How has the higher conviction rate of violent offenders affected the composition of state prisons?
The higher conviction rate of violent offenders has affected the composition of state prisons in two ways. First, in 2001, most state prison inmates were incarcerated for committing violent offenses. Of the total number of 1,208,700 state prison inmates, 596,100 were held in custody for violent offenses, including 159,200 for murder, 118,500 for rape, 155,300 for robbery, and 118,800 for assault. (See “Prisoners in 2002,” Bureau of Justice Statistics, Table 15.)Second, the growth in the prison population from 1995 to 2001 is overwhelmingly due to the incarceration of violent offenders (see Figure 7). Figure 7 Source: “Prisoners in 2002,” Bureau of Justice Statistics.As a percentage of the total growth, violent offenders accounted for 63 percent of the growth, drug offenders 15 percent, property offenders 2 percent, and other types of offenders 20 percent. Therefore, prisons have primarily become institutions holding violent offenders, and their percentage is increasing.
