--------------------------------------------------------------------------- BREAKTHROUCH III
The least controversial observation that one can make about American criminal justice today is that it is remarkably ineffective, absurdly expensive, grossly inhumane, and riddled with discrimination. The beating of Rodney King was a reminder of the ruthlessness and racism that characterize many big city police depanments. But the other aspects of the justice system, especially sentencing practices and prison conditions, are every bit as harsh and unfair. -David J. Rothman, "The Crime of Punishment"
I
N }UN£ 1994, THE U.S. SENT ITS Mil liONTH human being to prison, years sooner than would have been thought possible just five years ago. Yet as the number incarcerated continues to grow, there is still no correlation between imprisonment and crime prevention. In face the opposite could be said to be true. In addition co a million people in prison, another half million fill the nation's jails. Another 6oo,ooo are on parole and th ree million on probation. Finally, another JOO,ooo are in juvenile facilities. Those imprisoned comprise the ninth largest U.S. city, and the coral number under the control of the criminal justice system is almost cwo times larger than rhe population of Chjcago, or Nicaragua. Fourteen million people were arrested last yearmore than the number who live in Cuba or many other countries. Prison growth has far outpaced population growth. From 1925 (when official imprisonmem scatistics were ftrst organized) co 1971, rhe imprisonment rate was about 100 per 100,000. In 1972, it began to soar and it keeps soaring: the rare is now 373 per IOo,ooo, almost four times higher than it was in 1972.
THE NUMBERS RACKET In .L99t Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project, an independent organization based in Washington, DC, reported that the U.S. had the highest incarceration rate (prisons and jails) in the world (426) compared to a distant second South Africa (333) and third-place Soviet Union (268). More recent stud ies indicate that pose-Soviet Russia has overtaken the U.S. as the country with the highest imprisonment rate in the world, bur the U.S. is widening irs lead over the also-cans: by 1992 the U.S. had an incarceration rate of 519 compared to South Africa's rare of 368 (see Table 1). Furthermore, in 1990 the incarceration rare for Black men in the U.S. was 3,109 compared co 729 for Black men in South Africa. ln 1992 chis differential had also increased:
the rates were, respectively, 3,822 and 851. Thus, in 1990 the incarceradon rate for Black men in the U.S. was 4·3 rimes greater than the rate for Black men in South Africa. Two years later char ratio had increased to 4·5· To comprehend che racial nature of U.S. imprisonment, consider Table 2, derived from publications of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. We can see from the table chat Black people are 8.5 rimes and Hispan ics 3·9 times more likely co go to prison than whites. Further examination of these statistics reveals the depth of their horror. Lee's, for example, bring ir down to neighborhood scale. Then we see that for every 1,000 Black people, 15 are in prison on any Table 1
Incarceration Rates by Country 1992- 1993 Netherlands Denmark Sweden Belgium Germany Italy Brazil France Switzerland
49 66 69 71 80 80 84 84 85
Australia England/Wales Portugal Mexico Canada Thailand South Africa United States Russia
91 93 93 97 116 159 368 519 558
Incarceration rates per 100,000 population. from MarcMauer, Americans Bthind Bars: The Intemational Use ofIncarceration, 1992-1993. Washington, DC: TheSentendng Project. 1994.
Ta ble 2
U.S. Incarceration Rates by Nationality June 1994 Nationality
Rate per Rate Compared 100,000 Pop. to Whites
White Latino Black
176 686 1489
3.9 8.5
Overall
373
2.1
1.0