Sentencing and Corrections - State And Federal Prisons
prisoners percent inmates table
Persons convicted of murder, burglary, or larceny/theft are most likely to be sent to a state prison. If the crime is a federal offense or was committed outside a state jurisdiction, the offender can be sentenced to a federal prison. Federal offenses include crimes that
- Are committed against a federal institution (bank, post office, or federally insured credit union) or a federal officer (FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, or U.S. Treasury agent).
- Are committed on the high seas, on government reservations or territories, or in other areas under federal jurisdiction, such as Washington, D.C.
- Involve crossing state lines (kidnapping or transporting stolen automobiles, for example).
- Involve interstate crime, such as telephone or mail fraud.
Prison Population
The BJS regularly surveys the nation's correctional facilities. The 2002 survey counted 2,166,260 prisoners. State and federal prisons housed two-thirds (1,440,655) of all persons incarcerated in the United States with the other third in local jails. Of those held in prisons, state prisons housed over 88.6 percent (1,277,127), while federal prisons held about 11.4 percent (163,528). These figures show a 2.5 percent increase in the state prison population and a 5.8 percent increase in the federal prison population over the previous year. (See Table 6.3.) As of June 30, 2000, there were 4,095 inmates under the age of 18 in state (3,927) and private adult (168) correctional facilities. More than half of these inmates (2,150) were incarcerated
TABLE 6.8
Number of persons held in state or federal prisons or in local jails, 1995–2002
| Prisoners in custody on December 31 | ||||||
| Total inmates in custody | Federal | State | Inmates in jail on June 30 | Incarceration rate1 | ||
| 1995 | 1,585,586 | 89,538 | 989,004 | 507,044 | 601 | |
| 1996 | 1,646,020 | 95,088 | 1,032,440 | 518,492 | 618 | |
| 1997 | 1,743,643 | 101,755 | 1,074,809 | 567,079 | 648 | |
| 1998 | 1,816,931 | 110,793 | 1,113,676 | 592,462 | 669 | |
| 19992 | 1,893,115 | 125,682 | 1,161,490 | 605,943 | 691 | |
| 20003 | 1,937,482 | 133,921 | 1,176,269 | 621,149 | 684 | |
| 20013 | 1,961,247 | 143,337 | 1,180,155 | 631,240 | 685 | |
| 20023 | 2,033,331 | 151,618 | 1,209,640 | 665,475 | 701 | |
| Percent change, | ||||||
| 2001–2002 | 3.7% | 5.8% | 2.5% | 5.4% | ||
| Average annual increase, | ||||||
| 1995–2002 | 3.6% | 7.8% | 2.9% | 4.0% | ||
| Note: Counts include all inmates held in public and private adult correctional facilities. | ||||||
| 1Number of prison and jail inmates per 100,000 U.S. residents at yearend. | ||||||
| 2In 1999, 15 states expanded their reporting criteria to include inmates held in privately operated correctional facilities. For comparisons with previous years, the state count 1,137,544 and the total count 1,869,169 should be used. | ||||||
| 3Total counts include federal inmates in nonsecure, privately operated facilities (6,598 in 2002, 6,515 in 2001 and 6,143 in 2000). | ||||||
| SOURCE: Paige M. Harrison and Allen J. Beck, "Table 1: Number of Persons Held in State or Federal Prisons or in Local Jails, 1995–2002," in "Prisoners in 2002," Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, July 2003 | ||||||
in the South, followed by the Northeast (760), the Midwest (699), and the West (486). (See Table 6.7.)
The rate of prisoners per 100,000 population has risen steadily while there has been a decline in the overall crime rate. Since 1995 the incarceration rate has risen from 601 per 100,000 to 701 per 100,000 in 2002. One in every 143 U.S. residents was incarcerated in a federal or state prison or a local jail in 2002. (See Table 6.8.)
In 2002 Maine had the highest yearly increase in the number of prisoners (11.5 percent), while Alaska saw the
TABLE 6.9
Estimated number of sentenced prisoners under state jurisdiction, by offense, gender, race, and Hispanic origin, 2001
| Offense | All | Male | Female | White | Black | Hispanic |
| Total | 1,208,700 | 1,132,500 | 76,200 | 424,200 | 548,800 | 205,300 |
| Violent offenses | 596,100 | 571,700 | 24,400 | 208,100 | 267,800 | 102,600 |
| Murder1 | 159,200 | 150,700 | 8,500 | 51,500 | 77,100 | 27,800 |
| Manslaughter | 16,900 | 15,000 | 1,900 | 6,300 | 6,300 | 3,500 |
| Rape | 30,900 | 30,600 | 300 | 15,100 | 11,700 | 2,700 |
| Other sexual assault | 87,600 | 86,600 | 1,000 | 50,700 | 21,300 | 12,600 |
| Robbery | 155,300 | 150,100 | 5,200 | 34,100 | 91,100 | 26,200 |
| Assault | 118,800 | 113,100 | 5,600 | 38,700 | 50,300 | 25,300 |
| Other violent | 27,400 | 25,500 | 1,900 | 11,700 | 10,000 | 4,700 |
| Property offenses | 233,000 | 213,100 | 20,000 | 101,800 | 92,300 | 32,500 |
| Burglary | 104,700 | 101,300 | 3,400 | 45,700 | 41,200 | 14,700 |
| Larceny | 45,500 | 39,600 | 5,800 | 17,400 | 20,300 | 6,100 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 18,000 | 17,300 | 700 | 6,900 | 6,700 | 4,200 |
| Fraud | 33,700 | 25,400 | 8,300 | 17,100 | 13,000 | 3,100 |
| Other property | 31,100 | 29,500 | 1,600 | 14,700 | 11,100 | 4,500 |
| Drug offenses | 246,100 | 222,900 | 23,200 | 57,300 | 139,700 | 47,000 |
| Public-order offenses2 | 129,900 | 121,600 | 8,300 | 56,000 | 47,300 | 22,300 |
| Other/unspecified3 | 3,600 | 3,200 | 400 | 900 | 1,700 | 800 |
| Note: Data are for inmates with a sentence of more than 1 year under the jurisdiction of state correctional authorities. | ||||||
| 1Includes nonnegligent manslaughter. | ||||||
| 2Includes weapons, drunk driving, court offenses, commercialized vice, morals and decency charges, liquor law violations, and other public-order offenses. | ||||||
| 3Includes juvenile offenses and unspecified felonies. | ||||||
| SOURCE: Paige M. Harrison and Allen J. Beck, "Table 15: Estimated Number of Sentenced Prisoners Under State Jurisdiction, by Offense, Gender, Race, and Hispanic Origin, 2001," in "Prisoners in 2002," Bureau of Justice Statistics Bulletin, July 2003 | ||||||
largest decrease (3.8 percent). The two states with the most prisoners were also the country's largest: California (162,317) and Texas (162,003). By region, the West saw the highest increase in prisoners (3 percent), followed by the South (2.5 percent), with the Midwest and Northeast at 1.9 percent respectively. The South, the nation's most populous region, had the most prisoners overall (574,174), followed by the West (281,743), the Midwest (245,303), and the Northeast (175,907).
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