Talk:United States prison population

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I didn't see any statistics for racial breakdown, so here's an (old) ref for those:

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/cpus9802.pdf

Connelly 06:54, 11 Jul 2004 (UTC)

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what is non violent crime?

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It would be good if the crime rates of the various countries could be contrasted with their prisoner rates. -- Zoe

I agree, but that's a major research project, since you'd have to normalize different criminal laws (notably with regard to drugs and consensual sex); find some way to account for under-reporting of crimes; and decide whether crime rate or conviction rate is relevant. Vicki Rosenzweig

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This article [1] claims that there are now 1.3 million prisoners. So I removed the sentence from the article stating that there are 2 million. Was there a source for that claim? Rmhermen 15:38 28 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Well, these are probably different counts. Today's NYT reports a 2.6% increase for 2002: "At the end of 2002, there were 2,166,260 Americans in local jails, state and federal prisons and juvenile detention facilities, the report found." Perhaps local jails and juvenile facilities are not counted in the 1.3 million number. I think they should be counted, because prison is prison -- does it really matter what you call it? —Eloquence 16:01 28 Jul 2003 (UTC)~

Turns out I was the one who put the 2.a million number in the first time. I must have had a reason - so I put it back in. Rmhermen 05:09, 29 Jul 2003 (UTC)

These stats are questionable. We need standardized counts for the different years, i.e. don't mix what is being counted. I've added an accuracy dispute header for the time being.—Eloquence 01:28, 2 Sep 2003 (UTC)

International comparisions, prison and jail.

In short, it's very difficult to compare crime rates between counties, although that will get easier as the European counties standardize record keeping. [ http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/hosb502.pdf International Comparisions of Criminal Justice Statistics, 2000] and see generally [ http://prisonsucks.com/research.shtml#International_Incarceration_Comparisons International Incarceration Comparisons at Prisonsucks.com], of which [ http://www.unicri.it/icvs/publications/pdf_files/key2000i/index.htm Victimisation in Seventeen Industrialised Countries: Key-findings from the 2000 international Crime Victims Survey] is probably the most immediately useful.

In short, jail is for people waiting for trial who can't make bail and those on short sentences. For U.S. national statistical purposes, jail is defined as sentences of a year or less. Practice, though, varies between states. But yes, 1.3million prisoners and 600,000 jail inmates in the U.S. Add in maybe another 100,000 or so juveniles to reach the 2.1million figure. (Does not add due to rounding, etc.) Beyond the prison/jail confusion, often the statistics will exclude the juveniles. Even the Bureau of Justice Statistics stats will tend to use very outdated juvenile numbers.

I'll try and come back soon and help straighten this stuff out, but in the mean time [ http://www.prisonsucks.com Prisonsucks.com] should provide some help.

A lot of stuff merged over. Robneild 18:02, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Factual accuracy

Is there any remaining factual accuracy problem? David.Monniaux 10:10, 13 Mar 2005 (UTC)

This page could be deleted as it has been merged ???? Robneild 12:17, 14 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I've set this as a redirect to Prisons in the United States. -Willmcw 01:34, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)