WASHINGTON
- One in every 32 adults in the United States was behind bars
or on probation or parole by the end of last year, according to a
government report Sunday that found a record 6.6 million people in the
nation's correctional system.
The number of adults under supervision by the criminal justice system
rose by 147,700, or 2.3 percent, between 2000 and 2001, the Justice
Department reported. In 1990, almost 4.4 million adults were
incarcerated or being supervised.
"The overall figures suggest that we've come to rely on the
criminal justice system as a way of responding to social problems in a
way that's unprecedented," said Marc Mauer, assistant director of
the Sentencing Project, an advocacy and research group that favors
alternatives to incarceration. "We're setting a new record every
day."
Almost 4 million people were on probation, 2.8 percent more than in
2000, while the number of people in prison grew by 1.1 percent to 1.3
million, the smallest annual increase in nearly three decades. More than
half of those on probation -- 53 percent -- had been convicted of
felonies, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics report.
Experts noted the recent trend of arrests declined for murder, rape
and other violent crimes. Many of those on probation were convicted of
using illegal drugs or driving while intoxicated, the report showed.
In addition, some states have eliminated mandatory minimum sentences
for certain crimes. California's Proposition 36, passed in 2000 with 61
percent of the vote, requires treatment rather than incarceration for
nonviolent drug offenders. Most of those drug users wind up on
probation.
The government report found that 46 percent of those discharged from
parole in 2001 had met the conditions of supervision, while 40 percent
went back to jail or prison for violations.
Texas had more adults under correctional supervision than any other
state, 755,100. California was second with 704,900. Texas also had the
most adults on probation, 443,684, followed by California at 350,768.
Whites accounted for 55 percent of those on probation, while blacks
made up 31 percent, statistics show. On the other hand, 46 percent of
those incarcerated were black and 36 percent were white.
