states spent an estimated $2 billion on prison
construction, three times the amount they were spending fifteen years
earlier. The combined expenditures of local governments, state
governments, and the federal government for law enforcement and
corrections total over $200 billion annually. In addition to these
costs, the incarceration rate has significant costs associated with the
productivity of both prisoners and ex-offenders. The economic output of
prisoners is mostly lost to society while they are imprisoned. Negative
productivity effects continue after release. This wage penalty grows
with time, as previous imprisonment can reduce the wage growth of young
men by some 30 percent.
Prisons are housing many of the nation's mentally ill. Prisons are
absorbing the cost of housing the nation's mentally ill. The number of
mentally ill in prison is nearly five times the number in inpatient
mental hospitals. Large numbers of mentally ill inmates, as well as
inmates with HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis also raise serious
questions regarding the costs and distribution of health care resources.
The United States faces enormous problems of offender reentry and
recidivism. The number of ex-offenders reentering their communities has
increased fourfold in the past two decades. On average, however, two out
of every three released prisoners will be rearrested and one in two will
return to prison within three years of release.
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MYSTERY DEATH OF U.S. SOLDIER IN AFGHANISTAN
AP - Exactly how Ciara Durkin died remains a mystery. The Army National
Guard soldier from Massachusetts was found dead with a gunshot wound to
the head in Afghanistan last week, and now her family is demanding
answers from the military. Initially the Pentagon reported that Durkin,
part of a finance unit deployed to Afghanistan in November 2006, had
been killed in action, but then revised its statement to read she had
died of injuries "suffered from a non-combat related incident" at Bagram
Airfield. The statement had no specifics and said the circumstances are
under investigation. . .
Adding to the mystery is something the Army Specialist told her family:
if something happened to her in Afghanistan, they should look into it.
She was concerned about things she was seeing over there, one of her
eight brothers and sisters said in an interview. . .
Canavan told the Quincy, Mass. Patriot Ledger that when her sister was
home three weeks ago, she told her about something she had come across
that raised some concern with her: "She was in the finance unit and she
said, 'I discovered some things I don't like and I made some enemies
because of it.'" Canavan revealed that Durkin said if anything happened
to her, to make sure it was investigated.. . .
The family is also wondering whether Durkin's sexual orientation - she
was gay - played a role in her death.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/04/world/main3328739.shtml
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THE SORRY FACTS ON U.S. PRISONS
[From Senator James Webb]
The United States has the highest reported incarceration rate in the
world. While the United States currently incarcerates 750 inmates per
100,000 persons, the world average rate is 166 per 100,000 persons.
Russia, the country with the second highest incarceration rate,
imprisons 624 per 100,000 persons. Although crime rates have decreased
since 1990, the rate of imprisonment has continued to increase.
Growth in the prison population is due to changing policy, not increased
crime. Many criminal justice experts have found that the increase in
the incarceration rate is the product of changes in penal policy and
practice, not changes in crime rates. Changes in sentencing, both in
terms of time served and the range of offenses meriting incarceration,
underlie the growth in the prison population.
Changes in drug policy have had the single greatest impact on criminal
justice policy. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 created mandatory
minimum sentences for possession of specific amounts of cocaine. The Act
instituted a 100-to-1 differential in the treatment of powder and crack
cocaine, treating possession of 5 grams of crack cocaine the same as
possession of 500 grams of powder cocaine. Crack cocaine is typically
consumed by the poor, while powder cocaine, a significantly more
expensive drug, is consumed by wealthier users. Mandatory minimum
sentences for low-level crack-cocaine users are comparable (and harsher
in certain cases) to sentences for major drug dealers.
The composition of prison admissions has also shifted toward less
serious offenses, characterized by parole violations and drug offenses.
In 2005, four out of five drug arrests were for possession and one out
of five were for sales. The crime history for three-quarters of drug
offenders in state prisons involved non-violent or drug offenses.
The prison system has a disproportionate impact on minority communities.
African Americans, who make-up 12.4 percent of the population, represent
more than half of all prison inmates, compared to one-third twenty years
ago. Although African Americans constitute 14 percent of regular drug
users, they are 37 percent of those arrested for drug offenses, and 56
percent of persons in state prisons for drug crimes. African Americans
serve nearly as much time in federal prisons for drug offenses as whites
do for violent crimes.
The U.S. prison system has enormous economic costs associated with
prison construction and operation, productivity losses, and wage
effects. In 2006, states spent an estimated $2 billion on prison
construction, three times the amount they were spending fifteen years
earlier. The combined expenditures of local governments, state
governments, and the federal government for law enforcement and
corrections total over $200 billion annually. In addition to these
costs, the incarceration rate has significant costs associated with the
productivity of both prisoners and ex-offenders. The economic output of
prisoners is mostly lost to society while they are imprisoned. Negative
productivity effects continue after release. This wage penalty grows
with time, as previous imprisonment can reduce the wage growth of young
men by some 30 percent.
Prisons are housing many of the nation's mentally ill. Prisons are
absorbing the cost of housing the nation's mentally ill. The number of
mentally ill in prison is nearly five times the number in inpatient
mental hospitals. Large numbers of mentally ill inmates, as well as
inmates with HIV, tuberculosis, and hepatitis also raise serious
questions regarding the costs and distribution of health care resources.
The United States faces enormous problems of offender reentry and
recidivism. The number of ex-offenders reentering their communities has
increased fourfold in the past two decades. On average, however, two out
of every three released prisoners will be rearrested and one in two will
return to prison within three years of release.
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
MYSTERY DEATH OF U.S. SOLDIER IN AFGHANISTAN
AP - Exactly how Ciara Durkin died remains a mystery. The Army National
Guard soldier from Massachusetts was found dead with a gunshot wound to
the head in Afghanistan last week, and now her family is demanding
answers from the military. Initially the Pentagon reported that Durkin,
part of a finance unit deployed to Afghanistan in November 2006, had
been killed in action, but then revised its statement to read she had
died of injuries "suffered from a non-combat related incident" at Bagram
Airfield. The statement had no specifics and said the circumstances are
under investigation. . .
Adding to the mystery is something the Army Specialist told her family:
if something happened to her in Afghanistan, they should look into it.
She was concerned about things she was seeing over there, one of her
eight brothers and sisters said in an interview. . .
Canavan told the Quincy, Mass. Patriot Ledger that when her sister was
home three weeks ago, she told her about something she had come across
that raised some concern with her: "She was in the finance unit and she
said, 'I discovered some things I don't like and I made some enemies
because of it.'" Canavan revealed that Durkin said if anything happened
to her, to make sure it was investigated.. . .
The family is also wondering whether Durkin's sexual orientation - she
was gay - played a role in her death.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/04/world/main3328739.shtml
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