Chapter 2 Case Study
Fighting Crime: The Case for Emptier Prisons
America now imprisons more people than Russia According to Walmsley (2005, cited in Rushefsky 2008, 260), 714 out of every 100,000 Americans are behind bars. And although blacks comprise only 13% of the population, they account for 40.7% of the country's 2.1 million inmates (Harnson and Beck 2005).That is an increase in incarceration of 130% from 1980 to 1990 and 60% from 1990 to 2004 (Walmsley 2005).
It is true that the United States has more crime than other countries, and that black Americans commit too much of it But these two factors do not explain everything. Black Americans commit about the same share of violent crime as they did in 1976, and the total crime rate has actually fallen since 1973. Total violent crimes and total victimizations in 2004 were lower than in 1973. The total number of violent crimes in 2004 was only about 45% of the 1973 number. Since the population of the United States increased in the same period, the crime rate has declined even faster (Rushefsky 2008, 260). Nevertheless,over this period, the number of inmates has tripled,and the proportion of black prisoners has increased.