[LINK] One in a hundred US adults are in prison (o/t .. again)

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

On 30 June 2007 there were 27,224 Australian prisoners, one person in 770. 
<www.abs.gov.au> Let's hope we never achieve American grey-bar-hotel rates 

One in One Hundred U.S. Adults Behind Bars, New Study 
By ADAM LIPTAK, February 28th, 2008 <www.nytimes.com>

For the first time in U.S. history, more than one in 100 American adults 
is behind bars, according to a new report <www.pewcenteronthestates.org>

Nationwide, the prison population grew by 25,000 last year, bringing it to
almost 1.6 million. Another 723,000 people are in local jails. The number
of American adults is about 230 million, meaning that one in every 99.1
adults is behind bars.

Incarceration rates are even higher for some groups. One in 36 Hispanic
adults is behind bars, based on Justice Department figures for 2006. One
in 15 black adults is, too, as is one in nine black men between the ages
of 20 and 34. 

The report, from the Pew Center on the States, also found that only one in
355 white women between the ages of 35 and 39 are behind bars but that one
in 100 black women are. 

The report’s methodology differs from that used by the Justice Department,
which calculates the incarceration rate by using the total population
rather than the adult population as the denominator. Using the department’s
methodology, about one in 130 Americans is behind bars. 

Either way, said Susan Urahn, the center’s director, “we aren’t really
getting the return in public safety from this level of incarceration." snip
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