Bringing Down the U.S. Prison Population

Abstract

This article discusses how, after about 50 years of displaying an impressively stable incarceration rate, the United States in the late 1970s began a dramatic prison population increase of about 6% annually, leading to the current status of world leader in incarceration rates. Examination of the factors contributing to the prison population growth suggests the trend is a consequence of policy choices imposed on the criminal justice system. A major factor in that growth has been an increase by a factor of 10 in the incarceration of drug offenders. Findings show that though incarceration may have achieved some incapacitative effects, it led to the recruitment of younger replacements whose limited restraint with guns represented a far greater threat to public safety than the individuals they replaced. A recent proposal by Senator Webb for a National Criminal Justice Commission to address these problems represents an important opportunity to restore rationality to the policies and to provide significant cost savings. This will require a commitment by commission members to avoid partisanship and converge to policies that will serve strong interests of both parties.