THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 2, 1994 TAG: 9406020469
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: 940602 LENGTH: WASHINGTON
In a report Wednesday on inmate populations at the end of 1993, the Justice Department said the incarceration rate for prisoners sentenced to more than a year also set a record - 351 per 100,000 residents.
{REST} For several years, the United States has been locking up a larger portion of its people than any other nation. In 1992, 455 out of every 100,000 Americans were in prison or jail; South Africa under its old government was next, at 311 per 100,000.
``Inmate populations have quadrupled in 20 years, but I don't know anyone now who feels safer than 20 years ago,'' said Marc Mauer, assistant director of The Sentencing Project.
``The politics of the crime bill shows the data don't have much impact on the debate,'' said Mauer, whose foundation-supported group advocates alternatives to imprisonment.
House and Senate crime bills, now headed for compromise negotiations, would stiffen the penalties for dozens of crimes and provide billions of additional dollars for prison construction.
The reasons inmate populations exploded are clear, but there is considerable debate over what good that did.
The war on drugs produced stiffer federal and state sentences, mandatory minimum sentences and tighter parole policies for drug and violent crimes.
The Bureau of Justice Statistics attributed half the growth from 1980's total population of 329,821 to increases in the number of drug criminals entering prison.
For 1992, the last year with full data, drug offenders made up 30 percent of all newly sentenced inmates, compared with 7 percent in 1980.
From 1980 to 1992, adult drug arrests more than doubled from 471,200 to 980,700. At the same time, the likelihood of going to prison for that crime increased fivefold.
by CNB