Chart of the Day: Federal Drug Prisoners
Mark J. Perry
CARPE DIEM
Saturday, July 07, 2012
The chart above shows the breakdown of the current federal inmate population by type of offense, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. There are currently 93,876 Americans serving time in federal prisons for drug crimes, which is by far the No. 1 offense that results in a federal jail sentence (see chart). Drug offenders make up almost half of our federal inmate population, and that help explains why the U.S. retains the status as the World's No.1 Jailer with a prison population of 730 per 100,000 population, more than even any of the world's most notorious and oppressive regimes like Burma (120 per 100,000 population), Cuba (510 per 100,000 population), and Iran (333 per 100,000).
Besides the fact that federal drug prisoners far outnumber any other category of criminal offenders, there is another important characteristic that distinguishes drug offenses from other federal crimes like arson, extortion, robbery, burglary, homicide, and embezzlement - almost all of those other crimes have identifiable victims who have been clearly victimized, e.g. robbed, assaulted, murdered, etc. In contrast, drug offenders were mostly involved in "crimes" that frequently had no identifiable victim, i.e. crimes without a victim, or "victimless crimes." Hopefully, future generations of more enlightened Americans and political leaders will look back on the War on Drugs as a shameful chapter of U.S. history and a blemish on America's long tradition of individual liberty and limited government.
Posted 5:06 PM
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