Incarceration in the United States

Rare card · No. 73457

Incarceration in the United States is one of the primary means of punishment for crime in the United States. In 2021, over five million people were under supervision by the criminal justice system,. At year-end 2023, 1,254,200 people were under the jurisdiction of state or federal correctional authorities, an increase of 24,100, or 2 percent, from 2022. Separately, local jails held 657,500 people in custody at midyear 2024, similar to 664,200 at midyear 2023; the 2024 figure is preliminary. The United States has the largest known prison population in the world. The country comprises 5% of the world's population while having 20% of the world's incarcerated persons. For comparison, China, with more than four times as many inhabitants, has fewer people in prison. Prison populations grew dramatically beginning in the 1970s, but began a decline around 2009, dropping 25% by year-end 2021. Drug offenses account for the incarceration of about 1 in 5 people in U.S. prisons. Violent offenses account...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Jacob Kang-Brown, Chase Montagnet, and Jasmine Heiss. People in Jail and Prison in Spring 2021. New York: Vera Institute of Justice, 2021., Public domain