Is the U.S. incarceration rate increasing or decreasing?
A. Between 1990 and 1993, correctional populations increased by 12 percent, to 4.9 million. Apparently more people who are arrested are being incarcerated: even when adult arrests are stable, the number of people incarcerated continues to increase significantly. top Q. Is prison capacity keeping up with the growth in the prison population? A. No. Although state spending for corrections (mostly prisons) is increasing at extremely high rates – faster than any other major area of state expenditures – capacity is growing more slowly than the growth in the number of prisoners. top Q. How does the U.S. incarceration rate compare with other countries? A. The U.S. has at least the second highest rate of incarceration in the world. In 1993 our incarceration rate was the second highest known per capita rate of incarceration in the world – 519 per 100,000 – just slightly less than Russia’s 40 percent greater than South Africa’s, more than four times Canada’s, five times Mexico’s, six times most E
