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Report: 1 in 100 Americans Incarcerated

By FindLaw Staff

One in every 100 adults in the U.S. is serving time in prison or jail, according to a report from the Pew Center on the States. Some key findings from the Pew Public Safety Performance Project report, titled "One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008":

• One in 100 U.S. adults are in prison or jail;
• One in 30 men aged 20-34 are incarcerated;
• One in nine African-American men aged 20-34 are incarcerated;
• One in 53 people in their 20's is incarcerated;
• Men are 10 times as likely to be incarcerated, compared to women.

The New York Times reports that in 2007, "states spent $44 billion in tax dollars on corrections, up from $10.6 billion in 1987," and that in 2005 it cost an average of about $23,876 dollars per year to keep an inmate in jail or prison.

• "Behind Bars in America 2008" [PDF file]
• N.Y. Times: 1 in 100 U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study Says
• Prisoners' Rights (FindLaw)
• Locate an Inmate (FindLaw)

Full post as published by FindLaw's Common Law on February 28, 2008 (boomark / email).