John,
This year marks the 50th year since the U.S. prison population began its unprecedented surge, documents a new report by The Sentencing Project. “Mass Incarceration Trends” highlights the growth in state and federal prison populations since the early 1970s, and its far reaching effect on families, communities, and society as a whole.
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Report findings include: -
Nearly two million people are living in prisons and jails instead of their communities. Compare this figure to the early 1970s when this count was 360,000 people.
- Black men are six times as likely to be incarcerated as white men and Latinx men are 2.5 times as likely.
- One in 7 people in prison has a life sentence.
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4.6 million Americans are barred from voting due to laws restricting this right for those with felony convictions.
The social, moral, and fiscal costs associated with the large-scale, decades-long investment in mass imprisonment cannot be justified by evidence of its effectiveness. Misguided changes in sentencing law and policy – not crime – account for the majority of the increase in correctional supervision.
Join us today at 2pm ET to discuss our new report and campaign, 50 Years and a Wake Up: Ending The Mass Incarceration Crisis In America. The campaign raises awareness about the dire state of our criminal legal system and proposes more effective crime prevention strategies for our country. |
