Most civilized nations do not keep nonviolent criminals in prison. They don't keep mothers of small children in prison unless they are very violent criminals. They do everything they can to keep families intact. They realize that people will leave prison, and try to rehabilitate rather than simply incarcerate. They treat drug addicts instead of criminalizing drug addiction. In Ireland, a lot of criminals go home on Christmas passes. Criminals don't lose the right to vote for life. If you have never lived anywhere else or studied prisons in other countries, America probably seems normal. But it is not.
hrw.org
Incarcerated America
Human Rights Watch Backgrounder
April 2003
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According to the latest statistics from the U.S. Department of Justice, more than two million men and women are now behind bars in the United States.1 The country that holds itself out as the "land of freedom" incarcerates a higher percentage of its people than any other country. The human costs — wasted lives, wrecked families, troubled children — are incalculable, as are the adverse social, economic and political consequences of weakened communities, diminished opportunities for economic mobility, and extensive disenfranchisement.
Contrary to popular perception, violent crime is not responsible for the quadrupling of the incarcerated population in the United States since 1980. In fact, violent crime rates have been relatively constant or declining over the past two decades. The exploding prison population has been propelled by public policy changes that have increased the use of prison sentences as well as the length of time served, e.g. through mandatory minimum sentencing, "three strikes" laws, and reductions in the availability of parole or early release.
Although these policies were championed as protecting the public from serious and violent offenders, they have instead yielded high rates of confinement of nonviolent offenders. Nearly three quarters of new admissions to state prison were convicted of nonviolent crimes.2 Only 49 percent of sentenced state inmates are held for violent offenses.3
Perhaps the single greatest force behind the growth of the prison population has been the national "war on drugs." The number of incarcerated drug offenders has increased twelvefold since 1980. In 2000, 22 percent of those in federal and state prisons were convicted on drug charges.4
Even more troubling than the absolute number of persons in jail or prison is the extent to which those men and women are African-American. Although blacks account for only 12 percent of the U.S. population, 44 percent of all prisoners in the United States are black (Figure 1).
Census data for 2000,which included a count of the number and race of all individuals incarcerated in the United States, reveals the dramatic racial disproportion of the incarcerated population in each state: the proportion of blacks in prison populations exceeds the proportion among state residents in every single state. In twenty states, the percent of blacks incarcerated is at least five times greater than their share of resident population (Figure 2).
1 Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2002," April 6, 2003, available at: ojp.usdoj.gov /abstract/pjim02.htm.
2 See Human Rights Watch, "Punishment and Prejudice," at hrw.org
3 Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Prisoners in 2001," July 2002, p. 12, available at ojp.usdoj.gov bjs/abstract/p01.htm.
4 Ibid.
Figure 1
Race, Population, and Incarceration
U.S. Population by Race
Source: U.S. Census, 2000. White and Black excludes Hispanics.
State and Federal Inmates by Race
Source: Percentages calculated from data in Table 13, Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2002," April 6, 2003. White and Black excludes Hispanics.
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Figure 2
Ratio of Percent of Blacks Among Resident Population to Blacks Among Incarcerated Population
Black Percentage
Ratio of State Residents Black Percentage
of Incarcerated Population Ratio
Alabama 26% 61.9% 2.4
Alaska 3.5% 10.6% 3.0
Arizona 3.1% 13.3% 4.3
Arkansas 15.7% 44.4% 2.8
California 6.7% 28.7% 4.3
Colorado 3.8% 22.1% 5.7
Connecticut 9.1% 46.1% 5.1
Delaware 19.2% 63.1% 3.3
District of Columbia 60.0% 92.8% 1.5
Florida 14.6% 48.1% 3.3
Georgia 28.7% 61.7% 2.2
Hawaii 1.8% 3.9% 2.2
Idaho 0.4% 1.7% 3.9
Illinois 15.1% 62.9% 4.2
Indiana 8.4% 37.8% 4.5
Iowa 2.1% 19.7% 9.3
Kansas 5.7% 34.0% 5.9
Kentucky 7.3% 35.3% 2.2
Louisiana 32.5% 72.1% 2.2
Maine 0.5% 4.1% 7.7
Maryland 27.9% 72.3% 2.6
Massachusetts 5.4% 26.3% 4.9
Michigan 14.2% 48.9% 3.4
Minnesota 3.5% 28.5% 8.2
Mississippi 36.3% 70.5% 1.9
Missouri 11.2% 41.2% 3.7
Black Percentage
Ratio of State Residents Black Percentage
of Incarcerated Population Ratio
Montana 0.3% 2.0% 6.6
Nebraska 4.0% 25.5% 6.4
Nevada 6.8% 27.3% 4.0
New Hampshire 0.7% 6.5% 8.9
New Jersey 13.6% 59.7% 4.4
New Mexico 1.9% 10.0% 5.3
New York 15.9% 54.3% 3.4
North Carolina 21.6% 61.1% 2.8
North Dakota 0.6% 3.3% 5.4
Ohio 11.5% 50.2% 4.4
Oklahoma 7.6% 31.3% 4.1
Oregon 1.6% 11.1% 6.8
Pennsylvania 10.0% 49.7% 5.0
Rhode Island 4.5% 35.9% 8.0
South Carolina 29.5% 67.2% 2.3
South Dakota 0.6% 6.9% 11.1
Tennessee 16.4% 49.0% 3.0
Texas 11.5% 36.8% 3.2
Utah 0.8% 5.9% 7.4
Vermont 0.5% 5.2% 10.3
Virginia 19.6% 61.7% 3.1
Washington 3.2% 18.1% 5.6
West Virginia 3.2% 34.9% 11.0
Wisconsin 5.7% 38.8% 6.8
Wyoming 0.8% 5.9% 7.8
National 12.3% 43.7% 3.5
Figures calculated on basis of U.S. Census Bureau data from Census 2000 on state residents and incarcerated population.
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The official figures confirm what those who live in African-American communities know full well — too many blacks are behind bars, particularly black men. Indeed, nearly five percent of all black men, compared to 0.6 percent of white men, are incarcerated.5 In many states the rate is far worse. According to Human Rights Watch's calculations based on the 2000 U.S. Census, in twelve states more than ten percent of black men ages 18 to 64 are incarcerated.6 The Justice Department reports that nationwide, a similar percentage of black men in the ages 20-29 are behind bars.
The absolute level of black incarceration should be cause for national concern. But so should the striking disparity with white incarceration. Nationwide, black men of all ages are incarcerated at more than seven times the rate of white men, according to the Justice Department.7 Again, shocking as such a national average is, it masks even worse racial disparities in individual states. In thirteen states, black men are incarcerated at more than ten times the rate of white men.8 No state is free of significant disparities.
The national war on drugs has perhaps been the primary factor behind the extraordinary rates at which blacks are incarcerated. Drug offenses account for nearly two out of five of the blacks sent to state prison. More blacks are sent to state prison for drug offenses (38 percent) than for crimes of violence (27 percent). In contrast, drug offenders constitute 24 percent of whites admitted to prison and violent offenders constitute 27 percent (Figure 3).
African-Americans are arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned for drug offenses at far higher rates than whites. This racial disparity bears little relationship to racial differences in drug offending. For example, although the proportion of all drug users who are black is generally in the range of 13 to 15 percent, blacks constitute 36 percent of arrests for drug possession. Blacks constitute 63 percent of all drug offenders admitted to state prisons. In at least fifteen states, black men were sent to prison on drug charges at rates ranging from twenty to fifty-seven times those of white men. (Figure 4 and Figure 5).
5 Department of Justice, "Midyear 2002," p. 11, Table 14.
6 Human Rights Watch, "Race and Incarceration" at: hrw.org usa/race/pdf/table3.pdf
7 Data calculated from Department of Justice, "Midyear 2002," p. 11, Table 14.
8 Human Rights Watch, "Race and Incarceration" at: hrw.org usa/race/pdf/table2a.pdf
The high and disproportionate rate of minority incarceration, particularly in the context of the war on drugs, is a grave challenge to the country. It exposes and deepens the racial fault lines that weaken the country; contradicts principles of justice and equal protection of the laws; and undermines faith among all races in the fairness and efficacy of the criminal justice system.
States have choices in the means by which to promote community well-being, protect public safety and curb the drug trade. Over the last two decades, the choice was imprisonment. Prison is, of course, a legitimate criminal sanction, but it should be used as a last resort — i.e. used only for serious crimes -- and the length of the sentence should be commensurate with the conduct and culpability of the offender. Unfortunately, too many states have opted instead for sentencing policies that mandate long sentences even for nonviolent, low-level drug offenders.
The budgetary demands of swollen prison populations at a time of fiscal crisis are currently forcing states to reconsider their sentencing policies. We believe they should examine the cost-effectiveness, fairness, and wisdom of adopting shorter sentences, eliminating mandatory minimums and increasing the use of alternatives to incarceration. Although financial pressures now compel the reassessment of sentencing policies, public officials should take the opportunity to consider the damage caused by unnecessary and excessive incarceration, and the consequences of dramatic racial disparities among those who are placed behind bars.
Extensive statistical data on prison and jail populations can be found at the Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics Web site: ojp.usdoj.gov
Related Human Rights Watch Reports:
Race and Incarceration in the United States, February 2002, hrw.org
Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs, May 2000, hrw.org
Collateral Casualties: Children of Incarcerated Drug Offenders in New York, June 2002, hrw.org
Cruel and Usual: Disproportionate Sentences for New York Drug Offenders, March 1997, hrw.org
Losing the Vote: The Impact of Felony Disenfranchisement Laws in the United States, October 1998, hrw.org
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